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
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.