Numbered among the energetic, enterprising and progressive young business men and worthy native sons of Utica is Arthur J. Cunningham, president of Cunningham's Photographers of Commerce, Incorporated, which he organized and incorporated on the 15th of July, 1922. His birth occurred on the 21st of June, 1895, his parents being George C. and Caroline Cunningham. In the acquirement of an education he attended the public schools of Utica and after putting aside his textbooks was employed at office work and also took up the study of architecture. From childhood, however, he had felt a natural inclination toward photography and eventually he embarked in business along this line, developing kodak films on a small scale. His activities gradually expanded in scope and importance and on the 15th of July, 1922, he organized and incorporated Cunningham's Photographers of Commerce, which enterprise has since been conducted with the following officers: Arthur J. Cunningham, president; William P. Donlon, vice president; and Matthew H. Gooding, secretary and treasurer. The four departments of the business are as follows: Finishing for amateurs, sixty agencies being maintained throughout the state for this work; commercial photography for advertising and industrial purposes; the making of motion pictures for industrial concerns; the manufacture of photographic equipment. Mr. Cunningham has patented several devices in the field of photographic equipment, the most important of these being the ferrotype print dryer. His business has assumed large and profitable proportions and the success which has come to him is indeed well merited. He is associate editor of "Developments", the official publication of the Photo Finishers Association of America.
On the 27th of September, 1917, Mr. Cunningham was united in marriage to Miss Hattie C. Streichert, daughter of Carl F. Streichert of Utica. Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham have a son: Gerald Arthur, who was born in Utica on February 17, 1922.
There is also a military chapter in the life history of Mr. Cunningham. On the 1st of May, 1918, he enlisted as a photographer with the Seventy-eighth Division and on the 26th of the same month went overseas with the combat engineers, thus continuing in service until discharged on the 13th of May, 1919, as a first-class private, During this period his business interests were managed by his wife. Mr. Cunningham belongs to Utica Post No. 229 of the American Legion and gives his political support to the republican party. He is likewise identified with the Kiwanis Club, is a consistent member of Trinity church and a worthy exemplar of the teachings and purposes of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to Liberty Lodge No. 959, F. & A. M.