The C.C. Stern Type Foundry offers informational presentations and lectures, hands-on workshops, and discussions related to type design, typecasting, and printing. Programming will focus on the history, importance and influence of metal type in the United States, particularly after the advent in the late Nineteenth Century of mechanical typesetting. Our purpose is both to preserve the machinery and technical skill of an important industrial era and to create a bridge between historical and contemporary uses of typography.
Volunteers are available to present at Western Oregon and Southwest Washington area schools, organizations or events. Choose from one of our pre-designed programs or contact us about tailoring a program for your class or group. We ask a nominal donation to cover expenses or help us establish our Type Foundry and develop on-going programming.
Presentation: “How is Type Made?”
1.5-2.0 hours
This presentation and lecture includes information about printing type manufacture, from wood type faces to metal hand casting; production foundry; and line and monotype casting. The presentation includes an overview of typecasting processes with pictures of current typographers, type casters and casting equipment.
Movie Screening: “Farewell Etaoin Shrdlu”
45 minutes-1 hour
A screening and discussion featuring a documentary about the last night of hot metal typesetting at the New York Times. Made by David Loeb Weiss, a retired proofreader at the New York Times, in collaboration with Carl Schlesinger, then a Linotype operator at the Times, the film follows the issue of July 2, 1978, as the paper was “put to bed,” as the nightly ritual of typesetting, composing and printing was known. Filmed at the newspaper’s offices on West 43rd Street, the 28-minute documentary captures a process that was largely unchanged since 1886, when Ottmar Mergenthaler invented the Linotype machine. The film was released in 1980.