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An ongoing timeline of printing and related museums

A brief history of printing and related museums worldwide in the form of a timeline of the foundation dates of nearly two hundred printing and graphic heritage organisations.

Foundation dates of museums in the fields of printing and graphic communication

The following is a constantly growing list of the foundation dates of printing, book, paper and related museums. Many of them are still in existence today, sometimes after one or more changes of name or location. Others have disappeared. Closure date are given when known (which is not often). The list is intended as a research tool for anyone interested in how the institutions of printing heritage have developed since the middle of the nineteenth century. If you wish the foundation date of your museum to be included in this list, or if you have any information about museums past or present which are not currently included, we would be very happy to hear from you.

For all information, queries, corrections or additions please contact us here.

Links to the websites of many of the museums in operation today can be found in our Links section or by using our interactive Museum finder world map of printing museums.

The timeline

1843

Stanza dei punzoni, Biblioteca Palatina, Parma, Italy.
Gallery reserved for the display of the tools and typographical punches of Giambattista Bodoni (1740-1813). It was closed sometime before the Second World War, to reappear again in 1963 in the form of the Museo Bodoniano which, larger than its predecessor, brought together all the typographical material, archives and printed works of Bodoni.

1852

Meermanno Museum, The Hague, Netherlands.
One of the very first museums in Europe to be dedicated specifically to printing heritage. It was born of a collector’s desire to share his collection and to assure its continued existence and was the brainchild of the Baron Willem Van Westreenen de Tiellandt (1783-1848) a rich bibliophile who, having no heirs, bequeathed his collection of 15,000 rare books to the Dutch State on condition that it be used to found a public museum to be installed in his mansion house which he also left to the State. It was the first time that a museum had been dedicated exclusively to exhibiting books in their own right rather than as a means of illustrating other subjects, the aim being to show how the book had evolved over the centuries, how it was designed, illustrated, printed and bound, and how the book and Gutenberg’s revolutionary printing process had contributed to the advancement of Western civilization.In line with the nature of its collections, the Museum Meermanno was international and not a museum of Dutch printing or of the Dutch book, the historiography of which would not be seriously undertaken until the closing decades of the twentieth century.

Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), London, United Kingdom. The world’s largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts, and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects including very extensive collections of the products of printing and graphic design. It was founded in the wake of the Great Exhibition of 1851.

1877

Musée Plantin-Moretus, Antwerp, Belgium.
The Museum came into existence following the acquisition by the Belgian State and the City of Antwerp of the house and workshops of the Plantin-Moretus printing firm which had been founded by Christopher Plantin (1514/1520-1588), one of the leading European printers of the sixteenth century. In the hands of successive generations of the Plantin-Moretus family, it had continued to play a major role in the commercial and political life of the city of Antwerp until the middle of the eighteenth century when the Spanish authorities withdrew the privileges which had up until then allowed them to exercise a virtual monopoly over the Spanish market. The firm never recovered from the loss of its Spanish market and from this time on printing would play a minor role in the diverse commercial activities of the Plantin-Moretus family. Fortunately for the Moretuses, they possessed a considerable fortune made in activities other than printing and, conscious of the importance of the heritage of Christopher Plantin and the prestige which it conferred upon the family, they maintained a modest commercial printing and publishing activity, but without making any real effort to keep up with the major technical changes brought by the Industrial Revolution . As a result, the firm found itself increasingly marginalised in the nineteenth century and, in the mid-1860s, it ceased its publishing activities altogether. The lack of initiative on the part of the Plantin-Moretus family since the middle of the eighteenth century was allowed the firm’s archives to remain intact. Thanks to the family’s commercial inertia, the Plantin-Moretus Museum possessed one of the richest typographical collections in the world which included not only the firm’s punches and matrices, woodcuts, engraved copper plates and printing presses, but also the books and prints which had been produced over the centuries and the archives necessary to understand the economic, intellectual and artistic history of the collection.

1884

Deutsches Buch- und Schriftmuseum (German museum of books and writing), Leipzig, Germany.
Originally the Deutsches Buchgewerbemuseum (German book trade museum), it changed name in 1950 when it was integrated with the Deutsche bücherei (German national library). The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek gives the foundation date as 1886. The origin of the museum was a report commissioned by several associations representing the German printing and publishing trades. This led to the creation of a joint association covering the entire book trade (the Centralverein für das gesamte Buchgewerbe) with the aim of setting up a museum. The first exhibition organised by the projected museum opened on the 12 July 1885 in the great hall of the Buchhändlerbörse, an imposing neo-classical building which had been built in the Ritterstrasse in 1834. It displayed manuscripts, old prints and early lithographs on loan from three private collections as well as from among the future museum’s own recent acquisitions. An exceptional collection of incunabula and prints was purchased for the Deutsches Buchgewerbemuseum a year later. The Museum was finally installed on a permanent basis three years later, in 1888, in the then premises of the Deutschen Buchhändlerhaus in Hospitalstrasse in the heart of the city’s printing and publishing district. In the Deutsches Buchgewerbemuseum the book shared the limelight with its means of production: the printing trade itself. As such it was among the earliest examples of what would become a long line of museums with a direct link with the printing trade, an industrial sector which has always been proud of its traditions and of the essential role which it has played in the development of Western society: a pride reinforced by Germany having been the birthplace of typography.

