Pressing On: The Letterpress Film (2017) - full transcript

[music]

[object hitting can -
can hitting ground]

Jim Daggs: My first exposure
to letterpress was at the print

shop down town in my
home town of Eldora.

I had a friend.

We were downtown brats.

Our dads both had
stores downtown.

We hung around together.

His folks' shop was next
to the printing office.

He knew the old
printer in there.

I think the first thing that I
experienced was the sound of the



Chandler & Price press
that he was feeding.

I was fascinated by the
mechanics and the sound.

[clanking and clinking of press]

I spent a lot of
time at that screen door

watching him that summer.

Finally, he said, "Why
don't you come on in if you

want to see what's going on."

[music]

[clanking and clinking of press]

[clanking and clinking of press]

[music]

[music -
clanking and clinking of press]

[music -
clanking and clinking of press]

[music -
clanking and clinking of press]



Rick von Holdt: It's
terribly emotional and romantic.

It has a smell.

It has a sound.

It has a rhythm to see the
wheel's spinning and all the

pistons going back and forth.

[music -
clanking and clinking of press]

Jim Sherraden: The new
generation is fascinated

with obsolete technology.

They've grown up with extendable
fingers, Game Boy, texting.

Here's letterpress.

You bet you.

Paul Brown: Wood and
metal and paper and ink.

I don't know if it awakened
something that is there already.

Tammy Winn: When the
paper hits the type and the

second you touch it, you
usually know that there's

something unique about it.

[music]

Jennifer Farrell: It is
really tangible art form.

You have all of these
finite pieces that need to come

together to create something.

[music]

[music]

Dave Peat: Taking up a piece of
paper off a stack, putting it in

a press and have an impression
of it, put it in another stack.

Was very early on that I just
enjoyed seeing this happen.

I got goose bumps right now
just thinking about that first

experience I had of
this beautiful type.

Fifteen, 20 years ago, I thought
letterpress would die with me.

There was very
little interest in it.

Why hasn't letterpress died?

It's a good question but I
don't have an answer for it.

[music -
clinking of press]

[music]

[music]

Gregory Walters:
You start it up.

A little noisy.

Sorry.

[clacking and
putting of machine]

[clacking and
putting of machine]

The end product of a letterpress
process is always a beautiful,

exciting print but the real
heart of the letterpress process

is the type that
makes that print.

The type's got to come from
somewhere and this is one of the

machines that makes
the type that we use.

[music -
clacking and putting of machine]

There we go.

I don't like to get too close.

The only thing you don't want is
metal splashing out which once

in a while happens but
if everything's taken care

of and being minded, the
machine will run all day

and make type all day.

[music -
clacking and putting of machine]

Gutenberg invented his
moveable type around 1450.

The number of books that were
printed as opposed to the number

of books that were written
by scribes, it was like an

explosion of information.

[hammer splitting type]

Richard Hopkins: Letterpress
printing really brought

us out of the dark ages.

Prior to that time, the higher
ups in the church and that's the

church ran the world, they
didn't want the people to be

able to read the bible.

They wanted to read the
bible and interpret for them.

Gutenberg put the bible
in everybody's hands and

the type of people
that Martin Luther created

his revolution and all that.

All that happened because the
word was available to everybody.

It empowered the
common man, really.

It's almost like the explosion
of information we're going

through now with
the information age.

Books, newspapers,
catalogs, invoices, letterheads.

You name it.

It was pretty much
printed by letterpress.

To me, moveable type is
the most interesting thing.

It's what
letterpress is really about.

It's the heart of
the letterpress.

Now, I'm at the point
where I'm 62 years old.

I figure maybe I've
got 10 good years left.

What do I do with
those 10 years?

I know I don't want to sit
in front of the TV and watch

low-quality entertainment.

I want to do something.

I want to make something.

Things I want to do is to
restore typecasting machines and

get them in the hands of
people that can preserve it.

I would like to make
type myself and use it.

At some point and time, I
realized that there was not

going to be any hot metal left.

I wanted to grab some
before it disappeared.

Old type is getting worn out.

New type needs to be made and
people are making it but the

amount that's being made now is
a tiny, tiny sliver of what was

made 50, 60, 80 years ago.

[buzzing - clanking]

There's probably 10 machines out
of this 50 that I could have up

and running in a week's time.

What about the
other 40 machines?

In my lifetime, I'm never going
to get them running but at least

they're safe from the junkyard.

They haven't been scrapped.

They're still around.

Maybe someday, hopefully
somebody will get them running.

If nothing else, they
can be used for parts.

It is a slow and
tedious kind of process.

Yeah.

I'm afraid so but it's a fun
machine to watch, just to watch

everything moving around.

[clacking and
putting of machine]

[music]

[music]

[music]

Stephanie Carpenter:
There's a beauty that the word

letterpress is precisely that.

It's pressing letters into
paper but on a bigger picture,

it's so much more.

There's really three
stages of letterpress printing.

There's design or layout.

Then, the type is
assembled or really composed.

It brings it into the
lines and the layout.

At this point, it
gets locked into a form.

That form then moves to a press.

The type is inked, an
impression is made on paper.

That's where you get that
beautiful finished piece.

I think the aesthetic is what
draws people in, that character,

that history is
something that speaks to you.

The act of setting the type,
bringing together all of the

letters and the
spacing material is

really what makes it tangible.

They want to know more.

That's when they
start to see the process.

When I first tried letterpress,
I was intrigued because it meant

I got to get my
hands a little dirtier.

I wasn't sitting
behind a computer anymore,

running around and
tracking around and getting

all the pieces together.

You might be worn
out by the end of it.

That was great.

It was so different than sitting
behind my computer, which is

where I learned graphic design.

When you have to change the line
spacing on a piece, just the

space between the
lines, it's called leading.

It's even called leading in
these programs that these

students are using.

When graphic designers learn
a workshop, they need to walk

across the room to
get a piece of leading

or to get a piece of type.

Then, if it's wrong, they
have to get another piece.

It's definitely a physical act.

[music -
clicking of type being set]

There's this great
experience of touching history.

To get to know more about
your craft is beautiful.

You get more of that story.

Once you get that first
taste, it's hard to let it go.

[music -
clicking of type being set]

[music -
clicking of type being set]

[wood type hitting floor]

It's really nice
because when a block gets

dropped, it gets
this character to it.

We don't fix that character.

We print with it.

It communicates that this piece
has had history and that story

that each piece of type has.

Rick von Holdt: A lot of my
stuff is very, very old, fairly

beaten up, depending
on where it came from.

I would have all these little
dings and scratches and stuff.

I used to apologize profusely
for that and got to learn after

a while, people
said, "Oh, no, no.

We love that.

That shows that it's real.

It's hand done."

Somehow, all that passion and
all that effort seems to come

through on these pieces.

You just see it.

If somebody was just sitting
there at a keyboard, doing this

and that and it's there.

They press a button.

They didn't have to make all
those finite little decision,

the little microscopic moves
and something didn't fit or,

"Oh, gosh, I've
got to change this."

A whole lot more thinking
goes into the whole process.

I think you come out
with a better end product.

Tammy Winn:
Hopefully, what I think ...

Adam Winn: I'm sure you will.

Great.

Here's what I'm thinking.

A couple of line ornaments.

Tammy Winn: You want tiny metal
up here near right out where

you're thinking of them?

This and this seem the
most important to me.

It doesn't have to be this big.

Adam Winn: But bigger than
the rest of the line or ...

Tammy Winn: Yeah.

Adam Winn: This could be nice.

