And why we are asking for your help during Colorado Gives & beyond…
#1 It started as just being pragmatic – we know of too many community print shops and museums forced to move from their rented spaces; we wanted to find a home for our living letterpress museum that we could own, in every sense of the word.
#2 We then fell in love with the 1915 Englewood Depot and the fact it’s only one of two remaining Mission Style Santa Fe Railroad buildings in the country.
#3 There’s a lot of synergy between our depot and letterpress— they share a time period of glory, an historic legacy and artistic overlap. Railroads and letterpress printing both played large roles in the history of the West. And they both use very heavy equipment!
#4 We believe the way to preserve the legacy and the history of type is to use it, to bring traditional knowledge into the 21st century imagination. The same applies to a building. It is only brought to life by adaptive and creative re-use, while remembering its past.
#5 Besides preserving traditional printing and an iconic building, we also have become the home for the presses and typefaces once used by Colorado and other printers who have retired or passed away. They live on in the Depot.
So our goal is to raise the needed funds to get the living letterpress museum opened in this rehabilitated railroad depot. Then we can welcome you all in for workshops, demonstrations, exhibits and events. Help bring the building alive so our living letterpress museum can truly come alive!
We have $50,000 to go to provide the $83,000 needed for our State Historical Fund grant. Then another $217,000 to help us get complete rehab done! Every dollar helps. And special gifts help especially! Colorado Gives goes through December 10. Let’s see how much we can raise by then!
Intertype used at the Denver Post back in the day! Press pictures by Bryan Dahlberg
Any questions or thoughts on where we might seek more funding, call/text 720-480-5358 or email info@letterpressdepot.org. THANK YOU!