The holiday and Christmas season is a time where many of us feel closest to the past. Who doesn’t get a rush of fond memories every time we unwrap a beautifully decorated present? When I started working as collection manager at the National VA History Center in Dayton, many of the artifacts were still wrapped up for protection on their move to the new facility. While unwrapping boxes from the Mountain Home VA, I found tools of a trade that few Americans today know about: letterpress printing.
It’s easy to take something like typed words for granted. But what we can do quickly on our phones or laptops once took hours. Basically, letterpress printing involves placing moveable letters known as type into an iron frame called a chase that locks the letters in place. At Mountain Home they used machines with metal plates and large rollers to spread ink over the chase. When the inked form is pressed onto paper, it prints text or images onto the page.
But what does this have to do with the holidays? When organizing the collection of printing blocks from Mountain Home, we found a linoleum block that may have been used for printing Christmas cards.
While many of the printing blocks in our collection were carved by machine, this one has marks where a Veteran carved out the shape of the puppy and the bubble letters wishing recipients a “Merry Xmas”.
Printing has a rich history in VA. As early as 1869 the Central Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers had a shop where members printed materials for National Homes across the country. Veterans in the Mountain Home print shop were printing medicine labels, newsletters, and other materials well into the 20th century.
Veterans worked in print shops for many reasons. They gained skills to prepare for civilian careers in the printing industry and helped injured or disabled Veterans to regain strength and dexterity in their hands.
Following the lead of the Veterans who printed cards and pamphlets in years gone by, we’ve partnered with the Letterpress Shop at Carillon Historical Park in Dayton, Ohio to give you an idea of what a card printed with this block would look like!
Season’s Greetings from all of us at NVAHC.
By Gage Huey
Museum Collections Manager, National VA History Center
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