Tammy Winn: What
about the budding?

What do we...?

Adam Winn: That's kind of big.

The middle one.

Tammy Winn: No, the middle one.

Adam Winn: You can grab it.

We can see how it looks.

Tammy Winn: You said 36 point?

Does he ever clean the shop?

Adam Winn: It might be too wide.

Tammy Winn: What about 24 point?

Adam Winn: No.

It's too small.

Tammy Winn: Okay.

Adam Winn: Twenty-four
bigger or smaller than 36?

Tammy Winn: I know.

I can do math.

Adam Winn: Just asking.

We're in the Red Door Press.

This is our letterpress
studio here in Des Moines, Iowa.

We operate out of our old garage
behind our house where we've

managed to squeeze in
about 20 printing presses.

It can get a little cozy
in here but it's home.

Tammy Winn: The very first
press that I got was 8x12 C&P.

I pulled it out of
the pharmaceutical

company here in Des Moines.

They had three presses sitting
in the back of their warehouse

that had been just hanging
out for about 20, 30 years.

I decided not to tell
Adam about the first press.

I called my
brother who had access to

a truck and a forklift.

We strapped around, hauled her
across town and shoved her in

the garage on her
rickety pallet.

Adam came home that night.

I said, "We're going to print."

He didn't believe me at all.

Adam Winn: I had a slightly
different take on the story.

I came home from work
one day, tired and worn out

from trying to earn a living.

My lovely bride to be told
me that she had a surprise

for me out in the garage.

The fact that it was in
the garage meant that it

was big and it couldn't be good.

She brought me out and unveiled
this rusty piece of metal.

I believe my exact
words were, "Huh."

Tammy Winn: You
thought it was junk.

Adam Winn: I had no desire
to get into letterpress.

I didn't even know what
letterpress was at that time.

Tammy Winn: I think
you wanted us to take it

to the junkyard and scrap it.

Adam Winn: I may have had
that instinct at first.

I knew it was going to
be important to her.

We worked on fixing it up.

When we got it working, I
started to see exactly how cool

it was and that it wasn't
just a tremendous waste of

precious space in the garage.

All right.

We need three T's.

Tammy Winn: Realize.

Printing is a privilege to me.

I do not get to do
it during the day.

I would love to.

It's what I live for now.

This shop was built
by the both of us.

How fricking cool is that?

[inaudible]
meaning these two B's.

Adam Winn: When am I
going to go there.

Tammy Winn: The shop's not
going anywhere, which is great.

It's heavy so it's
good to have them around.

Adam Winn: Sometimes I
think that's why she keeps

me around is for moving
around heavy pieces of

equipment but I'll take it.

All right.

I'm now thinking
those might be too big.

Film narrator:
Americans at work.

Because of the need for printed
matter in practically all of

man's activities, printing
now ranks four among the

nation's great industries.

The printing trades acquire most
of their new workers through

apprenticeship or
training on the job.

Jim Moran: Because my dad and
my grandfather were printers in

Green Bay, there
was a place to play.

Film narrator: Printing as a
vocation attracts many young men

and women because it
offers real opportunities,

good pay, and advancement.

Jim Moran: I started working
there at age 10, and age 16,

they agreed to pay me.

Jim Daggs I walked in there.

I saw that those linotype
machines and all the equipment

and I said, "I
got to work here.

I need to experience
this for a summer."

It was great.

It was a thrill.

Jim Moran: What I learned was
all of the edges of printing

before being an operator, I
became proficient with a broom.

That was a good thing.

That is considered the
first step, I think.

You are going to clean a
press all the way to the bottom

because then you
would learn how to maintain

and repair the equipment.

The printer's devil, he
gets to handle the hell box,

appropriately enough The hell
box is that random can/box of

type that no one
wanted to put away.

Maybe it fell out of a form.

It's always the
bottom person who gets

the job of putting it away.

Then, they start letting you
take the type out and gradually

work your way toward
getting onto the press.

That was a really great way
to do it because there's less

chance you're going
to hurt yourself.

[music]

Jim Daggs: I'm
left-handed so most of my

physical injuries are on there.

This finger went
between two gears on an

old duplex newspaper press.

Yeah, this finger here went
around a chain in a sprocket

that required
bone to be cut back.

The surgeon was an
old MASH doctor.

He patched that all
back together quite well.

That's what I got
left from that.

Here's an old lead burn
here, lead splatter burn.

I got some of those
on my arms as well.

Those are my battle scars
from hot metal typesetting

and letterpress printing.

Jim Moran: If I had caught my
finger in a press, my dad would

have felt sorry for me but he
would have been pretty pissed

off because you
shouldn't be that stupid.

There was that part that I
learned from my grandfather and

then all of the itinerant
printers who passed their way

through the print shop over time
to learning from my dad who had

a slightly different
approach than other printers.

In a very short sense, I
went from printer's devil to

apprentice to partner to owner.

That final distinction of master
printer is a title that was

given to people but not in a
very formal sense in the way

that a master's degree would.

Film narrator: A pressman
must be a skilled, conscientious

worker and the
quality of the work produced

depends on his ability.

Jim Daggs: The gentleman that I
apprenticed under was considered

a master printer by
his other colleagues.

The community
recognized him as a craftsman.

I don't think he got wealthy
at it but he made sure that he

turned out quality work even
though it would take more time

than somebody else
would get the job done in.

Film narrator: Next
week, another interesting

story of Americans at work.

Americans whose skill
and effort help keep our

country great and strong.

[music]

[music]

[music]

Jim Moran: As you enter the
1950s, the photographic methods

for newspapers also, to some
extent, leads to their demise.

It basically envelopes
the country by the 60s.

The New York Times printed their
last letterpress newspaper in

'78 but really the rest of the
country had mostly abandoned it.

Jim Daggs: Offset really
emancipated a lot of publishers.

Most of their machinery was
getting worn out or operators

were aging but you
didn't require a staff.

You were getting away
from the skilled trades.

Male: I find it
very sad, very sad.

I've learned the new stuff, the
new processes and all but I've

been a printer now
for 26 years and been

in this place for 20 years.

Six years of apprenticeship,
20 years journeyman.

These are words that
aren't just tossed around.

They've always meant
something to us printers.

All the knowledge I've acquired
over these 26 years is all

locked up in a little
box now called a computer.

I think probably most jobs are
going to end up the same way.

Jim Moran: We like to throw
older things away the moment we

found a better way of doing it.

It was getting shoved into
the back or off the back of the

loading dock,
more often than not.

Offset is everywhere.

Therefore, letterpress
is really looking at

the coffin getting nailed down.

Technology was changing
the business at a rate that

was very hard to keep up with.

[music]

[music]

[music - keyboard clicking]

[music - keyboard clicking]

Male: The electronic
images of letters that

I have just set on this
video display screen,

I'll now send to the computer.

Rich Hopkins: That whole
transition put print shops like

the one I run through a
tremendous financial thing

because how do we
replace a machine that I paid

$120,000 for with a $6,000 PC?

Jim Moran: You also had
the advent of the copying

machine at the same time.

It was a lousy technology in
terms of comparison to printing

but it got better and better.

Now, my big customer is saying,

"I'm just going to
put my own in, okay?

I'm sorry, but letterhead on a
copying machine is just fine by

us and we're going to
do it in the back room."

You could see your
customers disappearing.

Rich Hopkins: I can't compete
with a machine that costs $250

with a $10,000 machine.

Even though I do a better job
and I know what I'm doing and

they don't do a good job and
they don't know what they're

doing, they're still prevailing.

