About Crandall Museum
PROVO’S WORLD CLASS PRINTNG MUSEUM
The Crandall Historical Printing Museum for the Printing of the Scriptures is a unique museum. It is a “living documentary,” so to speak, about the impact the written and printed word has had on the history of man. It’s distinctive “hands-on” experience and “show ‘n tell” tours reflect the many, many hours of solid scholarship combined with many more rigorous hours of good crafts- menship. The on-going discoveries by the Museum’s staff and associates--many of which continue to shed new light on old theories and processes–-give to the visitors of the Museum new and evolving information. In the Gutenberg room is the only working replica of the Gutenberg press with a complete set of type replicating what and how Gutenberg created. Visitors hear the story and see how the first Bible was printed. Gutenberg couldn’t go to the mall or order on eBay the items he needed to accomplish his task; therefore “necessity became the mother of invention.” What evolved over 20 years of trial and error by Gutenberg became the inventions and processes which made the printing of the Bible possible. These inventions and processes became the foundation of printing for the next 600 years. In the Colonial print shop of Benjamin Franklin, guests see that although it is 300 years later, Gutenberg’s discoveries and printing innovations are basically unchanged. The major influence printing had on the founding of the American Republic is told. The U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence exemplify how important documents can be distributed to and read by every citizen. Replicas of these famous documents are printed on the Museum’s wooden English Common Press, similar to the press Benjamin Franklin printed his much read “Poor Richard’s Almanac.” A replica of the first signature page of that work has also been printed on the Museum’s press. In the Grandin Room guests experience the miraculous story of the typesetting and printing of the first five thousand copies of the Book of Mormon. Although Gutenberg’s wood press had been replaced by a metal one, printing books was still basically the same as it had been since the 1450s. The translation of the Book of Mormon was in itself a miracle, visitors to the Museum learn how the printing of the book required other miracles. The tour concludes in the Bindery Room where the printed page Is combined with a cover into a finished book. Visitors see how the individual signatures are sown together and then trimmed to the appropriate size. The cover is handmade from leather and cardboard. The cover and pages are then fastened together. |
Your IP Address is: 64.208.172.172