New acquisition in Special Collections expands possibilities in art and scholarship
Chances are the vintage letterpress now at Tufts had a productive
past. In its heyday—the 1960s and early 1970s—it was probably busy printing showcards, advertisements that department stores and shops displayed to pitch their wares.
Now a different future is unfolding in the letterpress’s new home in Tisch Library’s Special Collections.
Weighing in at two hundred pounds and yet compact enough to fit on a small table
the letterpress can produce pieces measuring up to 14 by 23 inches
the letterpress process involves securing raised type on the printer’s bed
and paper positioned on top of the inked surface
The operator pulls a weighted cylinder with a hard rubber cover forward over the bed
and transferring the text to the paper.
that centuries-old process gains a new resonance within a university community
The academic setting of Special Collections frames the letterpress’s kinship with the library’s rare texts
all of which were made by letterpress printing process
going back to its origin in the 15th century
Barbour foresees a synthesis of scholarship with learning the art of letterpress printing
Composing type on the letterpress can offer insights into how books were made and seed the imagination of aspiring artists.
“In establishing the letterpress in Tisch Special Collections
we aim to expand the opportunities for experiential learning that are central to our work,” he said.
is best expressed by a quote from woodworker Doug Stowe: “Without the opportunity to learn through the hands
and the passions for learning will not be engaged.”
“That quote has inspired me ever since I read it,” Barbour said
We want to foster learning through the hands
The letterpress is an extension of that philosophy.”
One student poised to activate that philosophy is Avery Westhagen
an art history and fine art undergraduate in the five-year Arts and Sciences/School of the Museum of Fine Arts program. Shortly after the letterpress arrived in December
Barbour brought her on board to help teach Tufts students and faculty how to use it
made obsolete in the 1970s by more cost-efficient offset lithography and
today enjoys a renaissance among both amateur and professional artists
Compared to mass-produced printed materials
pieces created with a letterpress are imbued with greater texture and originality
is looking forward to integrating the craft of letterpress printing into her own work.
“I would love to use the letterpress when I create my future books,” she said
I would love to try it out!’” Letterpress art books in the SMFA library are prized for their artistry and beauty
“They give us ideas for what is possible.”
The letterpress may also inspire scholars using the Special Collections
which include diverse original texts set in a rich variety of typesetting formats.
The appreciation of historical forms of typesetting can remain remote and abstract without hands-on experience with the process
When given the chance to work through the many stages of composing text
students of rare books “gain a concrete impression of the required and exacting skill
and how precarious typesetting can be."
Barbour has found that many Tufts students share his fascination with the centuries-old art of printing
A 2023 open house at Special Collections included a chance to learn how to print with Japanese barens
traditional disc-shaped tools used in woodblock printing
Students printed with woodblocks created by Mike Smoot
and really didn’t know if anyone would show up,” Barbour said
“We had a line for most of the three hours during that open house.”
That response helped inspire his search for a letterpress for Tufts
At the Museum of Printing in Haverhill
where Barbour took an introductory letterpress workshop
The press’s basic design is good for beginners and provides room to increase one’s skills
but you can also jump right in and have real fun.”
Barbour’s quest then led him to Chicopee, Massachusetts, where John Barrett has run Letterpress Things for some five decades
The business is a vast storehouse of letterpress tools
Among all the letterpresses available there
Barrett and Barbour landed on the Showcard Model B
manufactured by Vandercook & Sons in Chicago
The model “is perfect for a campus community,” said Barrett; students can easily master the stages of production
‘It’s very simple and has a great safety record.”
Barbour is just at the beginning of developing ideas for the letterpress
and outreach that invites faculty to consider incorporating it into course design.
Westhagen is well on her way to being a thoughtful teacher.
