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International Printing Museum
Summary
The International Printing Museum, has one of the largest collections of antique printing presses in the United States. It offers educational programs for school groups at the museum, and also has a Ben-Franklin-type printing press on a trailer that travels to schools and public events for living history programs.
Located in the Los Angeles suburbs, the museum consults for Hollywood and has provided rentals of vintage printing presses for numerous television and movie productions.
David Jacobson of Gutenberg Expositions and collector Ernest A. Lindner started the museum in 1988 to house the Lindner collection of antique printing machinery. The collection has grown with significant donations and acquisitions under the leadership of the museum's board of trustees and its founding curator and executive director, Mark Barbour.
The museum's collection includes a replica Gutenberg press. Gutenberg's invention of movable type was rated by Time magazine as one of the most important developments of the millennium. Prior to his invention, ordinary people could not afford to own a book. With the efficiencies created by Gutenberg, printing costs dropped dramatically, and book ownership became common in Europe. People could now buy their own Bible, and interpret it themselves, rather than have to rely on their priest or minister. This led to people thinking for themselves as well, which led to the Protestant Reformation, the Enlightenment, and democracy.
The museum also has the third oldest printing press made in America, which was referred to 200 years ago as a "common press," which is what Ben Franklin used in his business as a printer. Franklin had little formal education, but honed his skills with language as a printer's apprentice. He made his living as an adult as a printer, publishing the Pennsylvania Gazette and Poor Richard's Almanack, and was quite proud of his occupation. Even when being introduced to royalty in Europe, he wouldn't refer to all his scientific or political accomplishments - he would simply say, "I am Benjamin Franklin, a printer.
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