The Grolier Club, New York, United States.
The oldest existing bibliophile society in North America. Its  program of public exhibitions ‘treats books and prints as objects worthy of display, on a par with painting and sculpture. It also maintains a research library specializing in books, bibliography and bibliophily, the history of printing, binding, illustration and bookselling and with a collection of examples of fine printing.

1888

Musée des arts décoratifs, Paris, France.

1890 circa.

South Kensington Museum paper-making and printing section, London, United Kingdom.
The South Kensington Museum was created in 1857 on the basis of the collections of the Royal Society of Arts and items displayed at the Great Exhibition of 1851. As of the 1890s (or perhaps before), it offered a display of printing machinery. The South Kensington Museum was principally a museum of industrial and decorative arts, but it also possessed various scientific and technical collections. In 1909 the industrial and decorative arts collections gave birth to the Victoria and Albert Museum and the same year the scientific and technical collection were administratively separated as the ‘Science Museum’.

1895

St Bride printing library, London, United Kingdom.
Set up as a library it later opened a museum space.

1897

Musée Jenisch, Vevey, Switzerland.
Founded as a fine arts museum it became home to the Oskar Kokoschka and Canton of Vaud print collections in 1989

1900

Gutenberg museum, Mainz, Germany

Gutenberg museum, Bern, Switzerland.
Was originally created as the ‘Chambre Gutenberg’ in the local history museum where it remained under the auspices of the City of in Berne until 1985. In 1991 it was decided to move the Museum to Fribourg where it reopened in the year 2000 as the Musée Suisse de l’industrie graphique et de la communication.

1902-2017

Het Persmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Het Persmuseum in Amsterdam was originally based on the personal collection of newspapers and magazines of a Dutch journalist, D.A. van Waalwijk, who had considerably enlarged his collection in 1902 with acquisition of a large number of titles at an auction sale. Established as an archive the same year the collection was baptised the Nederlandsche Pers-museum (Dutch Press Museum) in 1903 though it is not clear in modern accounts of the origins of the museum when it actually began to display its collections publicly. In 1925 the Persmuseum moved to the Typographic Museum, also in Amsterdam, and after a closure for the duration of the Second World War moved again several times before being accommodated in 2001 by the Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis (International Institute for Social History). It closed its doors to the public on 19 June 2017, at which point its collections were transferred to Sound and Vision, the institute for media culture in Hilversum which plans to open a new media museum in 2022.

1904

Museum Enschedé, Haarlem, Netherlands.
The museum was closed in 1990 when the Joh. Enschedé offices moved to the Oudeweg. The extensive printed and archival collections of the Museum Enschedé were transferred from the Enschedé printing firm to the North Holland archives in 2014. The historical printing equipment is currently in storage with the Enschedé firm (2015).

1906

Musée du livre, Brussels, Belgium.
Founded in 1906 the Musée du livre was installed in the Maison du Livre a year later, before becoming part of the Mundaneum from 1911 to 1929. It was then transferred to the premises of the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels until its closure in the 1950s.

1907

Musée international de la presse, Mons, Belgium.
Created following a congress of the periodical press, the Musée international de la presse was integrated into the collections of the Institut international de bibliographie and managed in collaboration with the Cercle des collectionneurs de journaux and the Union de la presse périodique. The aim was to collect at least the first and last issue of every periodical published in the world. It is now part of the Mundaneum, an archive and exhibition centre.

1910

Národní technické museum (National Technical Museum), Prague, Czechoslovakia.
Included a section devoted to printing and papermaking from the time it first opened its doors to the public in 1910.

1911

Museum het Rembrandthuis (Rembrandt house museum), Amsterdam, Netherlands.
The house in which the artist lived from 1639 to 1656 was bought by the City of Amsterdam and set up as a foundation on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of Rembrandt in 1906. Dedicated principally the artist’s graphic work, the collection grew rapidely in the first half of the century and currently includes 260 of the 290 known etchings by Rembrandt.

1917

John M. Wing Foundation on the History of Printing, Newberry Library, Chicago, United States.
Although neither a museum, nor European, the Wing collection merits mention as a landmark resource in the history of typography. Continually enriched since the original bequest, is it one the World’s leading collections in the field.

1923

Musée Toulouse-Lautrec, Albi, France. A significant early creation of a museum with a focus on lithography and poster art, it was formally incorporated following the gift made the year previously by the family of the artist to the town of Albi in the South-West of France, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s birth place. The donation of over a thousand works by the artist included paintings, lithographs, drawings and a very extensive collection of his illustrated posters.

1924

Musée Lorilleux, Puteaux, France.
A notable creation of the inter-war period in France was that of the Musée Lorilleux, a company museum set up in 1924 by the successful ink manufacturer of the same name. Lorilleux was for many years France’s leading ink manufacturer with important foreign markets thanks to its ability to keep pace with the major technical innovations which were at that time transforming printing processes, papermaking and colour printing of all varieties. When the Lorilleux Museum opened in 1924 it was probably open principally for customers of the firm rather than to the general public. Indeed, some years later, in his Encylopédie des arts graphiques, René Billoux refers to it as a ‘petit musée professionnel’. The Musée Lorilleux remained in existence until at least 1972 when the trade magazine Caractère published a feature article on the history of the Lorilleux firm. It was permanently closed sometime around 1974. On the closure of the Musée, part of its collection – including important historical material from Alois Senefelder concerning the process he had patented for printing lithographically from ‘paper’ plates – was given to Lyon City Library who in turn gave a certain number of documents and a painting entitled Le lithographe to the Musée de l’imprimerie et de la communication graphique (which also belongs to the City of Lyon).

