Ben Lane Print Shop
Encyclopedia
Ben Lane Print Shop is a demonstration site at Shelburne Museum
in Shelburne, Vermont
in the United States.
process. The shop also hosts educational programs for children and adults, while manufacturing items for the Museum.
Today the building accommodates a typical, small-town printing shop from the first half of the 20th century. Although larger printing businesses of the period adopted the modern process of offset lithography, the new technology arrived slowly to rural areas. Subsequently a press, such as the Ben Lane Printing Shop, continued to use moveable-type letterpress production similar to that devised by Johann Gutenberg in the mid-15th century.
The Ben Lane Printing Shop houses the type of equipment that a proprietor and his successors would accumulate in adapting their press to a half-century’s technological advancements. In the first decades of the 20th century print shops continued to use old-fashioned presses for specific purposes. In the case of the Ben Lane Printing Shop, even an 1820s vintage hand press remained in occasional service. Likewise, the Cotrell newspaper press, manufactured in 1871, rolled on a regular basis, as did a treadle-operated Dorman job press of the same vintage for smaller work. Although printers still utilized racks of wood and metal type, a complicated and often cantankerous Linotype machine fulfilled many of the shop’s composition requirements. The final addition of a high-speed Heidelberg press with automatic inking and paper feed operated quickly and efficiently and dramatically increased output.
in 1900. Ben Lane served as president and general manager of Lane Press from 1928-1961. His support enabled the Museum to install this exhibit and open it to the general public as a living tribute to a centuries-old craft.
Shelburne Museum
Shelburne Museum is a museum of art and Americana located in Shelburne, Vermont, United States. Over 150,000 works are exhibited in 39 exhibition buildings, 25 of which are historic and were relocated to the Museum grounds...
in Shelburne, Vermont
Shelburne, Vermont
Shelburne is a town in southwestern Chittenden County, Vermont, United States, along the shores of Lake Champlain. The population was 7,144 at the 2010 census.-History:...
in the United States.
History
In 1955 the Museum constructed the Ben Lane Printing Shop as a working exhibit. A variety of presses and other equipment demonstrate daily the printingPrinting
Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....
process. The shop also hosts educational programs for children and adults, while manufacturing items for the Museum.
Today the building accommodates a typical, small-town printing shop from the first half of the 20th century. Although larger printing businesses of the period adopted the modern process of offset lithography, the new technology arrived slowly to rural areas. Subsequently a press, such as the Ben Lane Printing Shop, continued to use moveable-type letterpress production similar to that devised by Johann Gutenberg in the mid-15th century.
The Ben Lane Printing Shop houses the type of equipment that a proprietor and his successors would accumulate in adapting their press to a half-century’s technological advancements. In the first decades of the 20th century print shops continued to use old-fashioned presses for specific purposes. In the case of the Ben Lane Printing Shop, even an 1820s vintage hand press remained in occasional service. Likewise, the Cotrell newspaper press, manufactured in 1871, rolled on a regular basis, as did a treadle-operated Dorman job press of the same vintage for smaller work. Although printers still utilized racks of wood and metal type, a complicated and often cantankerous Linotype machine fulfilled many of the shop’s composition requirements. The final addition of a high-speed Heidelberg press with automatic inking and paper feed operated quickly and efficiently and dramatically increased output.
The name
The Museum named its printing shop in honor of Benjamin Battles Lane (1897–1987) whose father, Frank, founded the Lane Press of Burlington, VermontBurlington, Vermont
Burlington is the largest city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the shire town of Chittenden County. Burlington lies south of the U.S.-Canadian border and some south of Montreal....
in 1900. Ben Lane served as president and general manager of Lane Press from 1928-1961. His support enabled the Museum to install this exhibit and open it to the general public as a living tribute to a centuries-old craft.