As Thanksgiving approaches Howard letterpress printed a little reminder to get you ready for the big day. The print was made from a piece of lead alloy type, also called a sort, and depicts a pilgrim carrying a blunderbuss and turkey. This very small sort from a handy pack, which is less than an inch square, is from the Frank Cowsert Collection. This was made by the American Type Founders in the 1920s. Handy packs contain small symbols for informational or advertising purposes for printers in th

November 21st is World Hello Day! The purpose of today is to illustrate the importance of personal communication for preserving peace. For today, Howard, one of our volunteer docents, let the print do the talking for him and he letterpress printed using large wood type (12 line pica) that we have in our print shop at the Sacramento History Museum. The big “HELLO” was set in the Latin typeface and the type was made by the Hamilton Wood Type Company over 125 years ago. This was printed with black

November 23rd is St. Clement’s Day! Pope Clement I is the patron saint of blacksmiths and metalworkers. For today, Jared letterpress printed an image from an electrotype (copy of a woodcut) from the Lewis Winter Collection. This print depicts a couple blacksmiths team striking and an apprentice observing. This was made in the 1890s at Lewis Winter’s wood and photo engraving business at 627 J Street in Sacramento, California. There are quite a few blacksmith and farrier related cuts in Winter’s c