Type Museum
Encyclopedia
The Type Museum is a unique and massive collection of artifacts representing the legacy of type founding
in England
, whose famous type foundries and composing systems supplied the world with type in all languages. The museum was founded in 1992 and is located in Stockwell
, south London
, England
.
The Museum's collection is unique in holding examples of successive generations of technology used for type design and manufacture, from hand foundry and machine composition, through wood type, to photography and film setting (which laid the foundation for today's digital typography).
In addition to holding its collections, it is a working museum that manufactures matrices for letterpress printing
. The Museum has become a valuable educational resource for many colleges, and helps to meet the demand for an educational and experimental type workshop.
According to the Museum's website:
In May 2006, staff at the Type Museum were told that they would be laid off and that the Museum would be closed because of lack of funding. This news prompted a wave of support for the Museum in the typographic community and in the media and communications industries. During April, May, and June of 2006 there was a grass-roots effort to save the Museum by the newly-formed Type Museum Society. The effort failed to prevent the closure of the Museum during the last week of June 2006 but has continued to raise awareness of the value of the collections, argue for renewed access and monitor developments.
In May 2008, it was proposed to move the collections to a National Museum of Science and Industry
(NMSI) storage facility in Wiltshire
. In response to protests and requests for clarification of the situation, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport
(DCMS) issued the following statement:
Typesetting
Typesetting is the composition of text by means of types.Typesetting requires the prior process of designing a font and storing it in some manner...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, whose famous type foundries and composing systems supplied the world with type in all languages. The museum was founded in 1992 and is located in Stockwell
Stockwell
Stockwell is a district in inner south west London, England, located in the London Borough of Lambeth.It is situated south south-east of Charing Cross. Brixton, Clapham, Vauxhall and Kennington all border Stockwell...
, south London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Overview
The Type Museum is the final repository of many of the original forms, punches, matrices and patterns of some of the most famous and successful metal and wood type foundries in the world. It also holds a historic collection of presses. It is estimated that the collections include between five and eleven million artifacts.The Museum's collection is unique in holding examples of successive generations of technology used for type design and manufacture, from hand foundry and machine composition, through wood type, to photography and film setting (which laid the foundation for today's digital typography).
In addition to holding its collections, it is a working museum that manufactures matrices for letterpress printing
Letterpress printing
Letterpress printing is relief printing of text and image using a press with a "type-high bed" printing press and movable type, in which a reversed, raised surface is inked and then pressed into a sheet of paper to obtain a positive right-reading image...
. The Museum has become a valuable educational resource for many colleges, and helps to meet the demand for an educational and experimental type workshop.
According to the Museum's website:
Collections
The Museum’s major collections include:- The Stephenson Blake Collection of English foundry type with industrial and hand casting equipment. Stephenson BlakeStephenson BlakeStephenson Blake was a British Type foundry, based in Sheffield, England. Active from the 19th century until the 1990s, it remained the last active typefoundry in Britain.-Type Founding:...
& Company in their long trading history acquired many of the other famous-name English type foundriesType foundryA type foundry is a company that designs or distributes typefaces. Originally, type foundries manufactured and sold metal and wood typefaces and matrices for line-casting machines like the Linotype and Monotype machines designed to be printed on letterpress printers...
and these all now reside at the Type Museum. - The Monotype Collection covers the entire history of Monotype Corporation’s global supply of fine letterpress machine composition in almost all languages and continues as a working company within the Museum.
- The Robert DeLittle wood type manufactory — the last specialist English wood type manufacturer is a superb resource in this vital, engaging and under-researched area of type design.
Entities
The Type Museum involves the following entities: the Type Museum Trust, which is a Registered Charity 1009198 and a Registered Museum 1101 and its subsidiary The Type Museum Limited Registered Company 3677895 (trading as Monotype Hot-Metal).Recent events
The Museum suffered financially due to difficulties in finding a site suitable for displaying its massive collections, to the point that its financial difficulties threatened the continued existence of the Museum.In May 2006, staff at the Type Museum were told that they would be laid off and that the Museum would be closed because of lack of funding. This news prompted a wave of support for the Museum in the typographic community and in the media and communications industries. During April, May, and June of 2006 there was a grass-roots effort to save the Museum by the newly-formed Type Museum Society. The effort failed to prevent the closure of the Museum during the last week of June 2006 but has continued to raise awareness of the value of the collections, argue for renewed access and monitor developments.
In May 2008, it was proposed to move the collections to a National Museum of Science and Industry
National Museum of Science and Industry
The National Museum of Science and Industry is a collection of British museums, comprising:* The Science Museum, incorporating the Science Museum Library and the Wellcome collections of the history of medicine at South Kensington in London....
(NMSI) storage facility in Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
. In response to protests and requests for clarification of the situation, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is a department of the United Kingdom government, with responsibility for culture and sport in England, and some aspects of the media throughout the whole UK, such as broadcasting and internet....
(DCMS) issued the following statement:
See also
- Tipoteca Museo del carattere e della Tipografia: Typeface and Printing Museum in Milan, Italy.
- Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, is the only museum dedicated to the preservation, study, production and printing of wood type. With 1.5 million pieces of wood type and more than 1,000 styles and sizes of patterns, Hamilton's collection is one of the premier wood type collections in the world.