Programs > Oral History
The Oral History Project
APHA’s 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. 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 stipualated in APHA’s "Agreement with Interviewees."
Interviews to date
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, the Project Chair oralhistory@printinghistory.org
APHA’s 34th Annual Conference, “The Book Beautiful,” meets in Newport, Rhode Island, October 16th–18th, 2009, during our 35th anniversary year. The program has been published and registration is now open. William S. Peterson, emeritus professor of English at the University of Maryland and editor of APHA’s journal, Printing History, will deliver the keynote address.
The recent issue of the Newsletter contains an announcement of the upcoming annual conference in Newport, Rhode Island; various notices of interest; chapter news from across the country; articles by Paul Moxon on the Vandercook and by Frank Romano on the typographic point; and a trustee profile of Russell Maret. Download it in PDF form here.
You'll read in the summer newsletter that from the fall issue 2009 (number 172) onwards the Newsletter will only be available in electronic form on this website. It will no longer be printed and mailed to members, a significant cost savings that may have an unexpected benefit: going electronic will make it possible for us to produce more newsletters each year. For the time being the design of the newsletter will remain the same, so those who wish to print it out will have the recognizable and familiar object to hold. Soon though we will reformat it somewhat for easier reading on your i-Phone or Blackberry. Of course we will continue to archive the newsletter on the website, so that all back issues will be available. We are also investigating ways to feed the publication to interested subscribers.
The excellent Brian Frykenberg is stepping down from the editorship of the Newsletter after the next issue and we need are seeking an active and well-connected member to replace him. The new editor will come just as we are migrating from print to electronic, a great opportunity for a creative, web-savvy person to expand and enhance our beloved workhorse. Contact Martin Antonetti, the VP for Publications, at mantonet@smith.edu if you are interested or know of someone who might be.