The Donaldson Lithographing Company started out as a small lithographing business based in Cincinnati, Ohio (August 10 1863). William M. Donaldson and Henry Elms founded the company as partners until Elm’s death in 1872. After Elm’s death, Donaldson was left to be solely in charge of the company. In 1883, Donaldson officially incorporated the business as Donaldson Lithograph Company. The company flourished after relocating to Newport, Kentucky in 1898. Donaldson added another location in Covington, Kentucky that specialized in creating art signs. William Donaldson died in 1931 on the 22nd of October. He was 91. The company stayed in the family until 1981.

It is important to note that the Donaldson Lithographing Company was sued by Courier Lithographing. Courier Lithographing sued Donaldson on the basis of copyright infringement. A local circus had first asked Courier Lithographing for x amount of prints for advertising. After the circus realized they needed more prints, they decided to ask Donaldson as his services were cheaper. Courier then sued Donaldson for copyright protection. Donaldson believed that copyright should be restricted to fine arts and that lithographs for advertising did not fit the category of fine art. After going through the trial and appellate court who were both in favor of Donaldson, the case was brought to the US Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled that when a judge is evaluating copyright infringement that they cannot make any judgment based on the artist or the quality of their work. In legal terms, this ruling is known as the Bleistein Nondiscrimination Principle.