Guided group tours for 10 or more are available by appointment, Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00AM – 4:00PM. Guided tours are the perfect way to experience the Museum’s exhibitions and historic collection. They offer an engaging, hands-on activities for families, seniors, and boy and girl scout groups.
During your group tour, you will learn of early forms of printing, participate in the hands-on printing of a leaf of the Gutenberg Bible pulled from a replica press, print a copy of the Declaration of Independence or the Emancipation Proclamation on a 19th-century Columbian iron
Guided tours are one hour and limited to 20 persons.
Group tours reservations require a $95 deposit.
To provide an engaging and safe learning experience, tours for children and youth are limited to 20 per tour, not including teachers/chaperones.
Artist Studio Visit (Free): Tour working book arts studios — papermaking, lithography, letterpress printing, and bookbinding. It also includes a calligraphy writing activity.
Scrapbooking Activity (Additional Fee): Take a piece of the museum experience home with this creative bookmaking activity. Participants will create a book structure and decorate it. (+30mins).
Silkscreen Activity (Additional Fee): Before concluding your tour, join our Artist-in-Residence Charles Criner in his studio to silkscreen your own T-shirt with a Museum design. The Silkscreen Option is available for an additional fee of $10 per person, which includes the T-shirt. To burn your own custom screen, please allow two weeks minimum. We charge $75-$125 for the screen — which you get to take home with you! (+45mins).
Ben and Me (Free, 20 mins): This animated short produced by Walt Disney is based upon the book of the same name by Robert Lawson. It opens with two tour groups simultaneously visiting a statue of Benjamin Franklin. The human tour group discusses Franklin’s life and achievements, while the leader of a mouse tour group reveals the contributions of a mouse, Amos, to Franklin’s career. Narrated by Amos, through his memoirs, the mouse recalls how he first met and befriended Benjamin Franklin, eventually aiding in his publishing, inventions, and political career.
Charles Criner Restrospective (Free, 30 mins): This video interview of Master Printer Charles Criner (and The Printing Museum’s artist-in-residence) tells the story of his art and influences over the past 55 years.
Harvest of Wisdom Screening (Free, 60 mins): This seminal documentary film provides a perspective on the role of written and printed communication in the development of civilization, particularly in the Western World. People of all ages and backgrounds will enjoy this unique look into one of the most important contributors to contemporary society.
The Machine that Made Us (Free, 60 mins): Viewers will travel with Stephen Fry on a journey to explore the story of the printing press, and of the man who created it: Johannes Gutenberg. The journey will be shaped by the search for answers to two central questions: how did Gutenberg do it, and why?
Making Faces: Metal Type in the 21st Century (Free, 45 mins): This fascinating design documentary captures the personality and work process of the late Canadian graphic artist Jim Rimmer (1931-2010), who was commissioned by P22 type foundry to create a new type design (Stern) that was to become the first-ever simultaneous release of a digital font and hand-set metal font.
Groups tours can be rescheduled at no cost if requests are received 2 business days in advance of the scheduled tour. Rescheduling requests received less than 2 business days in advance will incur a $50 rescheduling fee. If a group tour is canceled or the group doesn’t show, the deposit will be forfeited. The Museum reserves the right to cancel a group tour at its own discretion. In the event a tour is canceled by the museum, the rescheduling fee will be waived.
If you have questions, please email frontdesk@printingmuseum.org or call 713-522-4652
