International Printing Museum
The International Printing Museum has one of the largest collections of antique printing presses in the United States. It offers educational programs for school groups at the museum, and also has a Ben-Franklin-type printing press on a trailer that travels to schools and public events for living history programs.
Peter Small demonstrating the museum's Gutenberg press
Peter Small showing a student how Ben Franklin set type by hand.
One of the museum's early 19th century Columbian presses being demonstrated
A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium, thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the cloth, paper, or other medium was brushed or rubbed repeatedly to achieve the transfer of ink and accelerated the process. Typically used for texts, the invention and global spread of the printing press was one of the most influential events in the second millennium.
Recreated Gutenberg press at the International Printing Museum, Carson, California
Medieval university class (1350s)
Early modern wine press. Such screw presses, used in Europe for a wide range of uses, provided Gutenberg with the model for his printing press.
Movable type sorted in a letter case and loaded in a composing stick on top