“The spacing of the type on the paper is actually the hardest thing to get right,” she said
“It involves a lot of measuring before you even print
I haven't gotten the science down perfectly
she peruses the cases (source of the terms “upper” and “lower case”) of the wooden type cabinet that commands a corner of Special Collections
had been donated to the Museum of Printing
where Barbour purchased it and hundreds of pieces of metal Caslon type
Westhagen’s choice of composition: Tufts motto Pax & Lux
Peace and Light. Once she has locked the type firmly in place on the printer bed
She then positioned her paper and pulls the cylinder carriage over the raised type.
she mused that maybe it could be a tad sharper
“There might have been a little too much ink,” she said
“It’s all about figuring it out and changing small things until you’re satisfied
But that‘s what is great about letterpress: You can just ink up again and keep trying.”
large housing projects were built in Wolfsburg in the 1960s and 70s in response to the high demand for housing
Although Westhagen was planned and built under special circumstances
the neighbourhood can be seen as an example of such urban expansion in many respects
around 50 students from TU Braunschweig have been studying Westhagen
researching topics as diverse as migration history and urban ecology
The students will be presenting an exhibition on the subject in the shopping centre from 4 April
Students listened to stories from former and current residents of the neighbourhood
Photo credit: Licia Soldavini/TU Braunschweig
as part of a seminar at the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture and the City (GTAS)
students met in an empty shop in the shopping centre
They used the shop as a starting point for walks
listening to the stories of former and current residents of Westhagen and inviting people who work there and know the area to share their knowledge and experience with them
Westhagen’s green and open spaces were explored
Other projects focused on architecture and
The students met in an empty shop in the Westhagen shopping centre as part of the seminar at the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture and the City (GTAS)
The students were particularly interested in the good social interaction in the large housing estate and in Westhagen as a place where people with very different biographies – often based on personal experiences – come together
“The work offers an exciting view of Westhagen from the outside and shows that 20 years of the ‘Socially Integrative City’ funding programme have achieved a great deal,” says Kai-Uwe Hirschheide
first city councillor and city planning councillor
The students documented their findings and conclusions in a variety of formats
All contributions are also presented in an accompanying booklet
an exhibition will open in the temporary seminar room in the shopping centre
the GTAS wants to build on these results and become more active in the public sphere
“After spending the winter semester focusing on the history of development and the basics
we want to try to look into the future in the summer,” says Professor Tatjana Schneider
the students want to speculate about possible futures in Westhagen together with the residents
the students and the team of the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture and the City can be found in their temporary seminar room in the shopping centre (Hallesche Straße 40a) every Monday between 10:00 and 17:00
The official start will be on Thursday 4 April at 17:30 with the opening of the exhibition of the winter semester work
All those interested are cordially invited
The exhibition will be open on 5 and 6 April from 14:00 to 18:00
The project is accompanied and supported by the Westhagen District and Cultural Centre Management and the Forum Architektur of the City of Wolfsburg
Bianca Loschinsky
Architecture, Future City, Society, Study
© Copyright 2015 - 2025 TU Braunschweig | Blogs
We’re pleased to bring you the premiere of SIBIIR’s new music video for their song “These Rats We Deny” (watch it below)
The video contains footage from their tour supporting Kvelertak in France
“The tour was exactly as crazy and fun as we had hoped
Playing packed clubs in Europe opening for Kvelertak isn’t the worst thing you can do
I had surgery on my foot the day before we went on tour
and we had to drive through the whole night pumped on Red Bull to make it to Halden in time
just to have our show cancelled because of too much wind
Roskilde the day after made up for it though
The icing on the cake was turning around seeing MØ watching our whole set from the side of the stage
With backgrounds in such diverse groups as Sigh & Explode
and in 2015 they released their first studio effort
Metal Sucks for instance described them as “Post-metal/hardcore that seamlessly blends Burnt by the Sun’s vitriolic
chunky grooves with the elasticity and cinematic feel of Burst.”
2016 sees the Norwegians returning with their first self-titled full-length
a savage 10-track effort that finds the group merging the aggression and fury of hardcore with a dash of black metal vitriol
and mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege
the album was released last December via Fysisk Format to and garnered a wide-spread critical acclaim
Just recently Sibiir completed a small European tour as opening act to their fellow countryman Kvelertak and the new video for the track ‘These Rats We Deny’ contains footage from this tour
Issue 73 featuring Pinhead Gunpowder is available now
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This article was published more than 2 years ago
Canada’s Kerri Einarson rolled to a 12-1 rout of Kazakhstan’s Angelina Ebauyer on Tuesday at the Pan Continental Curling Championships
Then later in the evening she rocked the Hong Kong team skipped by Ling-Yue Hung 8-1
Einarson scored two in the first end and stole three points in the second en route to the six-end victory at the WinSport Event Centre
South Korea’s Seungyoun Ha defeated Australia’s Jennifer Westhagen 13-1
Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa beat New Zealand’s Jessica Smith 11-1 and Hong Kong’s Ling-Yue Hung topped Brazil’s Isis Oliveira 8-2
improved to 3-0 in the evening draw scoring two in the first end
one in the fourth and three in the fifth before Hong Kong could get on the board
“We’ve been trying to learn a lot and get better every game
so we’re trying to make some good shots out there so that we can get ready for the end of the week,” lead Brianne Harris said after beating Hong Kong
We respect all of the teams that we are playing because they’re here to win
A top-five finish will secure a berth for Canada in the March 18-26 world women’s championship in Sandviken
Canada already has a berth in the April 1-9 world men’s playdowns in Ottawa
evened his record at 1-1 with a 7-1 win over Brazil’s Marcelo Cabral de Mello
Canada opened with three in the first end and built a 7-0 lead heading into the seventh
Brazil scored its only point of the game on a draw in the seventh before conceding
“I thought we played better today,” said Gushue
“We didn’t have any of the big misses we had in the second half of [Monday’s] game
We made some adjustments and hopefully we’ll be OK.”
