On Sunday, Oct. 22, from 12 – 2 p.m. in the Graphic Communications Building (BLDG 26, Room 116) the Shakespeare Printing Press Museum is hosting a Family Weekend event where students can to bring their parents along to make their own signs or posters on a collection of letterpress printing machines ranging from the years 1850-1950.
Museum Curator Jaclyn Bartholomew explained the process, where museum volunteers will provide a piece of paper and participants will crank the machine in. Families can then go home with their handmade items.
Along with Bartholomew, student volunteers will give tours of the facilities to families, sharing the history behind each of the letterpresses.
Despite its name, the Shakespeare Printing Press Museum has nothing to do with the famous playwright.
“It features 12 printers and eight of them come from the Charles Palmer collection,” graphic communications faculty advisor Kenneth Macro said. “It earned its name from Palmer, a poet who used the letterpress for his poems.”
The museum is also hosting a “Spooktacular” event on Oct. 31 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., where students can make their own cards with Halloween-themed stamps. Bartholomew shared that students plan to get in the Halloween spirit with costumes and decorations for the event.
“The appeal of a homemade card or poster draws in a lot of people — there’s more meaning behind it,” Bartholomew said. “The appeal of a homemade card or poster draws in a lot of people — there’s more meaning behind it,” Bartholomew said.
These events are open to every student and are not exclusive to those in the graphic communication department.
Bartholomew said she hopes these events will allow “printing to bring all types of communities together.”