Touring Type at Hamilton
Video presentation is allowed to be used for educational purposes.
Wander the world’s largest collection of wood type. Our tour sheds light on the vast holdings of Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum. Case upon case of American wood type that dates back to 1840 is on display. From the Hamilton veneer style pioneered by J.E. Hamilton to current work cut within the past month, we’ll show off Aetna to Konop from 24 points tall to 5 feet high. The collection contains multiple makers in a myriad of styles. As a working museum, there are classrooms and pressrooms, displays of presses from Iron Hand to Heidelberg, platens and cylinders, galleys and galleries of American print history. Unique collections of billboard size blocks and advertising images span the last 125 years of print. View multi-colored plates that reveal the history of the circus and fair, produce to politics and the tools that were used to print them all. Our past in print covers the walls of the 80,000 square foot facility where letterpress printing is still practiced daily. As much of the collection is still being discovered, we’ll open a crate of blocks or type that may not have seen ink nor press for nearly 75 years.
Stephanie Carpenter and Jim Moran have worked together at Hamilton for the last 9 years, combining Stephanie’s background with a Master’s in Graphic Design with Jim’s managerial and printshop experience. Beginning in the original Hamilton Manufacturing building, Jim came on as Director in 2009 and Stephanie became Assistant Director in 2011. The Hamilton Museum, now in our 21st year, was begun by the local Historical Society of Two Rivers and celebrates the company that began making type in 1880. We teach, lecture, print and preserve this history on a daily basis.