Подполъная типография ЦК РСДРП, 1905-1906 гг. (Clandestine Printing House of the Central Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, i.e. Bolsheviks), Moscow, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
Museum still operating (2020). (Source: Mуэеи книги directory.)

Museum of Ukrainian Writing and Printing, Ukraine.
Precursor to the present Museum of the Book and Printing of Ukraine, it was closed by the Soviet authorities in 1934.

1925

Biblioteca Estense (permanent book exhibition), Modena, Italy.

1929

Biblioteca Nationale Marciana (permanent book exhibition), Venice, Italy.
Closed in 1974.

Biblioteca Braidense (permanent book exhibition), Milan, Italy.
The permanent exhibition was closed at the end of the 1930s, though the same space was brought back into service for temporary exhibitions in the early 1950s.

1930

Crane Museum of Papermaking, Dalton, Massachusetts, United States.
This company museum was set up in 1930 in Dalton, Massachusetts by the long-established Crane firm of papermakers. The origins of the Crane firm go back to the late eighteenth century and since the late nineteenth century one of its specialities has been the manufacture of banknote paper. The museum is of particular interest because it is among the oldest corporate museums in the United States. It was expanded in 2001 as part of the company’s bicentennial celebration, and again in 2014 to accommodate the firm’s archives and create an area for hands-on papermaking and paper arts.

1932

Museum of Modern Art (Moma), New York, United States.
Founded in 1929, it was the first fine art museum to open (in 1932) a department of architecture and design. It was the starting point of what quickly became a highly-focused collection of graphic design. Initially largely dominated by posters it enlarged its centres of interest to become one of the world’s leading graphic design collections.

1934

Museo del libro e della miniatura, Florence, Italy.

1935

Sächsische Landesbibliothek. Buchmuseum (State Library of Saxony. Book Museum), Dresden, German Democratic Republic.
The Buchmuseum still exists in what is now the Sächsische Landesbibliothek und Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek (SLUB), Dresden.

1937

Авлабарская нелегалъная типография Кавказского сюзного комитета РСДРП, 1903-1906 гг. (Avlabar Illegal Printing House of the Caucasian Union Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party of the Years 1903-1906), Tbilisi, Georgia.
Clandestine printing house museum.

1938

Подполъная типография ‘Нина’ (Clandestine Printing House ‘Nina’), Baku, Azerbaijan.
Museum of the clandestine printing office where the banned social democratic newspaper Брдзола (Fighting) was printed (1900).

Museo dell’Istitutio centrale di patologia del libro, Rome, Italy.

1939

Biblioteca Nazionali di Napoli (permanent book exhibition), Naples, Italy.
Was closed sometime around 1967.

Dard Hunter Paper Museum, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States.
The Museum relocated in 1954 to the Institute of Paper Chemistry (now the Renewable Bioproducts Institute at Georgia Tech, Atlanta) and continues today as the Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking.

1942

Secció del Gravat Popular, Barcelona, Spain.
Collection of popular engraving established as part of the Museu d’Indústries i Arts Populars des Poble Espanyol.

1943

Moulin à papier Richard de Bas (Richard de Bas paper mill), Ambert, France.
The Auvergne was one of the earliest centres of papermaking in France, and the country’s principal papermaking region in the eighteenth century. a position which it maintained until well into the nineteenth century when traditional manufacturing methods gave way to mechanised industrial production. The earliest official documents attest to the existence of the Richard de Bas mill in 1463. Rebuilt in the nineteenth century, it has maintained production by traditional methods almost uninterrupted until the present day. The mill became a museum though the efforts of Marius Péraudeau, a paper merchant in Paris with a passion for the history of papermaking, who acquired it in 1942 and had the buildings and installations – the waterwheel, stamping mill, vat and press – fully restored according to traditional techniques. (It was registered as a historic monument in 1983.) The previous year, he had founded a society – La feuille blanche – for the promotion of the history pf papermaking, whose members included the paper historian Henri Alibaux and the master papermaker Maurice Lécole, proprietor of the historic Lana paper mill in the Vosges. Péraudeau’s ‘ecomuseum avant la lettre’, to borrow the paper historian Louis André’s term, was conceived of as a working museum – Péraudeau himself described it as ‘musée du travail en constante et réelle activité’ –  for it is privately owned and continues to produce high quality and novelty hand-made papers. For Louis André, the success of Richard de Bas contributed significantly to the rediscovery of handmade rag paper by the general public and the wave of restoration and patrimonialization of paper mills which began in France in the 1970s. Like many historic paper mills and museums of papermaking, it includes a small section on letterpress printing.

1947

Slovenia Partisan Printing Shop, Idrija, Slovenia.
The Slovenija Partisan Printing Shop was one of the 38 secret partisan technical groups operating in Slovenia under the organisation of the resistance partisan movement. The printing shop complex consists of six wooden huts located in the difficult-to-access ravine, V studencih: the power station hut, the restroom, the foundry with a bedroom in the attic, the machine room, bookbinding room and a kitchen with a dining room. The printing shop become known and important as the Partisan Journal was printed there between September 1944 and the end of the war it was the only daily printed newspaper of any resistance movement in Europe. Since 13 May 1945, the tradition of the Partisan Journal has been continued by the Primorska Journal (Primorski dnevnik) in Trieste. The Slovenija Printing Shop is fully preserved and is a cultural and historical monument, open to visitors since 1947. Both presses are still functioning. With the assistance of a caretaker, visitors are able to print their own leaflet to remember their visit to the printing shop.

