hamilton wood type museum & printing museum

I took an all day, hands-on workshop in early December and absolutely loved it. Definitely worth the $125 it costed because in addition to the extensive tour by a very knowledgable guide Stephanie, we also had access to a great number of letter types, wood cut images, and the necessary tools and presses to actually do our own letterpress. Never done letterpress? That's okay. In fact, the instructors were glad to hear no one in the group had previous experience. They did an excellent job with initial group instructions, and then readily offered us individual help as needed.This is the second time I've visited the museum. The first was just a tour, and it was in the old Hamilton manufacturing building. The museum is now in a new location and while it doesn't carry the charm of historic architecture, once you're inside it has just as much warmth and fascination as ever. There's more wood type than you can imagine, antique presses galore, plus linotypes and many other machines representative of printing press history.If you're interested in art, graphic design, typography, journalism, printing, mechanics, machinists, engineering of any kind, or history, you will find the Hamilton Museum very interesting.

This is such a very interesting place. Well worth a stop if you are in the area. The guided tours are great but there is enough information displayed that walking it on your own is fine. This place would be of interest to so many different people: graphic designers, artists, craftsman, historians, machine enthusiasts, and printers (obviously!). You might get lucky and witness some printing while you're there. They have a well-stocked gift shop full of prints, books, and apparel.

If you are interested in graphic design, you will find this museum to be quite interesting. They have lots of collections of wood type plus presses so you can see how printing was done back in the olden days. Hamilton also offers hands-on classes for people who want to really learn this technique as well as the annual Wayzgoose Type Conference. There's a really great museum shop where you can purchase posters that were printed right at Hamilton. NOTE: Hamilton recently moved to a new building (lots more space). The correct address is 1816 10th Street (still in Two Rivers).

Very interesting and friendly place. While some may benefit from a guided tour, I was pleased that they let me wander around at my own pace. Also cool to see how they are adapting to a new space. The shop is wonderful.

I arrived when it opened at 10am, paid the $3 as a senior and was told I could wonder around but the tours are in the afternoon. I saw the many presses, furniture made by the company, the machines that can still make the wood printing type and different formats of wood type. As it wasn't explained in a tour nor were there signs or even videos to know what each machine did I was done looking in about an hour.

This museum does not lead you through by the hand, but rather is a large collection of wood type face, historic printing equipment, and products manufactured by Hamilton Company over the decades laid out for you to enjoy. Photography is not only allowed but encouraged. It's a much larger museum than I expected and I want to go back when they are printing now.

this museum features the biggest collection of the wood-type in the world. Printers, graphic designers and other history buffs come here from all over the world. Wood-type printing is a dying art and this is quite a place to visit. The staff are very friendly and patient and the museum entry fee is rather inexpensive. If you are passing through this part of the world, stop by and check it out. During the visit make sure you visit the museum-shop that features some really cool wood-type prints that are quite unique.

I took one of their day long workshops, and fell in love with the museum, staff and letterpress. The drawers upon drawers of wood type blocks were a design geek's dream :) I loved it. Can't wait to make it back.

What a cool place! This museum is a history lesson on multiple levels and opportunity to see American ingenuity and pride under one roof. There are the thousands of wood letter blocks, the machinery, the museum pieces of all that Hamilton company once produced, and if you plan it right or get lucky (like we did) someone might just show you how the machines work and how the letters are made. During our visit there was also a gallery show of posters from a printing press in Missouri. Additionally there are beautiful posters and t-shrits- all made with wood type- for sale. A must see if you're in the area.

We finally stopped into this little museum, across the street from the Washington House that we visit every summer. The director gave us an excellent tour of the museum and we learned much more than we would have on our own and appreciated it all the more. He pointed out that they hold seminars and recently they had the person who designed the graphics for the Bejing Olympics next to I forget who else ... International folks. We also learned that Hamilton's used to make medical furniture. Interesting to see them and notice how narrow the furniture was .. needed to fit into the little offices like you see across the street at the Washington House. It all fits together ;-)

There was a lot to look at, but the real interest came when we questioned the volunteer about the Hamilton Company's history.

This is much more interesting than I thought it would be and the guided tour is wonderful. The charge is only a suggested 3 bucks per person! Can not beat the value and they have some cool stuff still being used by students and for 125 bucks even I could have done an afternoon printing. Worth the stop.

The Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum is a museum, semi-functioning factory, and active art studio. Housed in part of a once-thriving industrial section of Two Rivers, this quiet museum and near vacant street will make your heart ache for the loss of manufacturing skill and expertise in this country. While you can reproduce or create any font on a laptop, you cannot reproduce the aesthetic results achieved by putting ink to a piece of well crafted paper. You are free to browse on your own, but if you stay for one of the guided tours you will learn the varied and somewhat sad history of how clever people created and grew this business, then saw it slip away. For pity's sake, drop the suggested donation of $3 per person in the box for the privilege of entering this space.

The Hamilton Wood Type Museum is a one of a kind experience for anyone who has an interest in graphic design, advertising art, and print making. It is the only museum dedicated to the preservation, study, production and printing of wood type. Housed in the factory that was once the nation's largest producer of wood type, the museum has a collection of over 1.5 million pieces in more than 1,000 styles. The museum is free, and if you are lucky enough to hit it on a day when it is offering guided tours, pinch yourself. Your guide will have worked for the Hamilton Manufacturing Company and he will give you an in-depth and informative talk as you make your way around the museum. The museum tour starts with a maple log, and as you walk around the museum, you will see how that log is transformed into wood type.

The Hamilton Woodtype Museum is located in the old Hamilton factory in downtown Two Rivers. The museum is dedicated to the preservation off wood printing type, some of which was produced by the Hamilton Manufacturing Company. The museum contains the largest collection of woodtype in the world with well over 1 million pieces. Displays include many pieces of type ranging from less than an inch to several feet. The museum also displays many printing presses, posters and other materials made from the woodtype, and equipment used to produce the type. The museum holds numerous workshops to teach the printing process and keep this form of art alive. The museum is also unique in that volunteers who formerly worked for the Hamilton Manufacturing Company work to produce new type and teach the craft to a new generation.