#meetapressMonday Come see us in person Saturday 3.26

Open Studio Tour Saturday 10-4 as part of Mo’Print, the Month of print. Come see our presses, with many in action!

Here are just some of the presses you will see - more will be shared other days this week!

Gordon Franklin press - note the brass side arms!

Gordon Franklin platen, new style 10x15  ~1871

The Gordon Franklin, called “the single most famous and influential jobbing press of the nineteenth century” was invented by George Phineas Gordon, who is celebrated as having developed the basic design of the most popular printing press ever. He named this model the  Franklin because Gordon, a spiritualist, said that Ben Franklin had described it to him in a dream. Our model is a Gordon’s brass side-arm “new style”, that started to be manufactured in 1871 when the patent on the older version was expiring.

Jones Gordon  Press ~1890

Manufactured by John M. Jones. Jones, who first built presses for George Phineas Gordon, started building them on his own when Gordon’s patents expired.

C&P 10x15 at the start of a print run

by Chandler & Price -All these built on the model designed by George Phineas Gordon

7x11, old style   1898-910x15 old style  1902

8x12 new style ~1930

Bryan Dahlberg, Doug Sorenson and Tom Parson huddle around the Colt’s Armory Press

Colts Armory platen (on loan from Doug Sorenson) ~1887

The name given after 1887 to Merrit Gally’s Universal press, which he’d introduced in 1869. The former minister held more than 500 patents. John Thomson, who hated Gally from the first time he heard him preach as a child, ended up taking over manufacture of the press in a high noon standoff worthy of the Colt’s name. For more details of this history see https://bit.ly/3D4BXIy

Old Reliable platen press 8x12    1888

The Old Reliable was manufactured for just one year  by H.H. Thorpe (Cleveland Type Foundry). James Thorpe held many other platen press patents, which he later sold to Chandler and Price.  Used by hobby printer Jim Grisenti, it was donated to the Depot by Jim Fitzgerald in memory of printer Wimpy Miller.

Schniedewend & Lee Old Style platen  Manufactured between 1884-93

This press also was built on the foundations laid by George Phineas Gordon. The Schniedewend company also built the Reliance A iron hand press on our east wall.

Damon-Peets platen, new style 9x12 (on loan from Doug Sorenson) ~1893

Calling itself the “latest improved Gordon,”whose “style supersedes all other presses” and which can print 2,000 sheets an hour, it was made by Damon & Peets of New York.

Next up: the Depot’s smaller presses…stay tuned! Come see them all March 26, Open Studio 10-4

ZINES OF THE PAST at SMALL PRESS FES

Come to the Denver Small Press Fest on Saturday, March 12 o visit with the Letterpress Depot and go away with zines (they were called journals then) from the 1950s to 1990s. Free handouts as long as they last. It’s eye-opening to realize how many of the same concerns and delights writers had back then - and also how much has changed. Also eye opening to see all this letterpress printing, done so frequently and so well.

Also on display —and these are for sale - posters designed by printers from around the world for the Depot. And much more. Something for every vintage.

STOP BY 11-5PM AND SAY HI TO TOM, IAN OR DAVID

A new old press, at home at the Depot

One of the Letterpress Depot’s most recent acquisitions – a Jones Gordon press, generously donated (along with other goodies) by Stacey Steers, David Brunel and Nena Restrepo-Gil of Boulder. THANK YOU!

After cleaning and oiling the press, Tom Parson got it rolling

A label on it says it was from “Chicago Newspaper Union. ” The donors got it a few decades ago from the weekly Dongola, Illinois, Tri-County Record, Its rollers were still wrapped in a six page issue dated June 15, 2000, which has an ad for “Does-the-Job Printing.”  A functional and historic addition to our printing museum collection! 

The press was manufactured between 1890-1903 in Palmyra, New York by John M. Jones. Jones made presses for George Phineas Gordon, who is celebrated as having developed the basic design of the most common printing press ever, the Gordon Letterpress. As Gordon’s patents expired, others such as Jones produced their own versions of his innovative machines.

