About APHA > Mission & History
Welcome!
The American Printing History Association (APHA) is a membership organization that encourages the study of the history of printing and related arts and crafts, including calligraphy, typefounding, typography, papermaking, bookbinding, illustration, and publishing. The organization does this through a wide variety of programs and services: the annual three-day conference and Lieberman Lecture series; the oral history project; the fellowship program; the scholarly journal Printing History and other special publications; and the annual individual and institutional awards that honor distinguished achievement in the field of printing history.
APHA is international, with members all over the world. The parent organization is supported by regional chapters that sponsor active programs of lectures, field trips, and other opportunities to meet fellow APHA members on an informal basis. APHA was founded in 1974; the founding board included J. Ben Lieberman, Cathy Brody, Joseph Dunlap, Stuart Dobson, Paul Noble, Robert Leslie, Herbert Johnson, Elizabeth Harris, Philip Grushkin, Martin Speckter, Terry Belanger, Jean Peters, Stephen O. Saxe, and Susan Thompson.
The By-laws state that APHA exists
1) To encourage the study of printing history, especially American printing history, in all its facets from a world context to national, regional, state and local interests, and including all the arts and technologies relevant to printing, book arts and letter forms;
2) To produce and promote publications, exhibitions, conferences, lectures and other functions, at both national and local levels, by which information and ideas relating to printing history may be exchanged;
3) To foster the development and maintenance of libraries and museums for the preservation of materials bearing on printing history, including specimens of printing and the equipment and materials used in printing; and
4) To cooperate with other organizations, institutions and individuals to recognize the central importance of printing to humanity.
Elected to their first term, at our annual general meeting held January 28, were Robert McCamant, President; James P. Ascher, VP for Publications; Casey Smith, VP for Membership; and Charles Cuykendall Carter, Secretary. Re-elected to a second term were Kitty Maryatt, VP for Programs; and David Goodrich, Treasurer. Trustees Amelia Hugill-Fontanel and Richard Ring will serve until January 2013.
The American Printing History Association welcomes proposals for its 2012 annual conference. “At the Crossroads: Living Letterform Traditions” at Columbia College Chicago, Center for Book and Paper Arts, October 12–13, 2012. Proposals are due by March 15. Full details are available in PDF.
Our annual general meeting will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday January 28, 2012 in the Trustees’ Room on the second floor of the New York Public Library, 5th Avenue at 42nd Street in Manhattan. In addition to Association business, our annual meeting is a chance to meet fellow members from around the country, to network, and to hear some important speakers. (Our meeting marks the end of “Bibliography Week” in New York, when similar groups hold their annual meetings and this year includes a major exhibition on printing at the Grolier Club; more information online grolierclub.org. APHA’s meeting is free and open to non-members (except for voting), so please invite friends interested in printing, books, publishing, and type. Read the President's Letter.
The Fall 2011 issue of the APHA Newsletter comprises of reports from the annual conference including panels, Pamela Smith's keynote address, Gwido Zlatkes's Mark Samuels Lasner Fellowship talk, the SoCal chapter book fair, a tour of the Stuart Collection of outdoor sculpture at UCSD and a list of new APHA members. Download the Newsletter in PDF form.
Kitty Maryatt reports on the first-ever conference book fair. Read all about it.
Many numbers are available to APHA members for a limited time at the bargain rate of $8 for the first issue, $6 for each additional; $15 for double issues. Learn more at printinghistory.org/sale.
Details and application for the 2012 Mark Samuels Lasner Fellowship
in Printing History are now online.
Thanks to the generosity of several APHA Southern California Chapter members, the Southern California Chapter has conducted its first-ever student membership drawing.
To celebrate the start of 2011, the complete listing of Printing History's contents have been put back online. See the contents (and a few select articles) from the Original Series, or a complete listing of the New Series. See something you like? Download the Back Issue Order Form.