It's a sad comment but the
printing industry is slowly

degrading or disappearing
because people still have no

appreciation for what
goes into a good job.

The industry in the past 12
years, I think, has lost about

50% of the print
shops that existed.

The ones that are still
functioning are like my shop.

They're just limping
along on one broken leg.

[music - footsteps]

Dave Churchman: It's relaxing.

It gives the mind, which
may be fraught with problems.

How am I going to make next
week's payroll, for instance?

I've had that
problem a few times but

it's what I enjoy doing.

I'm a civil
engineer and I'm probably

a square peg in a round hole.

I would love to have not worked
then because they were grungy

but love to go in old
shops and love to have

seen them in operation.

In years past, I've been
in some of these shops.

They weren't quite that old but
you got the feel, the clutter

and the fire and the smoke and
the action and blah, blah, blah.

Yeah.

You feel like, you come down
here and piddle and you turn

back the hands of
time a little bit.

This is a hobby, not an amateur
but a hobby letterpress shop.

One reason that I started buying
and selling stuff, which I do as

a very occasional sideline, it's
a get rich slow scheme is to

take stuff that you don't
want and sell it so that you got

money or access to other stuff.

It starts slow and it builds.

You stumble on things.

You go to auctions.

People pass away and
the widow calls and says,

"You know, are you interested
in any of this stuff?"

There's a lot of stuff
around and people want hands on.

Pick a hobby.

Photography, old cars.

Why does anybody do that stuff?

Who needs a quilt?

We don't need quilts.

We got sacks of feathers that
keep us warm now, duvets, but

isn't it neat to have
something put together with old

squares of cloth and an
interesting geometric or

maybe non-geometric pattern.

Yes, it is interesting.

You go into another world.

It's a world of your own making.

It's no one else's.

The creative
aspect is gratifying.

I'm saying creative
with some reservations.

I'm not Van Gogh here.

You're creating something
that hasn't presumably been done

before or something that I've
created that I'm trying to fool

people with but arranging
the type, selecting the type,

getting the type correctly
spaced both vertically and

horizontally is a puzzle.

You're solving this puzzle.

Again, it's that other world.

You're lost in the process.

You don't want to
be interrupted.

I come down here and I dick
around, piddle around for an

hour, two hours, very relaxed.

Don't think about
the problems upstairs.

[music - clinking - clanking]

[music - clinking - clanking]

I'm retreating into a
world of my own making.

I like that world or I wouldn't
have bloody well created it.

It's of my own doing.

I don't know that
I'm proud of it.

It's a hell of a
clutter, as you know,

but it's what I enjoy doing.

It's, again, another world.

[music - clinking - clanking]

[outdoor market
background hustle and bustle]

Adam Winn: The farmers'
market is a weekly event that

happens in downtown Des Moines.

It's the second largest
farmers' market in the country.

This is our first year
participating but we've been

going to the farmers'
market for a decade.

We're really excited
to be a part of it.

Tammy Winn: ... and smaller,
then I can let you know.

Twenty.

When you have paper products,
you get a little nervous with

wind and possible storms.

Adam Winn: We noticed pretty
early on that there's a very

specific type of show
where we better with others.

It's one in which people are
looking for upcycled goods.

We use the antique wood and
metal type on one of our 19

antique printing presses.

That number keeps going
up at an astounding rate.

People really appreciate
the fact that our process is

something that
takes care and time ...

Tammy Winn: Do you want a print?

Female: Yeah.

Tammy Winn: Yeah.

Okay.

Adam Winn: ... and
isn't just clicks on a computer.

Tammy Winn: No pressure.

I know.

We'll see.

Tammy Winn: It's printing.

If you screw it up, start over.

Try again.

Female: [inaudible].

Tammy Winn: No, you're not.

You're good.

We like to make sure that people
can afford it, so a lot of our

stuff falls between 10 to $40.

Female: Oh, it's beautiful.

Tammy Winn: You did fine.

It's beautiful.

Female: Thank you.

Tammy Winn: You get
that nice gradient look,

which is fun, a little salty.

It's where people can go
and put a piece of art in

their home or in their dorm.

Adam Winn: Found
the one you want?

Female: Yeah.

Adam Winn: Let's take a look.

Oh, you got the Athens one.

That's nice.

All right.

It's going to be $20 even.

Tammy Winn: Crushes
are great but they don't

pull in a super huge income.

I don't think that I could just
quit what I do right now, during

the day and
survive as a printer.

Adam Winn: In order to defray
the work for doing custom print,

we always pull a
few extra to sell.

This was mostly metal
type, some wood and....

With both Tammy and
I working full time,

this is nights and weekends.

We're giving up our sleep-in on
Saturday morning to get up at

four o'clock in the
morning and pack our car

and go down and sell prints ...

Maybe I'm crazy but those, for
the last half of the day, was it

just busier than normal?

... so we can continue the
studio and continue to help

rescue the equipment,
get the type somewhere that

it's going to be cared
for for the next 50 years.

Tammy Winn: I don't really
believe in the idea of having

stuff in the shop
that wouldn't be used.

Adam Winn: I thought that with
the threat of the weather this

morning, we won't get anything
but I'm pretty sure we just had

our best day
ever, which is cool.

Tammy Winn: I want to share it
with people and not just myself.

My biggest goal would be to have
a community space that people

could come into to teach from.

To find a place for that and a
space for it would be really

exciting but it's a big project.

Adam Winn: We
sold a lot of those.

Tammy Winn: I've printed that.

Adam Winn: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Rub it in.

Tammy Winn: I've been collecting
the right kind of presses that

would be user friendly to people
and type that people could use.

That's what we'll do
for probably a while until

maybe things will change.

If it does, awesome.

The sooner the better, great.

If not, we'll see what happens.

Jim Daggs: These machines don't
do well just collecting dust.

They like to be used.

[clicking and clacking]

They're made to run three
shifts a day, seven days a week.

[clicking and clacking]

They get a little
sluggish after they sit.

They'll let you know it.

[clicking and clacking]

Rich Hopkins: The
people that ran this equipment

were brilliant people.

They were dedicated to
making the equipment work.

A whole lot of brain
power went into it.

The machine is a marvel.

All of this equipment
was built to last forever.

The monotype
machine, the same design was

manufactured for 70 years.

Now, they did improve it but
they always had the idea that

we're going to improve the
machine that already exists.

We're not going to come out
with Windows 10 that's going to

replace everything about
Windows and we're going to junk

everything about early Windows.

They don't work that
way back in those days.

That's why we still have
letterpress is because all that

equipment is logical and
well-designed and doesn't rely

on technology that's transient,

circuit boards and memory
hard disks and all that stuff.

Dave Churchman:
There's no plastic.

There's no sheet metal.

There's no wires.

Look at that printing press.

It was made in 1886.

It's still running
like a pickle seeder.

Rich Hopkins: That's not
something that you want to haul

to the dump and
dump over the hill.

I just don't want to see that
much human endeavor trashed.

[clicking and clacking]

[clicking and clacking]

Dave Churchman: This thing is
never going to end up in the

landfill, especially if I
have anything to do with it.

[clicking and clacking]

I think it's
important to preserve these

antiquities, if you will.

[clicking and clacking]

[clicking and clacking]

Jim Sherraden: Any knothole
in the fence you look through,

Hatch can be there.

If you look at the history of
country music, the aesthetic

inevitably is going
to be a Hatch poster.

Celene Aubry: Hatch Show Print,
they've been here since 1879,

continuously in production and
only printing with letterpress

printing presses
the entire time.

