The Legacy and Impact of Printing
The selection of objects on display in The Printing Museum’s permanent gallery spaces demonstrate how printing has significantly contributed to the development of civilization-transforming our lives to the present day. The galleries unfold in a broad chronology and illustrate the enduring impact of printing by exploring the intersections of the history, art, and technology. Seminal moments from the past—from the invention of paper and moveable type to the struggle of free press in the early American Republic to important advances in printing technology and publishing in the twentieth-century—highlight how technological and artistic advances often fueled significant historical events throughout the centuries.
Discover how themes related to printing—such as access to information, censorship, education, and literacy—are recurrent throughout past centuries, and resonate with similar advances, issues, and concerns that are prevalent in our contemporary digital society. Printing has been, and continues to be, a means for significant social, political and cultural change.
Precursors to Printing Gallery: This first gallery explores the development of writing, books and paper in some of the earliest civilizations, including the Mesopotamia, Egypt, Mesoamerica, and East Asia. As nomadic cultures began to settle and form cities, governments and societies—a need emerge to record properly and mark goods, as well as to facilitate transactions and communications.
Systems of writing were established from pictograms (painted or imprinted images that represent things) to ideograms (written symbols that represent concepts), and some to alphabetic systems (symbols corresponding to sounds). Coinciding with the development of written language that was the development of tools and materials to record these communications, including the invention of papyrus in Egypt around 3000 B.C.E., paper in China in 105 C.E. as well as the refinement of parchment (a treated animal skin) in Pergamon (present day Turkey) around 300 B.C.E.
In most of these early civilizations, writing and literacy was reserved for a small elite class and written documents were for administrative and/or religious purposes. Subsequently, early forms of writing and printing often conveyed mystical and symbolic power to masses of illiterate populations-and the process of writing, transcribing, and copying became a ritualistic practice for scribes. Evan as Asian, Middle Eastern, Greco-Roman and other Latin cultures established systems of education and libraries (both secular and religious)-poetry, calligraphy, illustration and book production remained the domain of an educated elite.
Highlights Include:
Johannes Gutenberg Gallery: Printing in Europe emerged out of the renewed interest and innovations in art, technology, science, and philosophy during the period known as the Renaissance (a French word for “re-birth). It was an era of rebuilding after the Plague (1346-1353), a pandemic that wiped out half of the European population. By 1450, the development of the printing press by German goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg (c. 1400-1468) marked the beginning of the printing revolution, where technological advances were combined with humanistic interests, and book production improved dramatically in speed and quality.
In this gallery, you can explore the impact of the printing on the Renaissance period and beyond. Printing and moveable type provided and “information explosion” and allowed the spread of new ideas and learning. Martin Waldseemüller’s (1470-1520) ambitious printing of a cartographic map of the world made the discoveries of explorers like Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) known to the world. Printed works by literary masters like William Shakespeare (1582-1616) brought the dramatic arts to a wider populace. Advances in engraving the etching processes offered greater access to and artistic refinement of visual materials, such as works by German printers Albrech Dürer (1471-1528) and Lucas Cranach (c. 1472-1553).
Printing was also instrumental in enabling social change. In 1517, Martin Luther (1483-1586) challenged the perceived corruptions in the Catholic Church by printing and disseminating his Ninety-five Theses. From this printed protest a new theological movement know as the Protestant Reformation ensued with huge political significance. The ability to print the Bible in vernacular languages or larger audience, served one of the primary goals of the Protestants-enabling the common man to rely on the written word of God, rather that the clergy. Even as printing often came at high costs-as several printers were executed for producing unsanctioned versions of the Bible-printing during the Renaissance fundamentally changed the way knowledge was accumulated and disseminated.
Early Newspaper and the Founding of a Nation: The story of printing in the United State is woven into the founding of the nation. After the first printing press arrived in the New World in 1638, printers like Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), Isiah Thomas (1749-1831), and John Peter Zenger (1697-1746) pioneered ways to deliver news, knowledge, and political views to their readers. Newspapers became important channels for colonist and American citizens to express ideological beliefs, to discuss the future of the country, and to defend principles of liberty and freedom. With the help of technological and industrial innovations, printers became key figures in building a flourishing democratic republic and nascent “American” identity.
In this gallery, you can follow newspapers from the colonial period to the late-nineteenth century—tracing seminal moments and events in history, including the establishment of freedom of the press (1733), the setback and victories of American Revolution (1765-1783), the battles and debates of the Civil War (1861-1865), and the emancipation of slaves fueled by Abraham Lincoln’s famous speech (1862). These documents and objects represent the printers’ perseverance and ingenuity in overcoming obstacles and in perusing freedom of thought and press. As you follow the printers’ visions and the voices conveyed throughout these newspapers, think about how our own modern—day society contents with the technological changes and journalistic challenges—and be reminded of how printing continues to be a tool for fighting suppression and censorship, as well as a tool for preserving our alienable rights and freedoms.
The First Texas Printer and the Making of Texas: This gallery features documents and artifacts related to the complicated history of the settlement of the land that is now the state of Texas. Printing and printed documents represent practical tools of a government’s authority to create laws, to issue currency, and to enforce titles of land ownership. The items in this gallery date from approximately 1820-1840. During this time Texas would transition through a series of wars and various forms of government: going from Spanish colonial rule until the Mexican Revolution in 1821; followed by Mexican governance and the eventual dictatorial rulership under General Antio Lopez de Santa Anna (1791-1876); and finally becoming an independent Republic after the Texas Revolution in 1836. Life on the frontier and he tumultuous political climate created opportunities, as well as numerous challenges, for a pioneer printer.
Samuel Bangs (ca. 1798-1854) was the first printer in Texas, west of the Mississippi, and three Mexican states. Trained in New England, he contributed greatly to the cultivation of a printing culture in the region. Documents printer under his oversight tell some on the story of this turbulent slice of history. Bangs faced a seemingly unending catalog of adversity over the years, from a 7-year imprisonment to being cheated technically impressive and lasting work. Several fine examples of his printed specimens are presented in this gallery.
Hearst Newspaper Gallery displays early newspaper equipment, including a 20th century model Linotype machine, invented by Ottmar Merganthaler in 1886. Dubbed by Thomas Edison as “the eighth wonder of the world,” the Linotype drastically changed the speed of production of newspapers and books, and is credited with a sharp increase in literacy rates in the early 1900s.
On the Front Page Gallery (Installation in Progress): This hall of historic headlines, dating from the 1610s to 2009, mark important historical events, such as, the sinking of the Titanic, the 1929 Stock Market Crash, the 1969 Moon Landing, and the election of President Barak Obama. Of note are four original Thomas Nast cartoons from Harper’s Weekly that mark the first appearances in print of the Republican elephant, the Democratic donkey, Santa Claus and Uncle Sam.
From Cranks to Clicks Gallery:
Much like the innovations in the 21st Century information technology, printing in the 20th century was an arena for creative minds. Printing inventions represented in this gallery exemplify its lasting and widespread impact upon the way people communicated through writing, printing and copying.
Modern innovators built upon the foundations of their predecessors. Offset printing based upon the 18th-century lithographic process is still widely used. The perseverance of inventive minds such as Chester Carlson and his XEROX machine completely transformed the way we think of printed pages.
Changing technology pushed and pulled people in different directions. The smaller, faster, and more reliable machines such as typewriters and computers drew people into the world of personal publishing and content creating, moving people in and out of the modern workforce, and bringing together as a community.
The Printing Museum Theater provides an opportunity to view Harvest of Wisdom, a 45-minute video on the history of human communication and the important role of printing.
