April 8, 2015

Wood Type Archaeology: The Archaeological Experiment

Part I: The Archaeological Experiment with the Border Stamping Machine For an industrial archaeologist, it is a rare privilege to be able to operate a piece of machinery from the industrial past, especially one as engaging as the die-stamping machine at the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this machine was used... Read More »

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March 11, 2015

The Portland Project

Good things take time. Back in September of 2011, my good friend and Hamilton Artistic Board member, Nick Sherman came to me with a proposal. Via email, he introduced me to his friend Jim Coudal of Field Notes with the idea of having us print a note book for them. I loved the idea but was daunted by the volume;... Read More »

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March 10, 2015

The Idea of Building 18 Display Cabinets

How I found the museum I was looking at Wisconsin sites on the web and found one about interesting places to see around Manitowoc. I never heard of wood type and the history of that industry, so I looked at the Hamilton site and recorded the address. A year later I looked again and the museum was moving. They had... Read More »

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March 3, 2015

Wood Type Archaeology: Motive Power

On my most recent trip to Two Rivers and the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum, I rigged up a one-horsepower electric motor to the die stamping machine the Hamilton Manufacturing Company used to make decorative wood type border during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I was hopeful this motor would be sufficient to power the machine through... Read More »

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February 28, 2015

An Intern Update

What a whirlwind these past few weeks have been! Before you know it, it will be spring. These past weeks we have been hard at work, bringing out type cases that had been in storage and cleaning them up for display. Hamilton has been blessed with a generous benefactor, who has created over a dozen of new type display cases.... Read More »

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