Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave. Boston : Pub. at the Anti-slavery office, 1845
Fri., Oct. 25 | Conference participants toured the Special Collections and University Archives in Hornbake Library at the University of Maryland, College Park. Visitors were greeted by Douglas McElrath, Director, and Amber Kohl, Curator of Literature and Rare Books. In the entry to the reading room, an exhibition case full of bindings by Margaret Armstrong provided an opportunity to see a range of work by a female American binder. Another case was filled with striking artist’s books featuring the alphabet. One book had been made by Lauren Emeritz of Abstract Orange. Coincidentally, Lauren was part of the APHA group and she was delighted to see her work on display. [Read more]
Fri., Oct. 25 | Jesse Erickson commenced the session by telling us why he came up with the idea to hold an open forum on issues of diversity that pertain to the study of printing history. When Jesse was at the SHARP (Society for the History of Authorship, Reading, and Publishing) conference, the subject came up multiple times and it was not a subject that was on the program. As a result, he wanted to address it directly and make it part of APHA’s annual conference schedule in order to address any thoughts on the issue of diversity. [Read more]
Edmonds, S. Emma. E. Unsexed; or, The Female Soldier: the thrilling adventures, experiences and escapes of a woman, as nurse, spy and scout, in hospitals, camps and battlefields. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Publishing Company, 1854. Stamp engraver unknown. From: “Publishers’ Bindings Online, 1815-1930: The Art of Books” University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Alabama.
Sat., Oct. 26 | Kadin Henningsen, “Biblionormativity and the Construction of Gender in Nineteenth-Century American Publishers’ Case Bindings” ❉ Douglas P. McElrath, “Moses the News Vendor: Newspapers and African Americans in Ante-Bellum Baltimore” [Read more]
George Cruikshank, “The New Union Club,” ca. 1819. Etching with engraving and publisher’s coloring. (National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, Michael Graham-Stewart Slavery Collection. Acquired with the assistance of the Heritage Lottery Fund)
Sat., Oct. 26 | Robyn Phillips-Pendleton, “The Role of Illustrators, Engravers, and the Printing Press in the Discussion of Race in America” ❉ María Helena Barrera-Agarwal, “Lanuza, Mendia & Co.: A Spanish-language Publishing House in Early Nineteenth Century New York” ❉ Jordan Wingate, Special Mark Samuels Lasner Fellowship Paper: “The ‘Negro Press-hand’ of the Charleston Courier”[Read more]
A small collection of Haldeman-Julius’s Little Blue Books. (Steve Cox)
Sat., Oct. 26 | Moderated by Seth Gotleib: Steve Cox, “A Radical Press in Kansas: Haldeman-Julius’s Forgotten Publishing Dynasty” ❉ Jessica Barness and Amy Papaelias, “Radical Scholarship: The Visual Language of Emerging Disciplines in the United States” ❉ Matthew Kirschenbaum, “Kamau Brathwaite’s Printer”
This session provided a lively glimpse into the unique printing and publishing practices of three radical subjects. [Read more]
Left: Valmor and Sweet Georgia Brown Beauty Products No. 27 (Yvonne Chireau Collection). Right: page from Charles Dawson’s ABCs of Great Negroes, Dawson Publishers, 1933 (Source: AIGA Design Journeys: Charles Dawson, Rights: Art Institute of Chicago)
Fri., Oct. 25 | “Outside in: image and words of assimilation and resistance in American print history” by Colette Gaiter, Professor, Art & Design and Africana Studies, University of Delaware. Professor Gaiter is an artist, graphic designer, and writer. Her work over the years includes mixed and digital media, video, interactive installation, and digitally manipulated photographic prints. Her remarks came from the perspective of a maker as well as an educator and scholar, which embodies the spirit of the APHA conference.
Left: cover of Frank Marshall Davis, Black Man’s Verse (Chicago: Black Cat Press, 1935). Decoration by Calvin Brazelton. Right: interior page, with typography by Norman W. Forgue. (Images courtesy of the presenter)
Sat., Oct. 26 | Kinohi Nishikawa began by showing an image of a marbled black and white slipcase from a 1935 Frank Marshall Davis fine press edition. He used this object to pose questions about the contents it would hold, asking how viewers would perceive the value of those contents. [Read more]
Fri, Oct. 25. | Visitors grabbed pencils and linocutters and returned to the world of relief printing in Lynette Spencer’s “Building Bridges” letterpress workshop. Hosted by BookLab, the University of Maryland’s one-year-old book arts and letterpress space, participants engaged in a four-hour intensive class designing and printing graphic two-color postcards reflecting on the APHA conference’s theme of social diversity and inclusion. [Read more]
Example of a class survey by a student at Ohio University. (Miriam Intrator)
Sat., Oct. 26 | Moderated by Katherine Ruffin, the presenters were: Miriam Intrator, “Collecting the Diversity of American Historical and Contemporary Printing: A Librarian’s Perspective” ❉ Dianne L. Roman, “Early Nineteenth Century Boston Weekly Provides Diverse Employment for Women, Supporting an All-Female Communication Circuit” ❉ Jamie Mahoney, “Incarcerated Authors, Activist Poets, Student Designers, Led by Women Printers: Publications of the Bowe House Press are Truly Created by Many Hands” [Read more]
Left: Charles White’s “My God is a Rock,” linocut. Right: David C. Driskell’s “Accent of Autumn.” 2016—a textured serigraphone with Dorit Yaron explaining.
Fri., Oct. 25 | On this afternoon, an intimate group of APHA members gathered at the front of the David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora, for an introduction to the center, its mission, and a tour of the current exhibition. [Read more]
