From The APHA Newsletter, 118 October–December 1994:

Three (Possibly Four) Ages of APHA

University of Virginia Professor Terry Belanger began his address, “Twenty Years After,” with stories describing the effects of the back-to-printing history tremors on of the ability to recall details. The first story, about a contest to recall the lowest price of butter, occurred among a group of mixed ages seated around a Kansas kitchen table. The contest ended with the turn of an “older and wiser” retired English professor. “Don’t play this game with me,” he said. “You’ll lose.” In the second story, students in one of Professor Belanger’s classes didn’t understand the humor in a story he told about a German traveller. After ordering tea in an American restaurant, a German woman opened the neat and tidy teabag and sprinkled the loose tea in the pot to steep; but when the tea was poured she dropped the wrapped lump of sugar into her cup. The youthful students didn’t know that sugar came packaged in wrapped lumps. Professor Belanger described his talk as a reflection from a position between those who remember everything and those who don’t know what has come before.

Professor Belanger reflected on the first decade after APHA’s formation in 1974 when interest-in printing history and related fields increased at an astonishing rate. This resulted in the development of college level courses at major universities, museum and library exhibitions, and new books and catalogues all devoted to aspects of printing and book history. The effort of APHA’s founders and leaders resulted in a respected scholarly journal, a newsletter, a national lecture series and highly regarded awards for contributions to the study of printing history. APHA was instrumental in building a forum among history scholars, bibliophiles and contemporary publishing and graphic arts professionals and hobbyists.

Reminiscences of APHA’s beginnings were followed by reports on the technological advances of computer networking and other electronic systems that make possible nationwide networking among bibliographers and historians. These technological tools have led to more and more specialized studies. With the influx of new information from specialized research, it is no longer possible to keep up with all that is happening in printing history and bibliography.

Professor Belanger concluded his talk with the recommendation that APHA consider as its future mission the coordination of the hundreds of players now on the field of printing history.