These patterns happen to be for a wood typeface called Carter Latin designed recently by Matthew Carter for the museum. Some unfinished patterns after they have been cut out. After this, they were shellacked and polished to give the wood a smooth hard surface.įor each character, large patterns, many times larger than the final type, were cut out of thin wood on a jigsaw like this. The slabs were planed smooth and to a precise thickness on this machine. The wood needed to dry for several months before it could be used. This is the way the wood arrived from the lumber company. Half round slabs of rock maple like these are the raw material for what will become wood type. He and a few others are still doing some commissioned work at the museum. Norb was one of the last people to be employed making wood type. Our tour guide was Norb Brylski, a retired Hamilton employee who volunteers at the musem. The drawer motif continued to the right and left with faux wood like the front of a large wooden drawer, but I guess they decided it was better not to cover the windows. The sign is made to look like the handle on a drawer of type. Nowadays, it makes cabinets for dentists and other professions.Ībout a half a block down from the big blue sign is the entrance to the Hamilton Wood Type Museum. The company is still one of the largest employers in the area, although it ceased making wood type in the 1980s. The main sign for Hamilton Manufacturing in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. Without further ado, step back in time with me to 2005. Other than the building and Norb, everything you see in these photos and more is still there. I highly recommend visiting The Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum if you ever get a chance. I've also helped support the museum financially since 2012 and am a member of its artistic board. I've been back quite a few times since then. Every November since 2009, they've held what they call The Hamilton Wayzgoose, and I've attended all of them (virtually this year, due to COVID). I'd also like to point out that when I posted this in 2005, it had been my first visit to the museum. Also, sadly, Norb Brylski, long-time and beloved museum volunteer seen in several of the photos below, passed away in 2018. The museum moved a few blocks away to another former factory building, in many ways a better home for it. The original building no longer exists, having been demolished in 2015. Flash is obsolete now, so I unpacked all the photos and captions it contained and have presented them below.Ī lot has happened with the museum since 2005.
They also have all the equipment to make the stuff (it all still works) and a small print shop which visiting artists (for example) can use.Īnyway, it was pretty cool, especially if you like type.ĭecemUpdate: Back in 2005 when I first posted this entry, I posted a little Flash-based slide show. The museum opened in 1999 and houses the largest collection of wood type in the world, with 1.5 million pieces. It stopped making wood type in the 1980s. and had a virtual monopoly by about 1900. Hamilton was one of the largest wood type foundries in the U.S. He’s retired now, but volunteers at the museum and still makes new wood type for commissions brought to the museum, such as the recent wood typeface designed by Matthew Carter. Norb was one of the last people to be employed making wood type at Hamilton. We spent about an hour or so there with Norb Brylski as our guide. Hamilton Wood Type Museum April 8th, 2005Ī week ago, my family and I paid a visit to the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum in Two Rivers, Wisconsin.I saw it at TypeCon in Seattle this last August in an auditorium packed with fellow type geeks. If you haven’t seen the film, I highly recommend it. This week, the radio program Studio 360 is airing a short interview with Gary Hustwit, director of the documentary film Helvetica. Helvetica on the Radio December 11th, 2007.