Globe Poster Printing Corporation was founded in 1929 in Baltimore, Maryland by business partners Harry Shapiro and Norman Goldstein. The shop specialized in printing showcard posters for movie theaters, vaudeville and burlesque acts, the earliest performers of country and Western music, motorsports events, and carnivals. The company later extended its services to a variety of products such as banners, tickets, and bumper stickers, in the process reaching a clientele based in the birth of rock and roll music during the 1950s. The company spent its 81 years operating in rented warehouse spaces in Baltimore, starting at 113 Hanover Street, moving to 123 Market Place in 1964, 1801 Byrd Street in 1979, and to its final location in 1999 at 3705 Bank Street.

Joseph Cicero, Sr. began his tenure at Globe cleaning type and continued working in various jobs until he was foreman. Shapiro sold the company to Cicero in 1975. Joseph, Sr. was the owner until formally etiring and handing operations over to his three sons, Joseph, Jr., Francis, and Robert in 1990. Robert (Bob) began working at Globe in 1965 in the compositing room with the main compositor at the time, Lucous Horne and his backup, Ed Keyser, by putting type away. Off and on for the next 40 years, Bob would pick up new skills at Globe whenever they needed back up, such as running the large poster press, using the Film-o-type machine, shipping, and screenprinting. In 1969, Bob was drafted and served two years in the Navy Reserves during the Vietnam War. He then worked for Black & Decker as an engineer until leaving in 1975 to assist his father in running Globe. Francis (Frank) was a social worker before becoming the voice and face of the company, taking orders by phone and in person, drawing sketches, calculating costs, and printing invoices. Joseph, Jr. (Joey) was an accountant, and continued such work at Globe, tracking the company’s finances. In 1995, Globe experienced significant setbacks involving the loss of a large commercial client’s business (Eastfield Container) to a competitor and a last-minute cancellation and disagreements with promoters over a costly music concert poster order. These events forced Globe to lay off many employees, creating a staff shortage and a long struggle to keep the business open. Globe finally closed in 2010 and sold a large portion of its assets to the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2011.