The press has a treadle and several creative and practical additions to the original Gordon platen press. It has an easier new way to remove the chase, roller lifters so when you’re inking the press the ink doesn’t get on the form, and hand dial that adjusts the pressure—even while in the midst of printing - so you don’t have to open the packing to make small adjustments to improve the impression. And much more. The press is missing the sophisticated upper disk ink roller system noted in the ad, but has a detached small New Century inker.

Interestingly, Jones also invented one of the first typewriters or, as he called it, “Domestic Printing Machines”. His was only the third to reach manufacture—but the factory burned down after 130 had been fully or partially assembled.

End of 2021 thanks! & procrastinators' special last chance

We have been counting on you and wish to report our total thanks for your wonderful support!

Year-end fundraising for the Depot - through Colorado Gives, individual checks by mail, from friends on FaceBook via Network for Good, and sales of posters and books on our webstore - now totals $23,000!

A huge THANK YOU for our community!

Rehab construction of our historic Englewood Depot is now underway with grant support from the State Historical Fund and previous donations from our community. In 2022 a next phase of construction is planned with your year-end 2021 contributions and an additional $20,000 grant award from the Gates Family Foundation.

PROCRASTINATORS' SPECIAL

Our year-end match for all donations will continue until the last minute of 2021.
It's not too late! Click here for your last chance for our match.

Despite Covid and Omicron cautions and limitations, we would love to hear from you about any letterpress needs, suggestions, wishes, offerings. Please email or call 720-480-5358. As weather and other conditions permit, we are available at the Depot in person with various projects underway.

THANK YOU! ALL DONATIONS STILL DOUBLED!

We so appreciate all who gave on Colorado Gives Day and Giving Tuesday too. Your support really touched our hearts and helped us in chug on down the tracks.

In case anyone missed those days here’s another chance—we are extending the doubling of all donations through the end of the year.

We know your social and inboxes are jammed with reminders

of Colorado Gives Day, so with apologies…one more. Please go to https://www.coloradogives.org/letterpressdepot and give. The more we receive from donations, the more we get from the incentive fund. Every dollar and every donation helps.

Tomorrow..tomorrow...the sun will come out... Dec 7!

Make our sun shine!

Go to https://www.coloradogives.org/LetterpressDepot, give tonight or give tomorrow, give from the heart or any random body part. If you give before December 7, make sure to scroll down and click on the green button “Schedule for Gives Day.” That way, we get a bigger % of the incentive match! Your funds will be put to quick use in our 1915 railroad depot.

Tick tick tick...counting down to Colorado Gives Day

It’s easy as pie

And speaking of pie, if you give to the Depot via Colorado Gives Day, we get a piece of the incentive pie they give on December 7.

Give today and (importantly) click on the green SCHEDULE GIVES DAY button so it counts on December 7. Or wait and give on December 7. Either way, the money will be put to good use. We have started rehabilitation on the Depot’s main room. But thanks to the rising cost of materials, expenses are higher than anticipated.

The more we raise now, the more we can do to fix up this 1915 railroad depot we like to call home.

If you already have registered at Coloradogives.org (it’s free), go to https://www.coloradogives.org/letterpressdepot and give what you can. And click on the Schedule for Gives Day green button. You do not have to live in Colorado. And if you have already given….

Next up: Our main fundraiser--Colorado Gives Day!

You can schedule now for a donation to take place on December 7 or just go to www.coloradogives.org/letterpressdepot on that date and give what you can to make a difference at the Depot. Remember to click the green button that says Schedule for Gives Day if you give earlier so that the donation will be matched. Meanwhile….

The contractor’s team has begun work rehabilitating the main room of the Depot, thanks to a 2020 grant from the State Historical Fund and funds raised during last year’s Colorado Gives Day. This year’s Gives Day is just as critical to help us get closer to occupancy, so we can move forward with workshops, demonstrations and events. We know there are a lot of demands on your wallet, but please be as generous as you can.

Thankful for our supporters and followers

Why did the turkey cross the road? To prove he wasn’t chicken.