Gushue left the game after the fifth end to rest a troublesome hip
who won a mixed doubles gold medal at the 2020 Youth Winter Olympic Games
“There was a lot of tightness in last night’s game and I got some work done on it,” said Gushue
but I’m just trying to give it a little extra rest and get some more treatment today
“We have a two-game day tomorrow and a two-game day the day after
so I’m just trying to feel a little bit better
It was a good opportunity to get Nathan in there; it was nice to see him out there.”
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By Meg Jones of the Journal Sentinel
Bayfield — Julian Nelson had much to lose
The Apostle Islands are part of his heritage
just as they are for many families living on the northern tip of Wisconsin that juts into Lake Superior
Nelson has lived among the Apostle Islands all his life
serving as Bayfield mayor and working as a commercial fisherman in the cold Lake Superior waters
He purchased land on Rocky Island shortly after World War II
And yet at a congressional hearing in the 1960s
he testified in favor of transforming his land and other parcels among the 21 islands into a national park
"I believe when we look back at the last 50 years
many of the islands would've been purchased and there would've been a lot of 'No Trespassing' signs," said Nelson
lighthouse enthusiasts and boaters visit the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore each year
pristine beaches and coves and pitching tents among some of the largest stands of remnant old-growth forests in the upper Midwest
What most visitors may not realize is that some of the land is still in the hands of families who bought their property before it became a national park
Most of the Apostle Islands were privately owned when Wisconsin Sen
Gaylord Nelson pushed to make them a national park
Owners were forced to sell their land at prices deemed fair market value by the federal government
with a small percentage deciding to hang on to their property for up to 25 years
An even smaller number chose the life estate option
Those seven property owners still have life estates — meaning they can stay on the land tax-free until they die
three on Rocky Island and one on Bear Island
All were compensated years ago for the land's value
although they received far less than those who sold their land outright
they can legally reside on the property until the last person on the deed dies
several family members — including the youngest — were placed on the deed
Then the government estimated the natural life expectancy of the youngest person and paid accordingly
Nelson put his children Bob and Heidi on the agreement as the landowners of record
Heidi Nelson was in high school at the time
and the government estimated her life expectancy at 72
She and her brother no longer remember how much they received
only that "when we got the check I thought
Created by an act of Congress in September 1970
the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore includes 21 islands and a 12-mile strip of shoreline that encompasses around 42,000 acres of land
In his quest to turn the area into a national park
Kennedy to visit the remote and rugged islands dotted with century-old lighthouses
visited Bayfield and flew over the Apostle Islands in Marine One in September 1963
Rachel Carson's book "Silent Spring" — widely credited with sparking the environmental movement in the U.S
— had been on the bestseller list for a year
The move to preserve and protect America's wilderness took on an added urgency during the 1960s when people were shocked to see the Cuyahoga River in Ohio burning
That and other high-profile examples of pollution fueled a big growth period for the National Park System in the 1960s and '70s
"Virtually all these places were created with private land," said Bob Krumenaker
A total of 280 separate tracts of land were acquired to create the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore
The owners of 41 of those tracts elected to accept either 25-year leases or life estates
landowners whose property became national parks were not given much money or time to leave their land
But by the 1960s the government began trying to accommodate landowners
pay them fair market value and give them enough time to leave
That doesn't mean there weren't hard feelings among the folks who owned land in the Apostle Islands
some filed lawsuits and others chose to stay on their land for either 25 years or the life estate
and his family have 18 acres on Sand Island that date back to his great-grandfather Sam Campbell
who bought it at the turn of the last century because he suffered from hay fever and the island's clean air didn't bother his sinuses
Jensch spent his summers visiting his grandparents
"It's all you thought about all winter long
going to see grandma and having pancakes in the morning," said Jensch
Sometimes the weather turned bad and he and his family were stuck on Sand Island until they could hitch a ride from a fisherman
There was no question the family would opt for a life lease
But to come in and threaten to condemn things just because they wanted it
we didn't think that was fair," said Jensch
Life estate leaseholders are asked to maintain the buildings and property and are not allowed to make changes without the National Park Service's OK or construct new buildings
As some of the 25-year lease properties reverted to the Park Service
some cabins and buildings were burned down or removed
such as land on Sand Island known as the Westhagen property
"We're now in the process of transforming property that had been so neglected
We hope to make it a really cool public place," Krumenaker said of buildings on the former Westhagen property
"The ultimate goal is to make Gaylord Nelson's dream of keeping the shorelines undeveloped and accessible a reality."
