Getting plenty of ink: from Gutenberg to Xerox, the museum of printing fascinates

The Museum of Printing in Haverhill is where learning about printing and how it changed the world is fascinating and fun. There was a time not long ago when most information came to us courtesy of the printing press. From mathematics textbooks to Life magazine to sales flyers, ink hit paper along the way. The Museum of Printing in Haverhill on Boston’s North Shore pays homage to that glorious history. 

Gutenberg started it all Germany

Our visit to the Museum of Printing began in the Bible Room – no, it’s not a chapel – where the miracle of printing came to life with a replica of the 1455 Gutenberg bible on display. Subsequent printings of the Bible follow, with examples on display. Each of the editions embody evolutions in language, translations and type fonts, the significance of which our capable guide explained to us. 

We then toured rooms with old wooden type displays, letterpress printing presses, Mimeographs and ingenious typesetting machines, including a working Linotype, a molten-lead-swallowing mechanical wonder. Other examples of engineering ingenuity followed, including a wall of typewriters of every size and shape. 

Computers enter the scene

While Apple’s iconic MacIntosh takes center stage as an example of digital disruption, the museum displays typesetting machines that had just as profound an impact in their day. Machines on display include a Compugraphic typesetter from nearby Wilmington, MA. There’s even a very early Xerox 914 machine. An identical machine was featured on a Mad Men episode. A photo displayed nearby shows the mesmerized office staff staring as is delivered to their office. 

We came away with a new appreciation for the long march of progress in communications that took place in the last 500 plus years, and how printing played a central role in informing and entertaining us along the way.

NOTE: The museum is currently open on Saturdays from 10-4.

Museum of Printing
15 Thornton Ave.
Haverhill, MA
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