But seriously, we are grateful for all those who’ve been with us this month, this year, or for the past several years, as we worked to get a place we can call home. And we so appreciate those who already scheduled donations to the Depot for Colorado Gives Day. (see info below). But meanwhile…

It was Heidelberg time at the Depot. The Heidelberg Windmill press, not the beer. Our executive director took a class on figuring out this amazing machine which can print 3,000 impressions an hour! The trick is to get this press which was donated to the Depot up and working. So taking it one step at a time. Meanwhile…

To donate, go to https://www.coloradogives.org/LetterpressDepot/overview?step=step1 or just type in Letterpress Depot on ColoradoGives.org where it says “find a non profit by name.” Enter the amount you’re donating and then click on the green button to schedule for GIVES DAY. You won’t be charged until then. Your donations on that day bring us a match… but your donations any day are so appreciated.

Thanks for the scheduled donations!

We are so excited to see some scheduled donations for Colorado Gives Day come in! THANK YOU! The actual day is December 7, but you can schedule your donation now. That makes us eligible for a drawing for extra money AND all money that comes in that day gets us a percentage match. Giving instructions below. But first, some pix of Depot happenings - “new” presses, type and printing.

To donate, go to https://www.coloradogives.org/LetterpressDepot/overview?step=step1 or just type in Letterpress Depot on ColoradoGives.org where it says “find a non profit by name.” Enter the amount you’re donating and then click on the green button to schedule for GIVES DAY. You won’t be charged until then. Your donations keep us going. (A recent visitor would’ve had me running)

Two ways to help the Depot

Please support Letterpress Depot on Colorado Gives Day, December 7. We get extra funds based on how much we raise that day. And you don’t even have to wait until that day. You can now SCHEDULE your donation. Just make sure to click on the green Schedule for Gives Day button to make us eligible for that extra money. (Of course, we appreciate, love and accept money ANY day.)

If people schedule in advance, we’re entered into a chance to get an extra $2,000 too!  So go to https://www.coloradogives.org/LetterpressDepot/overview?step=step1  or just type in Letterpress Depot where it says “find a non profit by name.”  Enter the amount you’re donating and then click on the green button to schedule for GIVES DAY. You won’t be charged until then.

On a smaller scale…if you buy from Amazon, you can help the Depot. Go to Smile.Amazon.com (instead of Amazon.com), choose the Englewood Depot, Inc. as your charity, and then just buy normally.  The Depot then gets a small percentage of the sale amount - it’s small but it could add up. The trick is to remember to sign into Smile.Amazon.com whenever you shop. THANKS!

Getting inky for the Depot

♻️Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. Board member Elanor Harris is offering limited quantities of vintage oil base inks, 20 years young and in excellent condition! Over 45 Pantone colors available (and a small selection of process colors) all hand repacked into 8oz cans. Labels note the ink manufacturer from the original can. A few of the holiday colors now available:

A portion of your purchase will be donated to the Depot. For information on orderng go to https://tinyurl.com/x8zrjj8k

Elanor and Victoria mixing it up at the Depot

How is it almost November? A lot to catch up on!

We have been busy sprucing up the Depot and equipment as we have been waiting out the pandemic.  And now we are getting ready for Colorado Gives Day on December 7, our largest fundraising effort of the year. More info on that in my post next week.

The Depot lower level is filling up with (literally) tons of equipment (and parts)

And more are being rescued from basements

The upper level has been cleared and awaits the touch of our contractor in November. Thanks to a grant from the State Historical fund, we will have help getting the plaster fixed, bathrooms rehabbed and utilities roughed in. We are grateful for  donations to help in this effort –and to match other grants we are applying for.

Meanwhile…Bryan printed a quote from Dickens on the Washington hand press and Tom and Marc Silberman printed a tiny book in Yiddish and English  on a 3x5 Kelsey press. After taking lessons from Marc, Matt printed a poem on the sweet Curtis and Mitchell Columbian tabletop press. and Marc tied type.

Outside, Tom and Kirk took down the old chipboard Santa Fe signs, Alissandra painted new ones and then Bryan reinstalled them.