Brenda Erickson's family has more than four acres on Rocky Island that once belonged to her great-grandfather
with the rest of the day to explore the island with her younger brother and sister
Her father smoked fish in a converted refrigerator
starting in the morning so the fish was ready by lunch
"It's better than any television program you could imagine
The storms were just amazing — watching 4-foot waves crash over the dock and thunder and lightning," said Erickson
too — listening to the waves and crickets
owned the property at the time the park was formed and though her grandmother wanted to sell
he dug in his heels and opted for the life estate
placing his grandchildren's names on the deed
a move Brenda Erickson now calls "a really wise decision."
drove to Bayfield for a weeklong visit with her husband in 1960
took an excursion boat around the Apostle Islands
and stopped for lunch at the Rocky Island Air Haven restaurant
which billed itself as Wisconsin's northernmost dining establishment before closing in 1972
'I'm not leaving until I have a piece of this,'" said Masotas
"I feel more at home there than I do anywhere else."
She found someone who wanted to sell land on Bear Island
Masotas and her husband built two cabins and a utility building for a water pump and generator and spent a month or two each summer on their island idyll
Masotas was unhappy to learn Bear Island and 20 other islands in the Apostles would be turned into a park
and for a while she dodged the land-acquisition representatives who called her and her husband in Illinois and stopped at their island property
I figured they're not going to go away," said Masotas
"I thought life estate was the best option
A lot of them took a 25-year lease and realized that wasn't enough."
Masotas knows at her age the property won't be in her family much longer
it is possible the 41/2 acres on Rocky Island in the name of Jim Lynn and his older brother and younger sister could be the last one remaining
Their uncle John Chapin bought the land from Julian Nelson for $3,500 in 1970
shortly before Congress voted to make it a park
"There's a plaque on the wall in our cabin that says
Chapin.' I thank him every time we go out to the island," said Lynn
who lives in Ashland and spends much of his summer and fall on Rocky Island
"We're among the youngest life estate holders and we'll probably be the last family to have a life estate out there."
Lynn's mother was married on Rocky Island and before she died in 2010
she asked him to bring her ashes — which he keeps in a teapot — to the island
His four children love the property and visit often
But they know it won't be in the family forever
"They've been told to keep me on life support for as long as they want," Lynn joked
Longevity is in the Nelson family's genetics — Julian Nelson is hale and hearty at 97
His children Bob and Heidi don't get out to the land on Rocky Island as often as they once did
But they have warm memories — of the several pairs of pants Bob's mother packed because he always seemed to be wet
of the blueberries Heidi helped pick and were made into pies baked in square cake pans
Julian Nelson knows his decision to speak out in favor of the park didn't sit well with his neighbors and friends
"I like the fact people who can't afford a big boat should be able to visit the islands with their families," he said
This story is part of "Vanishing Wisconsin," an occasional series that takes a closer look at traditions, occupations, cultures and icons that make up the fabric of Wisconsin life but are on the verge of disappearing. If you have a story idea, email Mark Hoffman at mhoffman@journalsentinel.com
Meg Jones is a general assignment reporter who specializes in military and veterans issues. Meg was part of a team that was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2003, and is the author of “World War II Milwaukee.”