1948

Muzeum Narodowy. Dział Sztuki Wydawniczej (Pol., National Museum. Department on the Art of Publishing). Museum section dedicated to  art of publishing. (Source: Mуэеи книги directory.)

1949

Calico Museum of Textiles, Ahmedabad, India.
Part of the permanent display is dedicated to the techniques of calico printing.

1950

Музей издателъства “Детская литература” (Museum of the Publishing House ‘Children’s Literature’), Moscow, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. (Source: Mуэеи книги directory.)

Илегална партијска штампарија. Ilegalna partijska štamparija (Clandestine Partisan Printery), Belgrade, Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia.
Building in which the secret print shop of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia operated which was turned into a memorial museum about all secret partisan print shops in Belgrade. The house was declared a Cultural Monument of Exceptional Importance in 1979 but the museum was closed in August 2000.

1952

Landschaftsmuseum der Dübene Heide. Papiermühlen (Countryside Museum of the Düben Heath. Papermills), Bad Düben, German Democratic Republic.
This museum, which figures in a directory of print-related museums published in the USSR would appear to have included a paper mill. Although the museum still exists there is no mention of papermaking today.

1953

Klingspor museum, Offenbach, Germany.

1955

Musée de l’impression sur étoffes (Museum of textile printing), Mulhouse, France

Deutsches Spielkartenmuseum, Leinfelden-Echterdingen, Germany.
Founded as a private museum. Subsequently changed hands and was reinstalled in 1972. Taken over by the municipality and the region in the mid-1980s.

1956

Iskra Gedenkstätte (Iskra Memorial Site), Leipzig, German Democratic Republic.
Memorial with a small museum for the Communist newspaper Iskra (The spark) which was edited and largely written by Lenin. (Source: Mуэеи книги directory.)

Museo del Libro Antiguo, Antigua, Guatemala.

King Library Press, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, United States.
A bibliographical press.

1957

Museum knihy (Museum of the Book), Ždár nad Sázavou, Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.
Was located inside the castle of Dr. Radslav Kinsky. Closed 2014.

Múseum revolučnej tlače Klementa Gottwalda v Martine Vrútkach (Czech, Museum of Revolutionary Printing Klement Gottwald and Martin Vrútkac), Vrútky, Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.

1960

Музей Кишинебской подполъной типографии ленинской гаэеты ‘Искра’ (Chişinău Museum of the Clandestine Printing House of the Leninist Newspaper Iskra, i.e. Spark), Kišiniov, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. (Source: Mуэеи книги directory.)

1961

ОкрЪжнкой исторически музей. Кооперативная типография Работник (Okr’zhnoi Historical Museum. Co-operative Printing House Работник, newspaper and printing museum), Veliko Tyrnovo, People’s Republic of Bulgaria. (Source: Mуэеи книги directory.)

 Museu Moli Paperer de Capellades, Capellades, Spain.

1962

Internationales Zeitungsmuseum (International newspaper museum), Aachen, Germany.
The core collection of the museum was amassed over a period of nearly forty years by Oskar von Forckenbeck (1822-1898), whose widow gifted it to the city of Aachen on her husband’s death. Forckenbeck first exhibited a selection from his collection in 1886. The collection was transferred to its present location in 1931. The musem opened on the occason of a celebration to honnor Julius Reuter (1816-1899) who founded his news agency in Pontstrasse in 1849.

Kékfestö Múzeum (indigo textile printing museum), Pápa, Hungarian People’s Republic.

Grafisch Centrum Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.

1963

Museo Bodoniano (Bodoni museum), Parma, Italy

1963

Bibliothèque Forney, Paris, France.
Fondée en 1886, la Bibliothèque Forney s’installe dans l’hôtel de Sens en 1961 elle organise des expositions dans le domaine graphique à partir de 1963.

1964

Musée de l’imprimerie et de la communication graphique (Museum of printing and graphic communication), Lyon, France.
Originally the Musée de l’imprimerie, it changed its name in 2014 on the occasion of a major reorganisation of its permanent collection to mark the 50th anniversary of its founding.

National Museum of Printing History, Washington, United States.
Opened a large Hall of printing and the graphic arts in January 1964. It was closed down in December 2003.

1964

Musée Félicien Rops, Namur, Belgium

1964

Museo de artes gráficas (Graphic arts museum), Imprenta nacional de Colombia.
Founded 30 April 1964 by Tarcisio Higuera Barrera.

1966

Muzeum Historyczne m. Krakow. Oddział Historii Drukarstwa i Introligatorstwa (Museum of History of Krakow. Section on the history of Printing and Bookbinding), Krakow, Polish People’s Republic.
(Source: Mуэеи книги directory.)

Muzeul Județean Dîmbovița. Muzeul tiparului si al càrtii vechi românesti (Dîmbovița County Museum. Museum of Romanian Printing and Old Books), Târgovişte, Socialist Republic of Romania.

1968

Muzeum Papiernictwa w Dusznikach-Zdroju (Paper Museum of Dusznikach-Zdroju), Duszniki-Zdrój, Polish People’s Republic.
(Source: Mуэеи книги directory.)

Muzeum plakatu (Poster Museum), Wilanów, Poland.
The world’s first museum dedicated exclusively to posters, set up as a subsidiary of the Warsaw National Museum.

