Jim Moran

After nearly 15 years at the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum (HWT&PM), Master Printer and Collections Officer Jim Moran will retire at the end of December 2023. Moran served as the museum’s director from 2009–2019 and as Master Printer and Collections Officer from 2019–2023. Throughout his career, Moran has been deeply committed to preserving letterpress printing both for its historical importance and as a means of contemporary artistic expression. As the museum’s longest-serving director, Moran’s legacy is one of growth. Moran made the museum a hospitable place for the print community while raising the museum’s visibility. With his brother and Artistic Director Bill Moran, he planned the first Wayzgoose conference, held in 2009 (Moran’s first year as Director). With Moran’s work, HWT&PM became an internationally renowned museum for the design and printing community.

Jim Moran’s dedication to letterpress printing has been a catalyst for the growth of the museum to its present-day status as an internationally renowned organization. As a third-generation printer with commercial and non-profit experience, Moran had a keen ability to preserve and share history.

Jim Moran has often interviewed guests as part of a Wayzgoose program. To honor Jim’s retirement in 2024 we are turning the table to ask him questions about notable Hamilton moments. Be prepared to salute Jim with a shower of affection. Tracy Honn will conduct the interview.

Jim Moran, Master Printer and Collections Officer. Jim runs letterpress workshops, archives the collection and maintains the museum on a daily basis. Previously he had volunteered at Hamilton and donated presses and equipment from his Green Bay, Wisconsin, printing firm, Moran’s Quality Print Shop, where he worked as apprentice, pressman, partner and owner with his father and grandfather for over 35 years.

Tracy Honn is a printing history educator, curator, and letterpress printer living in Madison Wisconsin. She is a senior artist emerit from University of Wisconsin-Madison where she directed the Silver Buckle Press, a working museum of letterpress printing. Honn oversaw the transfer of the Silver Buckle Press collection to Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum in 2016. She is president of the board of directors for Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum, and a longtime friend of the museum. This is her 13th Wayzgoose.