Jim Sherraden: In the 30s and
40s, it started out with these

big wood blocks because there's
no advertising competition with

radio because not everybody
has a radio in their rural home.

In town, there's electricity.

At home, you have to
plug into a car battery

to hear the Grand Ole Opry.

Celene Aubry: It includes all
sorts of live entertainment,

particularly Southern live
entertainment, minstrel shows,

carnival, circuses, wrestling.

All of that stuff.

Jim Sherraden: How you going to
get these folks off the tractor,

out of the cotton
field, out of the coal mine

is with a big Hatch poster.

Telephone pole or Woolworth's
glass window to tell or sell you

on going to a
country music show.

Celene Aubry: Especially for
live entertainment touring the

South, it gives a
great place to get stocked

up on your show posters.

They would telegraph or
call in their orders.

Advance men would go to the
towns ahead of the traveling

troops, paper the town.

These posters were getting
put up on week to advertise

shows coming through town.

Then, soon as that
show is over or something,

it was plastered over them.

[music]

[music]

A poster to advertise your show
is as important, probably if not

more important than the
hair, the makeup, all of that.

All of those other
accessories won't mean anything

if nobody comes to your show.

Because we helped country music
establish it's visual identity

through all of the posters that
we did to help advertise, we are

synonymous in many ways in a
lot of people's eyes with the

country aesthetic
in that regard.

We are a living connection
from the past into the future by

designing and printing those
posters for folks like Roy Acuff

and Bill Monroe and doing the
work that we do with tide

Grand Ole Opry and those
folks, even Willie Nelson

into today and tomorrow.

We do posters for folks like
Taylor Swift and Dierks Bentley.

You can come and see it.

You can come and
see the posters rolling

off the presses right here.

It's pretty awesome.

[music]

Rick von Holdt: The joy is in
the having but the joy is also

in the hunt and you would be
amazed at the amount of stories

I could probably tell,
just about how things

came to be in my possession.

A lot of times, it
was simply by asking.

I was working in
downtown San Francisco.

The typography shop still
had all the materials there.

They were going to be
disposing of this quickly.

There was one face that I
thought was absolutely gorgeous.

I used to bug their sales guy
from time to time saying, "I

want that typeface when you
guys ever get rid of this."

He kept that in mind.

Then, one day out of the
blue, he said, "We're going to

get rid of all of our type.

We know you want something.

Let me know what it is."

I went through their catalog.

I think I chose 10 or 12
antique-looking typefaces.

I said, "I would be
interested in these but

it depends on the cost."

A week later, I came back.

He said, "It's $36."

I said, "For which one?"

He said, "For all of them."

Dave Peat: I'm
basically a collector.

I was very fortunate to start
actively in 1960 because many

print shops were going offset.

Rich Hopkins: When I
started seeing the industry

disappearing, I bought
this stuff so that I could

keep doing my stupid journals.

Dave Peat: I was very,
I won't say aggressive,

but very active in finding it.

Initially, I didn't think
there'd be any out there.

Dave Churchman: It's the hunt.

Oh, yeah.

Always the hunt.

It's a form of 21st
century and 20th century

archeological digging.

Jim Daggs: We hauled
linotype machines.

We hauled presses.

We hauled type.

Rich Hopkins: I didn't do it but
the word got out that there's

this crazy guy in West
Virginia that buys this stuff.

Dave Peat: Most of the stuff I
have would have been scrapped

and lost, essentially, forever.

Jim Daggs: I had publishers
calling me up, said, "We heard

the rumor that you went from
offset back to letterpress."

I said, "We sure did."

"Well, that's crazy."

Yeah, we went backwards.

Rich Hopkins: This shop that I
have here integrates in probably

8 to 10 different
monotype plants.

It is a major collection but
whether that's worth $20,

I don't know.

I'm happy with it.

I'm going to keep it
going as long as I can.

Dave Churchman:
There's stuff out there

and it's still out there.

I keep thinking, "It's all
gone, it's all been found.

It's all found
homes, not my home."

Rick von Holdt: I commuted to
San Francisco on the Bart train

so whatever I took, I
had to be able to hold in

my lap or put in my briefcase.

They looked at me like I was
nuts and they go, "Who in the

hell would want handset type?"

I said, "Well, I have a little
press I just like to play with."

They, "Really?"

[clacking of type
falling into breifcase]

That was the start.

Originally, I wondered if I
would ever be lucky enough to

have enough type to fill a whole
one cabinet of type in 25 cases

with handset type.

As it turns out now, almost
40 years later, I have over

2,000 fonts of handset type.

Adam Winn: I think every
neighborhood has that one person

who starts collecting stray
cats, whether they realize

that's what
they're doing or not.

They start with a couple and
pretty soon three and then five.

The next thing
they know, they've got

20 cats living in their house.

They say, "How did this happen?"

You just can't say,
"No," to the strays.

You have to bring them in.

There's this moment.

I can't quite pin down when it
was but we became the people

who have printing presses.

Everybody has an uncle that has
a press in their basement or a

grandfather who has type
from when he was a printer.

They've kept it in the basement
because they knew it was

important but couldn't
quite articulate why.

That the ramp up was
unexpected and it's one of those

self-feeding things
that, as we get more presses,

people know we have presses.

When they see them, they call
us and then we get more presses.

Tammy Winn: Adam with me alone
one night and I discovered a

Kelsey but I actually
have five or six Kelseys.

Adam Winn: I think
you're up to six.

Every time I swear that we're
done, my wife brought home, put

them in the 18th press,
which was a little toy press.

I said, "Okay.

That's it.

This is as many
as we can handle.

No more."

It wasn't three days later,
a good friend of mine called

and said, "Hey. I'm
at an antique store.

Here's a press.

Do you want it?"

Of course, we
have to say, "Yes."

We have a cute little Sigwalt.

Moving up, we have a
Chandler & Price 8x12,

a Chandler & Price 12x18.

Tammy Winn: She's
large and hefty.

She weighs about 2,500 pounds.

Adam Winn: I think we
named her Big Bertha.

Is that right?

Tammy Winn: No.

Black Betty.

Adam Winn: Black Betty.

That's right.

We've got
Heidelberg 10x15 Windmill.

Tammy Winn: Her name
is Brunhilda and bas-

Adam Winn: She's German.

Tammy Winn: A lot of our
presses do have names.

Adam Winn: Pipsqueak.

Tammy Winn: Pipsqueak.

That's what you
going to name our press?

That's stupid.

Adam Winn: It just came to me.

Moment of inspiration.

We've got dueling Line-O-Scribes
that are cute, little guys.

Tammy Winn: The Line-O-Scribes,
which are our favorite.

We acquired one.

Then, we had this lovely woman
come to a show and see one and

said that she had
one that was like it.

We didn't realize it
was an exact match.

There a couple hundred away from
each other in serial numbers,

which is pretty awesome.

Then, my one Pearl is from 1890.

That was a civil auction Pearl.

Then, my other
Pearl is from 1912.

It's in beautiful shape.

Adam Winn: We've got
one, two, five show card

presses that I can think of.

Really, the list is hard to
keep track of at this point.

It grows, that 7x11
Chandler & Price, at a rate

that I can't keep up with.

Tammy Winn: Adam's going
to buy me more presses.

Adam Winn: Probably.

Paul Aken: My dad felt I
was the dumbest kid that he had

and sent me to a trade school.

You got nine weeks of printing,
drafting, metalworking,

woodworking, all
the different trades.