Мемориалъный дом-музей ‘Подполъная типографии Пермского комитета РСДРП 1906 г.’ (Historic House and Museum of the ‘Clandestine Printing House of the Committee of the RSDRP of 1906’, i.e. the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party), Perm, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
(Source: Mуэеи книги directory.)

John Johnson collection, Bodleain Library, Oxford, United Kingdon.
Originally the Constance Meade collection, created in the early 1930s.

1969

Nationaal Museum van de Speelkaart (National playing card museum), Turnhout, Belgium

Technisches Denkmal ‘Neumann-Mühle’ (Technological Memorial Neuman Mill), Ottendorf (now part of Sebnitz), German Democratic Republic.
Paper mill museum, today a museum site dedicated to the history of local timber cutting, the main industry, but also wood pulp and paper production.

Музей нелегалъной печати ЦК КП Латвии (Museum of the clandestine printing house of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Latvia), Riga, Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic.
(Source: Mуэеи книги directory.)

1970

Městské museum. Historia knihtisku ve Vimperku, Vimperk, Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.
Display on the history of book printing in Vimperk City Museum.

Gyomai Kner Nyomda Zrt. Kner Gyüjtemény (Kner Printing Museum), Kossuth, Hungary.
The Kner Collection of Printing History is housed in the former residence of Imre Kner. The house was designed by Lajos Kozma and built in 1925 in a so-called ‘folk-baroque’ style. Since 1970, the building has housed one of the nation’s most complete collections of printing history. The Museum showcases the works of members of the Kner Family and displays the history of the Gyomai Kner Printing Company from its founding in 1882 to our present day. Visitors have a chance to see books, ball invitations, calendars, letterheads, posters, shares, early photographs, and historic documents all originally printed by the Kner printing fiem. Traditional functioning printing and binding machines enhance the visiting experience.

Casa Dosoftei (Dosoftei House), Iasi, Socialist Republic of Romania.
Museum of Romanian literature in the historic building, site of the second printing press in Moldova (1679-1686) where the first printing in the Romanian language occurred. (Source: Mуэеи книги directory.)

1972

Verla Paper Mill Museum, Verla Kouvola, Finland.
The Verla groundwood paper mill, established in 1872, ceased production in 1964. The idea of turning the buildings – coherent ensemble of industrial architecture – into a museum had been raised in the 195às, but it would be nearly twenty years later that the idea was taken up seriously. As Museum’s website describes it: ‘The official proposal to transform the Verla Groundwood and Board Mill into a factory museum originated with the company that owned it. Kymi Corporation’s communications and public relations manager Veikko Talvi had admired the architecture and milieu of the old industrial settlement already in the early 1950s when he visited Verla for the first time. Talvi had studied history and was particularly impressed with the mill’s machinery and equipment, as well as by the entire production process, which had remained unchanged since the late 19th century. Talvi started to systematically record Verla’s history. He photographed the buildings, the work methods and the personnel. He also interviewed current and retired workers and collected old photographs and other documentary material. At Talvi’s initiative, a documentary about the mill’s operations was filmed during the mill’s final days.’ […] The Mill Museum’s opening ceremony was held on 14 May 1972. It is described as Finland’s first factory museum.
Verla was added to the World Heritage List in 1996 as an outstanding and remarkably well-preserved example of the small-scale rural industrial settlement associated with pulp and board production that flourished in northern Europe and North America in the 19th and early 20th centuries, of which only a handful survive to the present day.

Friedrich Gottlob Keller Heimatmuseum (Friedrich Gottlob Keller Local History Museum), Krippen (now part of Bad Schandau), German Democratic Republic.
Paper history museum. Friedrich Gottlob Keller invented the process for making paper from ground wood pulp in 1843.

Музей книги і друкарства України (Museum of books and printing of Ukraine), Kiev, Ukraine.
The Museum is located in a former building of the the first printing house in Eastern Ukraine, which was housed in the Kyiv Cave Monastery Press (early 17th century) and worked constantly for over 300 years. It was established in Kyiv in 1972 (UNESCO’s International Year of the Book) as the State Museum of the Book and Book Printing, and opened to the public in 1975. The Museum collection contains 58 000 exhibits – manuscripts, old printed books 16th-18th c., engravings, printing presses, first editions of 19th and 20th century Ukrainian books and other publications, bookplates, graphic works and paintings. More than 3000 items exhibited in five halls chronicle the development of book writing, printing and book publishing in Ukraine.

1973

Vallis Clausa, Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, France.
At the request of Jean Garcin, President of the Département of Vaucluse, Marius Péraudeau, founder of the Richard-de-Bas paper mill and curator of the historical museum in Ambert, Auvergne, imagined and created a cultural and craft group in Fontaine-de-Vaucluse with the aim of renovating and safeguarding the last paper mill on the Sorgue. The Moulin de la Fontaine make rag paper by hand and runs a cultural craft centre to promote high quality crafts.

Izba Drukarstwa w Lublinie (Lublin Printing Workshop), Lublin, Poland.
Established after the closure of a local private printing firm. Unfortunately the collections grew faster than the finances could follow and the museum had to close. It was reopenend in 2007. (See 2007.)

1974

Deutsches Plakat Museum (German Poster Museum), Essen, Germany.
As befits a country with a strong tradition in the field, the Deutsches Plakat Museum holds one of the largest poster collections in the world with over 350,000 items covering all periods with a particular emphasis on German posters. It is based on a collection that was set up by the Folkwang School of Design in the 1960s. Set up in 1974 it later became part of the Folkwang Museum (fine arts).

