Curious to learn more about the printing process? South Street Seaport Museum’s 19th century-style letterpress printers, Bowne & Co., is offering a monthly opportunity for visitors learn about letterpress printing and get hands-on with the Museum’s working printing history and graphic arts collection––the Fresh Prints open house––at 211 Water Street in the South Street Seaport Historic District. The original Bowne & Co. was established by Robert Bowne in 1775, and is one of New York’s oldest printing firms.
Resident printers at Bowne & Co. create bespoke designs produced using the Seaport Museum’s extensive working collection of historic printing presses, moveable type, illustrations, and additional equipment. Bowne & Co. is a prime example of how the Seaport Museum is dedicated to preserving New York’s history as well as the skills and expertise it took to run a turn-of-the-century business like this.
These monthly open houses will feature a breadth of printing equipment that visitors can use. See how the designers at Bowne lock up limited edition designs that showcase some of the more eccentric parts from the Seaport Museum’s printing and graphic arts collection.
Advanced registration is encouraged for these workshops but walkups will be accommodated as possible. Anyone ages 12 and up is welcome. All participants get to take home the items they print during the afternoon. Can’t stay the full 90-minutes? No problem! Leaving a bit early is fine, but you might miss out on taking home something special. seaportmuseum.org/
Upcoming 2024 Open Houses:
Thursday, March 7, 6pm
Thursday, April 4, 6pm
Thursday, May 2, 6pm
Thursday, June 6, 6pm
Thursday, July 4, 6pm
Thursday, August 1, 6pm
Thursday, September 5, 6pm
Thursday, October 3, 6pm