At that point, I fell
in love with printing.

You would set up your name
and whatever in hand set type,

proof it, correct it, and
actually put it in a notebook.

I actually still have the
notebook from junior high.

One of the favorite things that
I reprinted, a little card that

said, "Ten reasons why I swear."

Of course, one of them was
it pleases my mother so much.

The funny part about it
is now I have more education

than anybody in my family.

Anyway, we said I'm
going all the same way.

It's been about
10 years teaching a

vocational course in Waukegan.

I was training people
on the vocational end

to go out and get a job.

I used to tell them that
if you gave the boss 110%,

you would always have a job.

This is an automatic hand
mold that I came up with.

You probably know
more about it than I do.

Gregory Walters: Put that up.

That was the mat, which is
held in by the spring, still.

Paul Aken: Yeah.

Gregory Walters: Put
it right back together.

Paul Aken: Turn it over and ...

Gregory Walters: Cast
another piece, huh?

Paul Aken: Cast
another piece, yes.

One day, they
came to me and said,

"Take early
retirement or bereft."

Having a master's degree and god
knows how many credits beyond,

I could make that decision.

I retired at the
ripe old age of 51.

People retire, they
have nothing to do.

Five years later, they're
putting them on the wrong side

of the grass but my love
has always been letterpress.

This was my dream to
open up a printing museum.

This is the Platen Press
Museum in Zion, Illinois.

It's 4,000 square
feet of printing stuff.

I have probably 600
presses and probably

555 of them are platen presses.

If it has to do with
letterpress, I probably have it.

How many hundreds of thousand
times have they been determined

they used this kick and how many
hundreds of thousands of times

has somebody sat
there and fed this press or

that press or the other press?

It's really
awesome, you might say.

I used to tell people I was a
printer who collected stuff.

Now, I tell people I'm a
collector who prints

but when I kick the bucket
there's going to be a glut of

letterpress printing
equipment on the market.

[music]

Jennifer Farrell: I remember
seeing people setting type and

not understanding what they were
doing or how they were doing it

and just having this pure desire
to learn as soon as possible.

Then, when I did stick around
and learn how to set type, it

was like learning how to
read for the first time.

I'm working on a
series of ampersands.

I wanted to try to push the
idea of the type pictures in a

slightly different direction.

Instead of actually creating a
traditional letterpress form,

I've created a sort of form that
I can fill with ornaments and

type from the collection.

I knew I wanted to do
Cooper Black ampersand.

It was designed by Oz
Cooper here in Chicago.

This particular ampersand has a
little bit of Chicago spliced

into the interior
of the ampersand.

[music]

This one is at the first
stages of proofing it.

It has a couple issues but I can
go through now and start to look

and see what pieces need to
be changed, what needs to be

swapped out and make
sure that it's still is

reading as an ampersand.

This is a slight work in
progress and will be part of a

larger series of
similar ampersands.

[music]

[press clinking and clanking]

The late summer of 2001, I
had all the time in the world

because I quit my job.

At that point, that was when I
met Paul Aken and could go up to

the museum whenever I wanted to
to work around Paul's schedule

and hopefully glean as
much information about

printing from him as I could.

Paul Aken: I have approximately
3,000 cases of hand-set type.

She came up, went
through it case by case.

We identified the type.

Now, this lady knows
more about letterpress

printing than I will ever know.

I'm sure you've probably ordered
one of these but Jen's book,

Alphabet of Sorts.

Jennifer Farrell: With Paul, I
learned how to do everything the

right way and he
never judged me from

the stupid things that I did.

When I went up there to
print, he just would say,

"I wouldn't do it that way."

Then, he would show
me the right way.

Paul Aken: It is such
a tremendous thing.

It's made up of borders.

Rich Hopkins: Oh, yes.

I do have it.

Yes.

I'm sorry.

Paul Aken: Okay.

I can't say enough about her.

She's not only being
my best friend, probably,

in letterpress, she
is just totally creative

and totally a perfectionist.

She just won't
slop something out.

[press clinking and clanking]

Jennifer Farrell: I haven't
learned everything about it,

which is what I like, as I'm
constantly learning and coming

up with new projects that will
maybe be harder or challenging

but if you don't try it,
you don't know if it'll work.

[press clinking and clanking]

[press clinking and clanking]

Rich Hopkins: Okay.

You're going to have
to get wider again.

I'd wind it up about two points.

Celene Aubry: When I went to
Italy, the island of Murano is

where they perfected and
made the first clear glass.

Male: Until I have to let it go.

Celene Aubry: Then, over the
course of the following five

centuries, they forgot how
to do it not once but twice.

They had to remember how to do
it because nobody documented how

they did it originally
because they thought they

would always know how to do it.

[clacking]

Rich Hopkins: If you
would please cool them off

so that I don't get burned.

Dave Churchman: We're
passing along the torch.

It's like all these newbies,
they need a start-off point.

Whether they get it from me or
from the book General Printing

or Paul Aken or wherever they
get it, they need that first

boot in the pants to get going.

Paul Brown: I really don't
know how many institutions of

letterpress
experience comes as part of

the graphic design program.

Does that look like it's
getting ink on the letters?

Female: Yup.

Paul Brown: Okay.

It seems like since the rebirth
of letterpress that institutions

are doing that, which is really
interesting because probably a

number of those institutions
had that originally.

They changed with the
change of technology.

Now, they're getting back in.

Paul Aken: I see so
many young people.

They've come to love
letterpress like I do.

The colleges are
really pushing it.

I don't actually offer courses
here but I do have what I call

interns, somebody that doesn't
have any money and wants to

come in and learn the process.

Rich Hopkins: I think
the early ones were quite

intricate just like the type.

Dave Churchman: I look
at is as an educational

adjunct to a formal education.

Rich Hopkins: It is
a lot of extra work.

Female: When did they first
start making wood type borders?

Rich Hopkins: Probably 1850s.

Dave Peat: Why am I generous
with beginners is probably,

mainly going back
to when I started.

People were very
generous with me.

I would like to
pass that onto others.

I don't necessarily
really like what they print

but I'm glad they're doing it.

Female: I'm going
to let everybody know

that you don't like wood type.

Rich Hopkins: No.

I love wood type.

Female: I'm just kidding.

Dave Churchman: I
think it's wonderful.

They come out and
they're good designers.

They have talent.

They're fed up probably
look at a CRT all day.

Now, they've got a third
dimension, something they can

get their hands on
and be creative.

Paul Aken: The young people.

They're the ones that
kick me in the ass.

I shouldn't
probably have said that.

Kick me in the
butt and motivate me.

Male: Put six or
seven lines of ...

Dave Churchman: Drag them down
the basement stairs and make

them set type in a
composing stick, which is always

interesting because
they get it upside down and

backwards and sideways.

There's only one way to do it.

Paul Brown: Grab this and you
grab that W and make it an M.

Jim Daggs: When they do pull
that first proof off the press

of all, of a sudden what they've
been working with backwards

comes out as a
beautiful printed piece.

Just to share that moment
with them when they're looking

at it like, "I did this."

"Yes, you did.

This is how it works.

Now, you know the
rest of the story."

Paul Brown: Perfect.

There you go.

Nice job.

Jim Daggs: It's a
privilege to help them out.

Female: It looks great.

Stephanie Carpenter: Go and
get the experience because it

might not always be out there.

It'll be in somebody's
garage or their basement

and get it while you can.

Dave Churchman: They can ask
questions on Google and they can

get answers but it's a whole lot
easier to get the best answer

directly, face to face, from
someone who has this knowledge.