1975

Musée de l’imprimerie / Drukkerijmuseum, Bibliothèque royale Albert 1er (KBR), Brussels, Belgium.
The Museum of Printing (created in 1975, but officially organised as a non-profit association in April 1977) aims to conserve and present important artefacts of the history of printing and bookmaking, as well as collecting documentation relating to these subjects. The museum illustrates the development of printing in Belgium in the 19th century. It brings together cast-iron platen presses, Belgian cylinder presses and ancillary printing equipment, mainly from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Some important items are on display in the corridors of the Bibiolthèque royale Albert 1er. Other objects are not currently accessible to the public. The museum has a specialised library of around a thousand books which can be accessed via KBR’s online catalogue and consulted in the general reading room.

Музей ВЪзражданете и национално-освободителните борби Материали за делотона Х.Г. Данов (Museum on V’zrazhdanete and the National Liberation Party Propaganda Materials for the case on H.G. Danov), Plovdiv, People’s Republic of Bulgaria.
(Source: Mуэеи книги directory.) Now part of Plovdiv Regional History Museum.

Lahti poster museum, Lahti, Finland.
The Poster Museum was established as part of the Lahti Art Museum in Autumn 1975 with the aim of collecting and studying Finnish and foreign graphic design. The collections have been augmented mainly through donations but also through purchases and deposits and contain approximately 60 000 prints, most of which are posters. The Museum is currently closed for a makeover and is scheduled to reopen in 2022.

Grafisch Museum In den Groenen Zonck, Wouw, Netherlands.
The museum originated with a private collection which has since been enriched by various donations. It takes its name from the building in which it is housed: the Groenen Zonck.

Heron Corn Mill and Museum of Paper Making, Beetham Milnthorpe, United Kingdom.
A working, water-driven corn mill acquired by the local papermaker Henry Cooke Ltd who formed Beetham Trust, a charity whose members began the task of restoring the mill and its machinery. There is an exhibition of 900 years of milling and a gallery devoted to baking. The museum shows papermaking ancient and modern. There are demonstrations of the handmaking of paper.

1976

Nederlands drukkerik museum, Etten-Leur, The Netherlands.

Cooper Hewitt, New York, United States.
Cooper Hewitt is a design museum. So it is not a printing museum nor even a graphic design museum as such. But like all the major museums of the decorative arts it devotes a lot of its energies to graphic design and printed products. Its origins go back to 1859 and the establishment of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art as an institution of higher learning which was intended to also include a museum. Inspired by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Musée des arts décoratifs in Paris, the museum only actually came into being in 1897. In 1963, the Cooper Union’s announcement that it was going to disband the Museum for financial  reasons provoked an outrcy and a campaign to prevent its collections going into storage and maintain them as a publicy available resource. The result was the creation of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum as part of the Smithsonian Institution which opened to the public on the 7th October 1976.

Roy Chatters “Boomerang” newspaper & printing museum, Palouse, Washington State, United States.

1977

Musée de la Toile de Jouy, Jouy-en-Josas, France.
Créé en 1977 pour faire renaître dans les mémoires la célèbre « Manufacture des Toiles de Jouy » , fondée en 1760 par l’entrepreneur et imprimeur Christophe-Philippe Oberkampf.

Manawatu Printery Collection at the Manawatu Museum, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
The Manawatu museum was established in 1970 and in 1975 was rehoused in a museum complex provided by the Palmerston North City Council. The Museum Printery was established in 1977 and then was housed in a small wooden building within the museum complex. The first Manawatu Museum printer was John Brebner, a significant figure in the region for his work in keeping the tradition of letterpress printing alive—and not just through his work as the Manawatu Museum Printer. As an art teacher in a local school he involved his students in printing activities. In addition he ran his own private press, printmaking studio and workshop, Homeprint, providing resources and training in printing locally and beyond. (Source: Shadowland Newsletter, n°131.)

Централъные музей В.И. Ленина. Создание и распространение газеты “Искра”, 1901-1903 гг. (Central Museum of V.I. Lenin.
Production and Distribution of the Newspaper Iskra, i.e. Spark), Moscow, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. The Lenin museum opened in 1936 but was closed in 1993. The newspaper section opened in 1977. (Source: Mуэеи книги directory.)

Музей Ивана Федорова (Ivan Federov Museum), Lviv, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Museum dedicated to Ivan Fyodorov, the first known Russian printer in Moscow and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Now known as the Museum of ancient Ukranian books, it is part of the Lviv Art Gallery. (Source: Mуэеи книги directory.)

1978

Printing and papermaking gallery of the Science Museum, London, United Kingdom.
The Science Museum had exhibited print-related objects since the late 19th century. The Printing and papermaking gallery was closed in 2004.

Musée de la publicité (Museum of advertising), Paris, France.
Originally opened in 1981 in its own premises by the Union centrale des arts décoratifs as the Musée de l’affiche, it later changed it name to Musée de la publicité. It was later integrated within the Musée des arts décoratifs where it reopened in 1999. The constitution of the Musée’s poster collections began at the beginning of the 20th century.

Museum of printing, Haverhill, Massachusetts, United States.
Incorporated in 1978 as The Friends of The Museum of Printing, Inc., to save and preserve printing equipment and library materials associated with the graphic arts.

1979

Fries grafische museum, Joure, Netherlands.
Was initially part of the Fries museum in Leeuwarden. Later became part of the Joure Museum in the nearby town of the same name. It was relaunched in 1999 as a working museum.

