Greetings! You are receiving this note because of your friendship & connection with Stern & Faye Printers. We're excited to pass on the news of what has been happening with the former Printing Farm foundry. We are on schedule to officially open our doors as a working museum in early 2011. But we need your help with covering basic operational expenses and are hoping that you would consider giving a tax deductible donation for this year end.
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The C.C. Stern Type Foundry was incorporated a little over two years ago, and brought together a group of Northwest printers tied by our bonds in friendship and craft to C. Christopher Stern. Stern was a skilled printer and inspiring mentor to many in the letterpress community, and his passing left a hole in our hearts, as well as an industrial legacy to preserve. His type foundry was a collection of casting machines, matrices, and ancillary equipment that Chris used to cast type for fine press books. Our foundry’s typographic heritage spans back to the 19th century, but its ultimate use is in the here and now--to create work of freshness, subtlety, and permanence.
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We incorporated the C.C. Stern Type Foundry as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization to provide the community a chance to help share the rewards of preserving this endangered craft. We are here to educate everyone in the meaning and power of typography, and to inspire those same to take hold of the letters that come from these machines and gain a deeper, more humane and tactile sense of design. We believe that experience in the physical practice of typography in metal provides a solid foundation for work in digital media.
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Our new location in Northeast Portland is easily accessible and allows us room to grow. We moved our equipment out of storage this fall and are in the process of unpacking, cataloging, and returning to operation the entire foundry, one machine at a time.
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The first machine we are restoring is Chris' beloved green Orphan Annie, originally rebuilt for Stern & Faye Printers with the assistance of Jim Rimmer of Pie Tree Press. We have received a grant from the IBM Community Grants Program to install venting, and a grant from the Puffin Foundation to cover our initial overhead costs. Read more about the equipment in the collection here.
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In addition to our physical facility we are working to fulfill our mission through programs such as our “How Type is Made” presentations, screenings of printing type related films, and by reaching out to the community at print and poetry fairs throughout the region.
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We thank you for your interest, and invite you to stay involved by volunteering your time, services, or through your generous contribution.
Donations are also accepted by mail at :
C.C. Stern Type Foundry
PO Box 2556
Portland, OR 97208
All donor levels and benefits are outlined on our site. And all donations are tax-deductable!
Our in-kind donation wish list can be found here.
See you in the New Year!
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We are applying for grants from arts & humanities foundations to support an important project to collect the oral histories of those who worked in the trade. Many of the men and women who worked in the last generation of commercial type casting and letterpress printing are in advanced age, and the need is urgent to record their memories, insights, and knowledge. We have begun to collect stories and histories from the once abundant commercial printing industries of our region and hope to continue beyond the Pacific Northwest. We intend for this work to be a bridge from the past to the future of this craft, to give voice to the artifacts that make up the type foundry. You can read more about this and other programming here.
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We will host the American Typecasting Fellowship’s 2012 conference here in Portland, Oregon. The American Typecasting Fellowship was organized in 1978 and presently has a membership of about 300 individuals world-wide. Their interests include the Monotype, the Linotype, Intertype, Ludlow, Kustermann, Barth, and all other devices which are used to cast type or lines of type. The conference will include technical sessions working with the casting equipment, as well as lectures and discussions related to the design, manufacture and use of metal printing type. It is an honor to host this international conference, and we look forward to the opportunity to showcase the work of the C.C. Stern Type Foundry, show off our beautiful city and creative community, and provide the time and the space for sharing and inspiration. Look for updates in late 2011 on the ATF conference website.
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