
In partnership with Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum
February 4, 2025–May 17, 2025
Opening reception: Thursday, February 6, 5–8 PM
Tuesday–Saturday, 10 AM–4:30 PM
Sunday & Monday, closed
Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, houses a world-class collection of wood type, historical prints, and printing equipment dating back to the founding of the Hamilton Manufacturing Company in 1880. With a hands-on mission to preserve history for creative use today, it operates as a workshop where archival tools and production materials are used for both education and continued practice. Presenting a unique view of the history and contemporary state of American letterpress printing, this exhibition brings Hamilton’s work to Minnesota for the first time.
Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum in Two Rivers, Wisconsin boasts the world’s largest collection of historical wood type at more than 1.5 million pieces. Hamilton Manufacturing Company was established locally by J. Edward Hamilton in 1880 and became the United States’ largest and longest-running manufacturer of wood type used for newspaper headlines, posters, banners, broadsides and billboards. The museum opened 26 years ago to commemorate that factory’s work and continues to enrich the design community by preserving history for creative use today.
Presenting a unique view of the history and contemporary state of American letterpress printing, this exhibition brings Hamilton’s work to Minnesota for the first time. The installation is organized in five sections:
- ABOUT HAMILTON presents the museum’s history, collections, and distinct programming model accompanied by a special installation of letterpress pieces created onsite using historical equipment and production materials.
- WHAT IS WOOD TYPE? introduces the history, craft, applications, and virtues of wood type as well as its function within traditional letterpress printing.
- WOOD TYPE LEGACY showcases Hamilton’s collaboration with contemporary graphic designers like Louise Fili, Erik Spiekermann, and Nick Sherman to create 21st-century type using 19th-century technologies.
- THE ENQUIRER COLLECTION offers a selection of the 500+ rare, early to mid-20th-century American advertising posters acquired by Hamilton from the Enquirer Printing Co., established 1895 in Cincinnati.
- (RE)VISITING ARTISTS features the work of four contemporary American practitioners (Rick Griffith, Ben Blount, Kelly Walters, and H.R. Buechler) who have engaged with Hamilton’s historical Enquirer Collection to revisit advertising designs entangled with ableism, racism, sexism, and animal exploitation and create new work from their production materials.
This exhibition is organized in partnership with Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum and was curated by program officer Stephanie Carpenter.
Special thanks to faculty advisor Bill Moran, Graphic Design teaching specialist and former Hamilton artistic director.
Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum video resources
![]() | Hamilton museum tour (2021) |
![]() | Printing demo: proof press (2021) |
![]() | Wood type cutting demo (2021) |
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![]() | Oral history: Norb Brylski (2018) |
![]() | Guest lecture: Louise Fili (2020) |
![]() | Oral history: David Artz (2018) |
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![]() | Visiting artist: Ben Blount (2022) |
Save the dates!
Join us for free events and exhibition programming at McNeal Hall and our local partner venues. Follow our newsletter and social media (Instagram or Facebook) for details.
Thursday, February 6
Opening reception + activities
5–8 PM
McNeal Hall
Saturday, February 8
Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. book event
Minnesota Center for Book Arts
Friday, February 21
GMD x CreativeMornings/Minneapolis
8:30–10 AM
McNeal Hall
Wednesday, March 5
5–7:00 PM
McNeal Hall
Saturday, March 8
Free Ink Day: Lego Prints
Saturday, March 8
Press Play letterpress event / open house