A true treasure chest of a museum is straight up the road from our house. The gigantic building is filled with cabinets of skinny drawers. The drawers contain wood block type, 1.5 million pieces of type in over 1,000 styles. This wonderful place is The Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum, the largest museum dedicated to wood type in the world.
The story of the museum begins on a back porch. In 1880, young Edward Hamilton of Two Rivers, Wisconsin, was asked by the town’s newspaper editor if he could make some large decorative type. The type was needed to create a broadsheet advertising a grand ball at the local Turner’s Hall.
Hamilton had run his own woodworking business making wall brackets and other wood pieces. He took the editor’s sketch and gave it a try. Using his foot powered scroll saw on his mother’s back porch, he cut out the ornate letters and mounted them on blocks of wood.
His letters printed beautifully, and he decided to make more and see if printers were interested. After receiving his second order, he quit his job at a chair factory and founded the J.E. Hamilton Holly Wood Type Company. His process produced quality wood type at half the cost of his competitors. Twenty years later, in 1900, the Hamilton Company was the largest producer of wood type in America.
Through the years, the company successfully expanded into areas such as metal office and medical furniture, gas clothes dryers and children’s furniture. However, an offshoot of Hamilton continued to handcraft type until 1993, well into the computer age.
The Hamilton Manufacturing Company was demolished in 2014, but with much hard work and many miracles, the type collection and presses were saved by the Two Rivers Historical Society. A spacious building on the lakefront was purchased and a massive move installed the collection in its new home.
Make note that this is not a dusty museum of type languishing in displays. It’s a working museum with artists coming from all over America and the world to use the type and presses.
The wood type letters still have a lot to say! Here is a quick video tour of the museum.
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On behalf of all the cat world, many thanks to you two.
Hi Marilyn…We have been thinking of you and hope you have been surviving the wild weather in California. Our cat family is doing well, but there have been lots of vet visits lately to keep them well. We have an aging population.
Thanks, Mary. We always say we’re going to stop there. Now you’ve given us the nudge we need.
Please stop at our house as well!
Words fail me . . .
Come up and visit! It is an amazing place.