One game stands in our way from the playoffs! The @NBA play-in tournament is underway and we here at the Sacramento History Museum are, of course, rooting for the home team! In honor of the big game tonight against the @New Orleans Pelicans, Howard letterpress printed some support for the @Sacramento Kings. We had to get out the largest wood type (30 line pica that was made over 125 years ago) in the print shop for this video. The print reads, GO KINGS.” This was printed with black rubber base ink using our Washington hand press, made in 1852. #SacHistoryMuseum #nba #basketball #typography #nbaseason #sacramentokings #museum #history #sacramento #asmr #printingpress #letterpress #printing

April 17th is National Banana Day! This day is dedicated to the yellow (when ripe) fruit. While we don’t have a cut in our print shop exhibit specifically about bananas, we do have one that contains them! For today, Howard letterpress printed an electrotype (copy of a woodcut) from the Lewis Winter Collection that was made about 125-130 years ago. This cut, which is in the shape of a circle, contains a woman (maybe Minerva) surrounded by tropical fruit. Considering Lewis Winter submitted in the early 1890s many engravings for competition at the California State Fair, which was operated by the California State Agricultural Society, that could explain why he made this cut. This was printed with black rubber base ink using our Washington hand press. #SacHistoryMuseum #NationalBananaDay #banana #sacramento #museum #history #letterpress #printingpress #printing

April 16th is National Healthcare Decisions Day! This day encourages individuals to think about the type of insurance they have and for employers to assess the kind of insurance they provide to their employees. It’s also fitting that it is the day after Tax Day. For today, Jared letterpress printed a large photo engraving from the Brett from Pennsylvania Collection. This would have appeared in union related publications in the 1960s and depicts a person in bed visibly ill. The words “rising medical costs” are next to his thermometer and the bed frame reads “INADEQUATE CARE.” Outside the window is an ambulance with the words “National Health Program” on the hood. This includes the union bug for AFL-CIO, and which means unions could potentially help fix this problem. This was printed with black rubber base ink using our Washington hand press. #SacHistoryMuseum #NationalHealthcareDecisionsDay #healthcare #sacramento #museum #history #letterpress #printingpress #printing

Howard shares a dad joke about elephants trumpeting while letterpress printing with our 10x15 Chandler & Price jobbing press. Whether you think the joke is funny or not is irrelephant! #SacHistoryMuseum #joke #jokes #dadjokes #museum #history #sacramento #letterpress #printingpress #printing

April 15th is World Art Day! Go out and appreciate or make some art today! With this said, are the things we letterpress print for some of our videos considered art? For today, Alex letterpress printed an electrotype, made about 125-130 years ago, from the Lewis Winter Collection. The print depicts a young individual painting some artwork. The text below the image is 30 point Caslon font and reads, “Happy World Art Day!”This was printed with black rubber base ink using our Washington hand press. Lewis Winter was a woodcut artist and engraver, who had his business at 627 J Street from 1888 to 1910. After closing his business, he would go on to teach art at Sacramento High School until 1925. Lewis Winter passed away in January 1930. The Lewis Winter Collection was donated to the Center for Sacramento History in 2000 by Bill Gaylord, a former museum docent at the Sacramento History Museum. Within the collection are boxes of woodcuts, electrotypes, and halftones made 110 to 135 years ago that we print for some of our videos. #SacHistoryMuseum #WorldArtDay #art #artwork #sacramento #museum #history #letterpress #printing