Museum of Printing Typographic Archive at More than One Million Artifacts

Since 1455 when Gutenberg created his first moveable typeface, type design has expanded dramatically. Today, an untold number of typefaces exist. The Museum of Printing in Haverhill, Massachusetts is dedicated to preserving that history. To that end, we maintain a collection of more than one million artifacts related to typography (and many more when you add in printing).

Every time you use Helvetica or Times New Roman or any other typeface, you are a part of typographic history. Type, which started with scribes and was advanced by Gutenberg, is now reflected in every e-mail and every printed document.

The Museum of Printing maintains one of the largest collections of typographic artifacts in the world. The centerpiece of this collection is the archive of more than 860,000 original drawings for every character in the Linotype typeface library.

It was joined recently by the Schappler Typographic Ephemera Collection, an archive of over 9,000 brochures, flyers, posters, and promotion pieces for typefaces. Many European pieces are included.

The Museum has the only collection of phototypesetting machines and artifacts in the world. We have a complete set of glass discs for the ATF B8 phototypesetter, plus glass, plastic, and film discs, strips, grids, and segments for every photographic typesetter.

Almost 900 type specimen books from manufacturers and services in our collection show the proliferation of typefaces over 200 years. Art and design publications number in the thousands.

All of this is joined by an extensive collection of rare books, newspapers, and periodicals. The Museum has an original copy of the 1493 Latin Nuremberg Chronicle, one of only 400 copies in the world.

Researchers from all over the world come to the Museum to study the rich history of typographic communication and to benefit from our vast collection. The Museum is truly one in a million!

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