Whether I have the knowledge
or not, I make stuff up.

Rich Hopkins: Matthew,
I believe you've made

a perfect piece of type.

Matthew: Yeah.

Rich Hopkins: Closest thing
you're going to get to making a

perfect piece of type,
except that it needs to

move over a little bit more.

Matthew: Same one.

Rich Hopkins:
Clockwise another four clicks.

Go ahead.

Matthew: Just one or just ...

Rich Hopkins: Yeah, just one.

Rick von Holdt: I
have come to see myself

as simply the custodian.

A lot of people say, "Well,
I own this and I own that."

I'm going, "Well, no.

Really, you're going to
become dust someday."

What does happen to this stuff?

It is a finite
amount of material that is

not to be produced again.

Some things are being recast and
revived but for the most part, a

lot of this stuff is
just one time around.

I think that I owe somebody
something somewhere down the

line to make sure this gets
passed along and not simply

dumped or lost forever.

Rich Hopkins: All the machines
that are in this room, they mean

nothing to anybody
until you see one operate

and see what it does.

Dave Peat: The problem I have
with museums and libraries is

the fact that the
people in charge change.

They die, they retire,
new people come in and have

different philosophies about
what that museum should be.

The whole trust of the
Smithsonian has gone away

from the industrial revolution.

What made our country was
that sociological concepts.

It was people working
and developing machines

and getting things done.

Dave Churchman: I
don't trust museums.

They de-accession things.

This stuff is
borderline deaccessionable,

if that's a word.

It should be in the hands of
people who intend to use it.

Greg Walter's a perfect example.

He bought
typecasting machines that might

have gone to a museum.

They've been used.

We've all benefited from this.

It should not go to the
Smithsonian because they've got

warehouses in
Maryland full of stuff.

I've been in them
and I've seen it.

I'm thinking, "What a shame."

Dave Peat: They have all kinds
of machinery and a tremendous

collection of
matrices to make the type.

They have a tremendous
collection of the actual type.

None of it is on display.

None of it has any interest
of the people in charge now.

This is the terrible shame.

I would hate for my
collection to end up like that.

Dave Churchman: My middle son,
Andrew, because of the warehouse

where he's been a
worker off and on.

I used to buy him
lunch and pay him $5.

All my kids have
worked at the warehouse

grudgingly, I might add.

He has enough knowledge that
he knows how to liquidate this

stuff when I'm looking at
the wrong side of the grass,

Andrew can come down here.

It's left to him in my will.

I want this stuff to go to
end users, either embryonic

or well-schooled printers.

Andrew Churchman: We are
currently standing at 470 North

Warman, which is known inside
the family as the warehouse, to

the letterpressers of the
world as Boutique de Junque,

J-U-N-Q-U-E.

This is the amalgamation of my
father's last 45 or 50 years of

printing stuff and ephemera.

There's a smattering of
different stuff here.

There are presses.

There's type.

If it's
letterpress, it's probably in

this building somewhere.

He used to bring me down here.

I would work with him for free.

I protested and
said, "Well, gee.

Maybe I should get
paid something."

I was just a kid.

He started paying me
$5 a day plus lunch.

That was the deal.

I told him I should have started
a closed shop union and demanded

a 50% increase in wages
but that never played out.

The bathroom has now become the
chase room, which I admittedly

used once before
anyone knew that it didn't

function and paid the price.

I had to clean it up.

I learned at his knee.

He was the best teacher
I ever could have had.

He was super patient.

Just, when he
talked, I listened.

He used to sit there.

I used to sit in that other
chair, which we dug out one day

because he said, "Oh,
there's this really neat

kind of captain's chair that ...

" I said, "Well, where is it,"
because I thought he wanted to

have it to sit in but
I'd sit in that chair

there and he'd sit there.

We'd sit here and
kick it around and make

grand plans for this place.

Some of it's in better
condition than other areas.

There are the
financial considerations.

When the roof has to be repaired
and trees need to get cut down,

yeah, it's a little bit of a
burden but in terms of the

volume of letterpress stuff,
I'm proud to say my last name's

Churchman and that
I'm Dave's son, and that

I've got a stake in this.

I think it's on
me to carry it on.

He was once described
by a friend of mine as a

distracted genius, easily
carried off into this world but

brilliant by every measure.

It gave him purpose.

He was still on it
up to December 28th.

He's still on
mid-project, on moving

some stuff into the basement.

Yeah.

I'm just grateful that I
had the time that I did.

I wish we had more time.

Now, what I've got is 5,000
cases of type and a bunch of

letterpress equipment
but his soul is here.

That still hurts.

I see pictures of him
and stuff like that.

I don't actually like
being here when he's not here.

I know I have to be because his
legacy, it's important to me.

I haven't really gotten
comfortable in that role, I

guess or this role or
whatever we're going to call it.

He can't be replaced.

[music]

Rich Hopkins: I think it's just
a shame that our country by and

large, everybody's got it
in their hand now instead of

working with stuff
and developing stuff.

That's why I'm so
excited about the computer

interface for my monotype.

Merging things together
and doing neat things.

That's what I'm wanting to do.

This is the Lanston
Monotype Composition Caster.

This particular model
was introduced about 1904.

It was the first typesetting
system that digitized type.

Therefore, even though Lanston
developed a pneumatic system and

a pneumatic keyboard to drive
it, it was determined very early

by people that knew anything
about computers that there

should be a way to
computerize the thing.

[clicking of Monotype]

I am now driving a wooden
wagon with a jet engine.

The jet engine is my MacBook.

Bill Welliver, who is a friend
of mine and the computer genius

behind it developed this
system of hardware and software.

These are all air tubes.

These are air valves.

The air tubes lead down to here
and make the machine raise and

lower pins just like the
monotype keyboard did.

The MacBook sends
a code over here.

It opens a valve.

The valve pushes a pin up.

The machine selects a
character and casts it.

Then, it sends a code
back to the computer, saying,

"I'm waiting for the next code."

In the old days when you're
working with a keyboard blind,

about every fifth line,
you had a mistake in it.

If you're a sloppy keyboard
operator, it'd be every line.

That's a double whammy because
every time a machine stopped

because of a mistake in a line,
the mold gets cold, the lines

change in width
because the mold got cold.

It really creates a mess.

I've actually been
running my monotype with a

computer for about 15 years.

The beauty of it is that you
can see the job on the computer

screen before you cast anything.

About 90% of the time, there
are no mistakes there at all

because I saw them all here.

What this has done is taken 19th
century technology and moved

it right into the 21st century.

It's extended the
life of a monotype

composition caster immensely.

I haven't run the
keyboard in two years.

That's because I
got the MacBook.

Stephanie Carpenter: Hamilton
Manufacturing Company started in

1880 with a gentleman
named James Edward Hamilton.

He started to produce wood
type different than anyone

else had ever done before.

He did it out of necessity.

It went really well for him.

The short version is is
within 10 years, he started

to take over his competition.

Within 20 years, he's the
largest manufacturer of wood

type in the United States.

It meant a lot more type and
cabinets and cases for people,

printers specifically,
across the country.

Jim Moran: They produced type
until 1992, seven years after

the Mac had been
invented and on the market.

It's a very strange irony
that you've got the computer.

Yet, there are small
applications and a need

therefore to produce type.

Stephanie Carpenter:
The process for making

wood type hasn't changed.

Hamilton, the museum is
doing it just like Hamilton, the

manufacturing company did it.

You start the process with
perfect rock maple tree.

Then, you chop that tree down.