Bibelmuseum (Bible museum), Pferdegasse, Germany

Association pour le patrimoine industriel, Geneva, Switzerland

1980

Basler Papiermuhl (Basel paper mill), Basel, Switzerland

1981

Musée Théophraste Renaudot, Loudun, France

Museu del Llibre i les Arts Gràfiques, Barcelona, Spain.
The collection which formed the basis of this museum had been building up since 1968 within the Museu d’Indústries i Artes populaires. In 1989 it was renamed the Museu de les Arts Gráfiques. Closed and put into storage in 1994, a large part of its collections now form part of the Barcelona Design Museum which opened in 2014.

Banknote museum of the Ionian Bank, Corfu, Greece.

1982

Druckmuseum, Graz, Austria.
Closed in 1999 it now exists only as a virtual, online museum.

Musée du dessin et de l’estampe originale (Museum of drawing and printmaking), Gravelines, France.

Diósgyőri Papírgyár Zrt (Museum of DIPA – Diósgyőr Paper Factory Zrt.), Miskolc, Hungary.
Company museum based on artefacts from the the Dipa Inc. paper mill, producers of security papers.

The Japan Ukiyo-e Museum, Shinkiri, Shimadachi, Nagano-ken, Japan.
A private museum dedicated to Japanese prints.

Muzeum Historyczne m. Krakow. Oddział Historii Drukarstwa i Introligatorstwa (Museum of History of Krakow. Section on the history of Printing and Bookbinding), Krakow, Polish People’s Republic.
In 1982, the museum opened a permanent exhibition dedicated to the history of Kraków’s arts of bookbinding and printing, names after and in the former workshop of Robert Jahoda. After the building was recovered by its previous private owner in 1992, the exhibition was moved to the main museum in “Krzysztofory” palace.

John Jarrold printing museum, Norwich, United Kingdom.
The Museum was closed in 2019 due to redevelopment. After a short period of uncertainty as to the future of its important collections it reopened as the Nowrich Printing Museum in July 2021. (See Norwich Printing Museum.)

The Printing Museum, Houston, Texas, United States.

1983

Musée du papier peint (Wallpaper museum), Rixheim, France.

Matou (Musée de l’affiche de Toulouse), Toulouse, France.
The collection was started in 1978 but was not open to the public until the Centre de l’affiche opened in 1983. It was refurbished and reopened in April 2017 as the Matou.

Museum Stichting Lettergieten 1983 / Museum Typefoundry Westzaan, Westzaan, Netherlands.

Grafisch museum/atelier ‘In den Groenen Zonck’, Wouw, Netherlands.

Госвдарственная ордена Пенина библиотека СССР им. В.И. Пенина. Mуэеи книги
(Lenin State Library of the USSR. Museum of the Book), Moscow, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.

Západoslovenské múzeum v Trnave. Múzeum kniżnej kultúry (Western Slovak Museum in Trnava. Museum of Book Culture), Trnava, Slovak Republic.

Rosenlöfs Tryckerimuseum, Kungsgården, Sweden.

1984

Centre de la gravure et de l’image imprimée, La Louvière, Belgium

Denmarks mediemuseet (Danish Media Museum), Odensee, Denmark.
Originally known as the Danmarks Grafiske Museum (Danish Graphic Museum) it changed its name in 2006 on the occasion of a major makeover.

Naturhistorisches Museum Schloss Bertholdsburg. Abteilung der Papierindustrie (Natural History Museum Castle Bertholdsburg. Section for the Paper Industry), Scheusingen, German Democratic Republic.
Paper-making section in a typical castle museum. There is no mention of papermaking now although the section may still exist.

Museo della Carta e della Filigrana (Museum of paper and watermarks), Fabriano, Italy.

Издателъство ‘Книга’. Музей миниатурной книгн (Publishing House Kniga. Museum of Miniature Books), Moscow, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
(Source: Mуэеи книги directory.)

Музей издателъства ‘Молодая гвардия’ (Museum of the Publishing House ‘Young Guard’), Moscow, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
(Source: Mуэеи книги directory.)

Sala Temàtica d’Arts Gràfiques de la Diputació de Lleida (Graphic arts exhibition of Lleida Regional Council), Lleida (Catalonia), Spain.

Museo Fournier de Naipes (Fournier playing card museum), Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.

Museum of brands, packaging and advertising, London, United Kingdom.
Opened in Gloucester as the Museum of packaging and advertising, it moved to London in 2005, at which time it adopted its current name.

William Clowes printing museum, Beccles, Suffolk, United Kingdom.
This museum is now definitively closed.

1985

Musée Louis Jou, Baux-de-Provence, France.
The “Friends of Louis Jou” association was founded in 1965 and on the death of Louis Jou in 1968, his widow maintained his workshop in operation until 1997. The Foundation was set up in 1976.

Museum der Arbeit, Hamburg, Germany.
Its printing section began its public activities in this year.

Museum für Fotokopie, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany.
Its collection of copying machines and documentation was integrated into the Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin in 1999.

Beamish open air museum, Beamish, United Kingdom.
Founded in 1970, the Museum included a print workshop and branch office of the Sunderland daily echo as part of the ‘town area’ which was officially opened in 1985.

1986

Imprenta municipal – Artes del libro, Madrid, Spain.
Centre for the preservation of the history of printing with a permanent exhibition ‘Printing and the book: a story’ which offers the public to view of its extensive collections. One temporary exhibition is usually scheduled each year in addition to public demonstrations, lectures, and other activities. It also runs professional workshops of typesetting, printing and bookbinding.