Tom also laid bricks to create paths around the building. The city is planting a pollinator/prairie meadow garden and we let them extend it onto our property. Trust us, it will look better when the seeds come up in the spring. Stay tuned for more to come! And stay in touch: englewooddepot@gmail.com 720-480-5358.

2020 Donation Match Ticking Down/Work goes ahead at the Depot!

FIRST, Thank you for your support!

We have so appreciated all donations that came to the Depot through this website, Colorado Gives, Facebook and the mail. With a match from the Board, they have helped us meet the requirements for the grant from the State Historical Fund to begin interior rehabilitation of this depot. Thank you! We are on course to begin interior construction early in 2021.

But wait! There's more!

If you haven’t been able to donate yet, we welcome you now - all will be matched through year end. These funds will help make sure we make it through that first phase of construction (you know how construction costs go) and to help with continuing work to make the building fully functional for public use, Help us press our inky plans forward. All aboard, all welcome. Donate at http://www.letterpressdepot.com/marketplace/donate-to-the-depot

More type at the depot!

A glimpse of the recent move of 77 cases of type and other treasures donated from the Johnson Publishing Company, out of storage in Loveland, Colorado, thank you Janice!

George Phineas Gordon's Franklin press repaired!

John Major Jenkins saved this improved 1872 Gordon new style press from a basement in Wyoming but it was disassembled, broken and missing the shaft that pivots the bed. Ben Franklin told Gordon how it would work in a dream. The earlier Ruggles card press and Gordon's 1861 Alligator press can be seen at the International Museum of Printing in Carson, California. Gordon's Franklin jobbers became the model for platen presses by Chandler & Price and many other manufacturers, common in printshops in the late 19th century. Ours was known as the Brass Arm Gordon for its brass inking roller assembly.
Thanks to John Morse for machining and donating the missing shaft.

More, and best wishes for letterpress at the depot in 2021!

Intertype has a new home

The Denver Post Intertype #1, c.1965 has a new home, donated by Rob Barnes. It was expected last fall, but after some false starts, it had to make the cross-town journey to the Depot during the pandemic shutdown, where it was welcomed by pjysically-distant executive director, Tom Parson.

Great talk last night! Workshop tonight!

One slot left to learn how he does it! Call 720-480-5358 or email englewooddepot@gmail.com for special deal!

Year End News...Plus a matching donation to start 2020!

A year-end pledge of $2,000 is helping us kick off a continuing campaign for construction in 2020. Give through this website or ColoradoGives.org/letterpressdepot.

The Depot was featured three times on Channel 7 news, as part of its promotion of Colorado Gives Day.

We had a very productive December. We engaged with our old and new supporters through Colorado Gives Day, through two funding page campaigns on Facebook, and directly by mail and our website. 

THANK YOU!

We met our initial goal to raise our share needed for a grant awarded by the Colorado State Historical Fund for construction documents (architectural and engineering drawings) for the depot. $5,860.33 donated by sixty-seven members of our community (plus a Colorado Gives incentive donation from Community First Foundation) will carry us into the new year. Once we get the architectural documents finished, then it will be the moment for heat! lights! plumbing! and rehabilitation of the interior. A big moment indeed.

Happy New Year.

Come celebrate 2020 with your suggestions, talents, volunteer efforts, donations.

Recurring monthly or annual donations can be scheduled any time at ColoradoGives.org. One-time contributions are also welcome there or on our website or by direct mail to the Letterpress Depot, PO Box 798, Englewood CO 80151. We are a 501 (c)3 nonprofit community resource.

Channel 7 at the Depot!

For the first time, Letterpress Depot is part of Colorado Gives Day. That brought Channel 7/KMGH to the Depot to cover us as part of their story on the annual fundraising event. Special Programs Producer Kevin Krug interviewed Tom Parson and got to see some of the presses in action. It may air on December 3, which is Giving Tuesday, as a reminder to viewers that Colorado Gives is upcoming on December 10. Of course, you don’t have to wait until December 10, or even December 3, to give to the Depot! You can pre-schedule a donation for the Depot at ColoradoGives or give through this website on our Marketplace page.