You actually split it in half.

After they chop the tree down,
it gets sawed into half rounds

and tried out for
six months to a year.

While the wood is being dried
out, the original patterns

are put together by Norm.

Norm: What it amounts
to is mostly tracing.

Stephanie Carpenter: He traced
them using carbon paper onto a

thin piece of wood.

That thin piece of wood
gets cut out, gets mounted.

That becomes your original
pattern for creating more type.

After the wood gets sealed with
shellac, then David cuts it to

its line size or pica height so
it's ready for the pantograph.

Then, Mardell's
at the pantograph.

She takes her pattern and her
fresh piece of wood, sets it up

and will cut out every letter.

The pantograph is
a tracing machine.

On the left side, there's a
tracer and on the right side,

there's a router that goes at
30,000 revolutions a minute.

That's cutting that
wood into a piece of type.

The last step in the process is
hand finishing where Dave uses

engravers and knives to trim
every corner to the right angle.

That whole process
was done by hand.

Jim Moran: Those people that did
it are way more important than

the machines they did it with.

They're disappearing fast.

It puts more gravity on
those of us here at the

museum to get those voices.

The time to do it is
now because like a lot of

other things it will disappear.

Then, we'll wish we
knew how that happened.

Stephanie Carpenter: Hamilton
Wood Type Museum is now making

wood type and printing
posters as well as teaching.

Jim Moran: Some of the
best-known designers in the

world are coming to us and
asking if we will make type for

them because they,
too, are interested in

the medium in another form.

What we're attempting to do is
not just take the very latest

methods in design and turn them
into type but reexamine the way

we've been speaking to each
other for a really long time and

saying, "They had
some great ideas.

Let's look at them again."

Adam Winn: The
latest press we found is

a Chandler & Price 7x11.

Male: Okay, here is the
little press [inaudible].

Adam Winn: She is a beaut.

It was rusty.

It was dirty.

There was an inch of
grime on every surface.

Anybody in their
right mind would look

at it and think, "Trash."

Male: Here, it has stayed
pretty much in this spot.

They're not even easy to
move around, are they?

Adam Winn: No, no.

Male: Dad always said there was
a couple things that it needed

before he could get
it running again.

Hopefully, you guys
can make it work.

Adam Winn: Our experience
with the presses and knowing

just how resilient they
really are told us that it

actually could be a lot more.

Oh, we do have a
serial number, A243.

Tammy Winn: The thing that's
worried us, which is some advice

we'd always gotten from
Jim Daggs is never haul

a press out of a basement.

Adam Winn: We've actually gotten
a lot of advice to never,

ever try and do it but ...

Male: Yeah.

And here we are moving a
press out of a basement.

Tammy Winn: So,
your [crosstalk] ...

Adam Winn: This surely won't
be the last time we ignore good

advice and pull a printer
out of the basement anyway.

The patient is ready.

Here.

Get this smaller one.

Grab it.

Grab it.

Tammy Winn: You're fine.

[inaudible] fingers.

Yeah.

We win.

Adam Winn: Victory is ours.

A lot of what we
do is first for us.

Things that we
haven't done before.

We don't necessarily know how to
do them but we have a good idea

and aren't afraid
to jump in and try.

We cleaned off the press,
pulled all the loose pieces off,

identified what was part of
the press and what wasn't.

There's 25 pounds we don't
have to haul up the stairs.

We've pulled those off for
safety, both for the people

moving the press
and the press itself.

[crosstalk] through and
strap this as snug as possible.

Tammy Winn: This
has to stay shug.

Adam Winn: Great.

Can you get that
into the [inaudible]?

Tammy Winn: Yeah.

Get it up higher.

Adam Winn: Yup.

Tammy Winn: [inaudible].

Adam Winn: That's fine.

All right.

That's it.

It's where it needs to be.

We were fortunate
enough that Paul had a friend

who is a tow truck driver.

Called him and
brought him over and he said

he'd be happy to help us.

From there, that eased
the burden considerably.

I think there's an old saying
that no plan survives the enemy.

In this case, the
enemy was the staircase.

Any more lift.

Right now we are sitting right
up against the base of the ramp,

like it's butted up against it.

Tammy Winn: You need help, Adam?

Adam Winn: No.

Not right now.

Male: What's going on?

A little update?

Adam Winn: The sharp angle
is defeating us right now.

The front end of the slide
is catching on the ramp.

We need to get some
lift on the front.

Tammy's going to come
down with another pry bar.

We're both going to be
lifting while he pulls.

When you're sweaty and tired
and your back hurts and you're

covered in who knows what
sort of toxic dust that's been

accumulating for 50 years,
sometimes you need that reminder

of this is bigger than me.

This is bigger than the
discomfort of a moment.

Right into my waiting arms.

You feel for my trap.

Tammy Winn: Uh-oh!

Adam Winn: Hi.

Tammy Winn: Hi.

Adam Winn: Sometimes, we
feel like Indiana Jones.

We're out there
rescuing relics from

people who would abuse them.

Is there a stopping point?

I don't know that
that's our choice.

Stop, stop, stop.

Here, lift.

Need a shallower ...

Tammy Winn: You
want me to go up?

Adam Winn: Yeah.

Come in further and just ...

We're making progress, go ahead
and pull just a little bit.

We really have to give a lot of
credit to the tow truck driver.

He was an expert of what he did.

He lowered the hook.

I hooked it up.

A little caution, a
little care, we pulled

the press right up the stairs.

We are
three-quarters of the way.

Oh, Glen!

Tammy Winn: It was available
and you could use that.

I would say, if
you're going to move a press

up a basement or out of ...

Yeah, get a tow truck.

Adam Winn: Stop, stop, stop.

You are caught on something.

Somebody on top is going to need
to get a pry bar under there and

shake it loose so it slips up.

I think ...

Male: Starting to tip flat.

Adam Winn: We have to really
weigh the inconvenience of

having another press on your
foot and the money we have to

lay out to get it against
a loss of true history.

Male: It's
sitting on the plywood.

The plywood's
moving out the door.

Tammy Winn: That's okay.

Once it's solid up
there, let us know.

Adam Winn: The thing to
understand is that a set of

type, a press may only
come by once in our lifetime.

If we don't rescue something
and it goes to the scrap pile,

nobody's ever
going to get it again.

We going to put that
other ramp out here?

Stephanie Carpenter: Letterpress
printing has this beautiful

history of communicating and
giving the power to the people.

It allows you to stand
up against an oppressor.

Then, it's interesting because
nowadays, it's a lot prettier.

Rich Hopkins: The fact
is that a well-designed

piece communicates better.

If it doesn't, it's
not well designed.

Typography used
to be a discipline.

There were typographers.

They were people that made
their living as typographers.

That whole trade is disappeared.

They don't exist anymore.

It just goes
straight from Macintosh to

a copier of some sort.

Believe me, that's
not the best way.

It's more of an art form now
what remains of letterpress

because every person that
has a computer has some

way of reproducing things.

Stephanie Carpenter: Some
people might not see that it's

communicating in the same
way but it might be doing

it in a more concise way.

Instead of huge broadside or
a book, it's now printed in a

couple of words or a quote so I
think it's beautiful to see how

letterpress has
changed to run one and changed

to what it is nowadays.

[music]

Paul Aken: To me, it's
still communication.

If you hand me this, I'm going
to look at it and if it's a

piece of art that's, it's
not as high in my opinion.

If it's something different,
it communicates with me.

We look at places like Hatch.

They print some
nice stuff but to me,

very little of it communicates.

