The American Printing History Association

  APHA's Oral History Project
 

About APHA

Printing History

Regional Chapters

APHA Events

Site Map

Join APHA

The American Printing History Association Oral History Project records the voices, knowledge, and insights of printers, illustrators, designers, and members of allied trades. We are interviewing senior members of these trades, so that their experiences and skills will not be lost. We will question and record well known individuals as well as those less likely to write their own stories: including but not limited to job printers, dot etchers, typographers, linotype operators, and others whose skills became obsolete during the computer revolution. In addition to collecting historical material, we would like to register current developments in the printing trade by documenting the careers of digital type designers, computer typesetters, contemporary graphic artists, managers, and owners of printing businesses. We also want our project to extend to members of all the book production professions.

We follow the guidelines and standards enumerated by the Oral History Association and the interview techniques outlined by the Indiana University Oral History Research Center. An interviewers' manual has been prepared and deposited with a number of individuals and institutions. (See Update for list.) We plan to have the interviews transcribed by Tapescribe, an oral history transcription service, based at the University of Connecticut.

All materials originating from our project will be deposited at the Columbia University Oral History Research Office where they are available to researchers according to the restrictions noted in the American Printing History Association "Agreement with Interviewees."

See Project Updates

Visit the Project Updates page for status reports on the project from Project Chair, Alice Beckwith.

Current Interviews

• Roderick Stinehour (interviewed by Philip Cronenwett)

• Kim Merker (interviewed by Michael Peich)

• Thomas Todd (interviewed by Charles Rheault)

• Raymond McLain (interviewed by Bradley Hutchinson)

For further information, contact: Alice Beckwith, Project Chair (oralhistory@printinghistory.org)

Return to About APHA

Copyright 2003 The American Printing History Association. All rights reserved.
APHA Contacts