Did you know that your family or school group can see an exhibition of letterpress printing and demonstrations at the 1920s Heritage Press Museum Lancaster County Print Shop? Experience the job of a printer first hand as you use a 19th century press to print a keepsake to take home with you. This is an excellent small field trip idea!
Where is it?
The Heritage Press Museum is at BUiLDiNG CHARACTER at 346 N. Queen Street, Lancaster, PA. It’s about a 5 minute walk from Central Market.
When to Visit
Live demonstrations are held every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 12 noon to 4pm (till 9pm every 1st and 3rd Friday). Sundays they are open from 12noon until 3pm.
Call ahead to schedule a specific tour if you’ll be coming in a group. You’ll want to do this, because if they know your group name, you’ll get a neat little keepsake at the end with your group name on it.
What You Will Experience
You are going to love this little tour and live demonstration. I visited recently with my homeschool group and it was amazing! We first learned about type, and letterpresses. You’ll learn why we call capital letters uppercase and small letters, lowercase. You’ll learn how we got the saying “I’m all out of sort!”
You’ll also learn the history of the printing press and what Gutenberg’s first job was, that helped him model the printing press after. You’ll learn what a quoin is (sounds like ‘coin’), and you’ll learn why all type was .918 inches tall.
Then you’ll get to see the Gutenberg press in action, and even give it a try yourself!
You’ll also learn about the letterpress that came after the Gutenberg press, and you’ll get to give that a try to.
As you go through each piece of equipment, plenty of historical facts and explanations are provided for each advancement in the printing technology.
I have to be honest with you, this was an incredible experience, and one that you will not want to miss. Plus, its FREE every Thursday, Friday and Saturday—and Sundays too.
Plan Your Visit
The Heritage Press Museum is at BUiLDiNG CHARACTER at 346 N. Queen Street, Lancaster, PA. It’s about a 5 minute walk from Central Market. You can visit them on their Facebook page for more information, but the best way to contact them is by phone at 717.394.7201.
Live demonstrations are held every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 12 noon to 4pm (till 9pm every 1st and 3rd Friday). Sundays they are open from 12noon until 3pm.
Call ahead to schedule a specific tour if you’ll be coming in a group. You’ll want to do this, because if they know your group name, you’ll get a neat little keepsake at the end with your group name on it.
Have you visited Heritage Press Museum for a live demonstration? I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments below!
