P.O. BOX 555, FOOTSCRAY 3011 - - - - - - - - - - - - - (03)9689 7555

This is the world’s largest and most comprehensive museum of print-related machinery and artefacts.

We had to leave our previous site, the old cotton mills, in 1998, and all programs had to close. Fortunately we were able to protect our collection in temporary storage. Our present storage arrangements are satisfactory but there is still a degree of jeopardy because the Museum is unable to pay the rent for storage until programs are in full swing. The Museum will soon be offering again its unique services to students (at all levels), printmakers and graphic artists, tourists, school and citizens groups, researchers and the general public. We will continue our support of other museums and similar bodies needing advice, parts and supplies unique to traditional printing. The students we serve with formal classes are those interested in Graphic Design, Typography, History, Society and the Environment, and Technology. These classes will make up more than half of our activity. The research opportunities will appeal to academics in History areas (Design, Industry, Society) as well as technical areas. Our collection includes a substantial number of print-related artefacts retrieved from the last printeries to change technology or close down in the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s. There is very little of this material left in industry, and it is believed that there are few collections of this class in the world.

ENLARGEMENT AND DESCRIPTION Artefacts and documents by the thousand, boxed and palletted. Printing heritage items waiting in the store for their fate. Will they be saved for research?

Our Collection: machinery and equipment, artefacts, books, documents . . . We have around 200 machines of many kinds relating to printing and typesetting, including paper cutting and other finishing processes. We have lots of interesting, purpose-built furniture like type cabinets and many kinds of non-mechanical equipment including hand tools. There are thousands of “saved jobs” (typesettings and blocks) showing the kind of work carried out by the dozens of Melbourne printers represented in this unique collection. Our library has thousands of books selected not for who wrote them but who printed them, and how they were printed. Many closed printers were kind enough to give us some work records: quotations, invoices, proofs, samples, order books, etc.. We also have collections of office equipment including early typewriters and computers, and everything which made up a printing business – even the billiard table! Our collection is large enough to show our visitors what a real printing works was like, in size, complexity and atmosphere. The larger places had ten, fifty or eighty Linotype (typesetting) machines, for example. We can mount a display at least to a medium size of composing room. This capability is unique in the world.

ENLARGEMENT AND DESCRIPTION Printing Presses in our Studio.

Our Programs: education, artist studio, volunteering, research, public access . . .

Our Graphic Students’ Workshop was running on a pilot basis when we had to close, and will be the first to start again. Aimed at secondary college students taking visual design or typography, this five-hour workshop shows the principles of printing, the historic development, and the links between today’s text software and the principles worked out by craftsmen over the centuries. Teachers at TAFE and university level also found this relevant.

The Access Studio has attracted many artists, writers and others. They are shown how typesetting and printing is done by hand and can print a poem, a poster, or a whole book. We have many beautiful examples of their work in our “Gallery of Hand-made Prints”. A number of artists are just waiting for us to re-open because there is no similar facility in Australia, and very few in the world. We expect demand for this facility from overseas artists as well. Our artefacts, like “saved jobs”, and documents, are a rich source of information about the printing industry and the customers it served over past decades. Researchers have shown an interest in using this resource. The general admission (normal museum entry) program will kick off a year or so after the others. It should attract an interesting cross-section of locals and visitors as well as being a great place for citizens’ clubs and schools groups. Film makers have also made use of the Museum’s collection, both on-site and off-site. We supplied presses etc and expert advice for Pozieres and My Brother Jack. A museum of this kind depends on a healthy roster of volunteers. The community in Footscray and greater Melbourne will be glad of the chance to join our volunteers, learn about the collection and show people around and help with upkeep.

ENLARGEMENT AND DESCRIPTION Printmaker John Ryrie typesetting in the Museum's Access Studio

WHERE TO FROM HERE?

Michael Isaachsen, HONORARY CURATOR/DIRECTOR 28 MARCH 2003