It's just there.

If you like it, you hang it
on your wall type of thing.

Jim Sherraden: Today, because
of social media, because of

television, radio, all of the
other technologies that we daily

use to receive our
where and when information,

the Hatch poster has
ceased becoming a functioning

tell you or sell your item.

It is now a commemorative
or a celebratory item.

Celene Aubry: Posters are not
necessary for advertising but

they are a really cool
visual commemorative piece.

Jim Sherraden: I've always
said we needed each other.

I needed this shop
as much as this shop

needed somebody like me.

I hope that comment is
taken with a gratitude.

That's always how it's intended.

When I walked into
the shop the first time,

it was a visceral experience.

Couldn't believe the history
of it that the Johnny Cash

photoplate was sitting right
next to a Patsy Cline photoplate

next to a Led
Zeppelin photoplate.

It was still a
relatively untouched archive.

Celene Aubry: He would go
through the business records and

organize the business records
and could trace the history of

entertainers that he had grown
up listening to or entertainers

that he was learning about for
the first time by reading their

names, reminding people what we
had, historically in the shop

and reminding people that we
could make posters and making

the posters really
kept Hatch going during

some lean times for the shop.

Jim Sherraden: You love it.

You got to live it and you
got to make a revenue of that.

I am almost
belligerent about it.

You had to.

You had to get this
place up and running.

These presses print.

Roll that money through.

Roll those dollar bills through.

Sell the product, continue
this legacy of Hatch Show Print

and the legacy of letterpress.

The part of this shop that
fascinated me the most when I

got here '84 and still
fascinates me probably more

today are the one-sheet
carved poster blocks.

Started printing them carefully.

Anybody with any common sense
saw how beautiful they were.

I started thinking about
the compositions, the themes.

It made me a better artist.

I started making what
I call the monoprints.

They were
successful almost overnight.

[music]

[music]

We enjoy this great
romanticism here as

the great Hatch Show Print.

Everybody in here has
their own version of it.

Everybody in here
makes great posters.

Everybody in here
knows how to carve.

Everybody here looks at this
place as a jewel, a gem, being

grateful for the opportunity
to learn how to do all of this.

For real, learn it from
the blue collar guys.

Go back in time to
1879, did the Hatch brothers

consider themselves designers?

Most certainly not.

Time has made us call
ourselves designers.

When it's all said and
done, we're printers.

You can put all the articles out
there and all the interviews and

all the attaboys
and attagirls but we're

printers at the end of the day.

[music - press sounds]

Adam Winn: Just for the record,
I want all you guys to realize..

Paul, how old are you?

This is at least 40
something years since

this press has seen sunlight.

[wind noise]

The reason that I've wanted to
get involved with this is not

necessarily for the art, which
is amazing and I love it but

because it really is a critical
and important piece of history.

Tammy Winn: I'm just soaking it
all in as quickly as possible,

especially from the
older generation who there's

so very little time with them.

Paul Aken: Things you'll find
is like Hamilton did, beautiful,

smooth, glass-finished,
perfectly flat 918 thousands,

within three thousands.

There's no finish.

It's shellacked so ...

Tammy Winn: Printing is just
a magical thing and I think

people, they should try it.

[music]

[music]

Dave Churchman: Whether it's
photography or stamp collecting

or you collect cameras
or canoes, whatever it is,

it's a tie to the past.

I hope good ties
to the past help

reduce errors of the future.

Rich Hopkins: We're still
working very nicely with

machines that were built
75, 80, 100 years ago.

That's why it's still alive.

I think that's a credit to the
machinery and maybe the industry

ought to focus on it
a little bit more and

go back in that direction.

Gregory Walters: It gives a
little focus to my life and

what I want to do with my life.

I guess there is, yeah, a
symbiotic relationship.

I'm keeping them alive and
they're keeping me alive.

Tammy Winn: I had no idea that
you would gain not only just

type and presses and
ink and all the weight that

comes with having a shop

but that you got all
these friends with it.

Rich Hopkins: Best friends in
many instances because we have a

passion for a common thing and
also we appreciate each other.

Dave Churchman: It's big.

I mean, it's like an
inch, 72 point letters.

It's big, bold letters.

It's big, bold
letters like Cooper Black.

There are a few pickles
and I could give you names

but I'm not because I
might see myself in a courtroom

situation but they're damn few.

Rich Hopkins: But again, all
of these, even when they're

McKellers are
ornamented number such and such.

None of these have been named.

Dave Churchman: Which is
annoying when you're trying to..

Jim Moran: I'm often quite
humbled by looking at 200 year

old specimen books.

I think, "Those guys
were master printers.

They had no electric lights.

They had no power
equipment and they

were doing a phenomenal job."

Rich Hopkins: Can you
imagine creating a Punch ...

Dave Churchman: No.

Rich Hopkins: ...
with the right size that's ...

The identical features of
all the other character?

Dave Churchman: No.

I have no idea how they
could have done that work.

None.

I really don't ...

Rich Hopkins:
With poor lighting.

Dave Churchman:
With big windows.

Rich Hopkins: Yeah.

And probably everybody
drinking and smoking.

Jim Moran: As
everybody gets their

segment of printing history ...

Rich Hopkins: Aha!

Dave Churchman: Oh!

Look at that chromatic ...

Jim Moran: All you really get to
do is advance it a little bit.

You get to carry the torch.

Don't forget that it's an honor
to carry the torch even for a

brief time because really ...

Rich Hopkins:
...one or the other ...

Jim Moran: ... that's
the best thing we can hope for.

Dave Churchman: Right.

I have that in 48 point ...

Rich Hopkins: Oh, really?

Dave Churchman: ... with only
three caps, all lower case,

three caps, W,
K, and O, I think.

Jim Sherraden: All these folks
that collected type machine in

the early days, much
to the chagrin, I'm sure,

of their wives and families.

Male: ...heavy quarter
case of two point legs.

Jim Sherraden:
Perhaps call it their

destiny that their legacy ...

Male: May have one of
these from above but we can

order them to take what's come.

Jim Sherraden: It is
either the box in the back of

their truck or the river bottom.

[crosstalk].

Jim Sherraden: They
chose the back of their

truck to put all this stuff in.

[crosstalk].

Male: Yeah.

Well, I would
just assume some ...

Jim Sherraden: I could speak
for their love of the craft and

their love of the
archive and say, "Thank you."

[crosstalk].

Jim Sherraden: Here, we will
continue inking our blocks out.

Celene Aubry: It's incredible
that at the end of the day,

you're relying on
people for all of it.

Paul Aken: From my
perspective, I'm at the end.

Been there and done that

but I think letterpress
is going to grow.

I really do.

[music]

[music]

Dave Peat: I would
like to leave a legacy.

I do hope that the
people that I have helped

get started continue with it.

I've warned
people, it's a disease.

You get really
interested in this.

It gets out of hand.

I'll make another
digression, if you don't mind.

Maybe people have
the same or get the

same feeling that I have.

It's such a satisfying thing

but I think the
bottom line in all of

this is creating something.

Jim Daggs: It's been fulfilling
to be able to make a living at

what you like to do and be
happy and healthy doing it.

I guess I look at
life simple like that.

[music]

[press clinkimg and clankimg]

I intend to continue
on in what other people

would call retirement years.

I tell people I've
probably got 1,200 years

worth of projects to do anyway.

[press clinkimg and clankimg]

They used to have a sign on
the wall said, "Keep printing

until the hearse shows up."

I guess that's probably
what I'll end up doing.

[music]

[music]

[music]