Museu de l’Estampació, Premià de Mar, Spain.

Nantes printing museum (Musée de l’imprimerie / ateliers & conservatoire des métiers du livre et de l’estampe), Nantes, France.

Musée Champollion. Les écritures du monde, Figeac, France.
Originally opened as the Musée Champollion it was enlarged and reopened in 2007 with the subtitle ‘Les écritures du monde’.

Fjeld-Ljom newspaper museum (Pressemuseet Fjeld-Ljom), Røros, Norway.
The Fjeld-Ljom Newspaper Museum at Røros in Central Norway is situated in the original premises of the former Fjeld-Ljom newspaper, and includes the original editorial office and typesetting and printing departments. The technology is hot metal typesetting and letterpress printing, as was the case when Fjell-Ljom closed in the mid 1970s. The machinery is kept in working condition by voluntary work of experienced craftsmen. Every year a four-page broadsheet newspaper is typeset and printed at the premises.

Государственные историко-кулътурный заповедник города Острога. Отдел истории книгн и книгопечатания (State Historical and Cultural Reserve of the City of Ostrog. Department of Books and Book Printing); established in 1986; a rare book department only?; Mуэеи книги directory

American advertising museum, Portland, Oregon, United States.
Dedicated to advertising from the 18th century till the present day, it had closed down by 2004.

1987

Museum für Gestaltung Zürich (Zürich design museum), Zürich, Switzerland.
Its collections were started in 1875.

Dagbladmuseum, Antwerp, Belgium.

Bruunshaab Gl. Papfabrik, Viborg, Denmark.
A working papermuseum.

Musée des papeteries Canson et Montgolfier, Annonay, France.

Printing Historical Museum, Japan.
Set up by the Toppan Printing Research Institute in Sugito-cho, Saitama Prefecture, it was the predecessor of The Printing Museum, Tokyo (2000).

Museo de la Imprenta y la Obra Gráfica (Museum of printing and the graphic arts), El Puig, (Valencia), Spain.
Inaugurated in 1987. Remodelled and reopenend in 2008.

Velké Losiny paper mill, Velke Losini, Czeck Republic.

Casa de la xylografía (Xylography Museum), Campos do Jordão, State of São Paulo, Brazil.

1988

Letterpress Printing Museum, Pinaroo, Australia.
Part of the Mallee Tourist and Heritage Cetre.

Musée du papier Le Nil, Angoulème, France.
The origins of the paper mill in which the Musée du Papier is housed go back to the French Revolution. In 1819 the site was acquired by Jean Lacroix whose family exploited it for a century, before it became the Joseph Bardou ‘Le Nil’ paper mill famous for its cigarette papers. Le Nil closed in 1972. Renovated in 1983, the museum buildings form a bridge, over the river between the rue de Bordeaux and the island of Saint-Cybard. The ground floor rooms house an interpretation centre devoted to the crafts and industry linked to the river. Upstairs, temporary exhibitions present the Musée’s various collections.

Drukkunstmuseum: historische drukkerij & grafisch atelier, Maastricht, Netherlands.
Set up as the Museum de historische drukkerij, it changed name in 2014.

Scryption, Tilburg, Netherlands.

The international printing museum, Carson, California, United States.

1989

Sandkrug printing museum, Oldenberg, Germany.
Initially established with printing equipment from the defunct Drewes and Bührmann printing firms.

Musée de la bande dessinée, Angoulême, France.
Le Musée est né avec la création, en 1989, du Centre national de la bande dessinée et de l’image (aujourd’hui Cité internationale de la bande dessinée et de l’image) et le don de la collection planches originales du Musée de beaux-arts d’Angoulême. Il est installé, depuis 2009, dans de nouveaux espaces plus grands et plus adaptés à ses différentes fonctions.

The Hall of Awa Japanese Handmade PaperTokushima, Japan.
A private museum dedicated to the preservation of the techniques and skills of Awa washi papermaking.

1990

Goupil museum, Bordeaux, France.

Musée de l’imprimerie, Epernay, France.
Set up on the premises of the Champagne de Castellane firm along with a museum of Champagne labels. The Musée’s collection of some twenty or so late 19th and earl 20th century printing presses was put up for sale in 2023 on the occasion of the sale of the firms premises.

Leopold-Hoesch-Museum – Papiermuseum Düren, Düren, Germany.
The Papiermuseum Düren merged with the Leopold-Hoesch-Museum in 2009.

Samseong Museum of Publishing, Seoul, South Korea.

Grafiska museet Helsingborg (Helsingborg printing museum), Helsingborg, Sweden.

Robert Smail’s printing works, Innerleithen, United Kingdom.
The printing works itelf was established in 1866.

1991

Musée départemental du cartonnage et de l’imprimerie, Valréas, France.
This departmental museum traces the history of the manufacturing and printing of cardboard boxes in Valréas, the capital of French cartonnage industry from its origins in mid-19th century to the recent times. Its extensive collections include boxes for perfumery, pharmacy, jewellery, confectionery as well as a reconstitution of a lithographic printing workshop, box-making machines, archives and collections of printed labels, posters and advertising calendars, representatives’ cards.

Museum Otto Schäfer, Schweinfurt, Germany.

Norsk grafisk museum (Norwegian Printing Museum), Stavanger, Norway.
Founded in 1991 it welcomed the public to its first exhibitions two years later in an old cannery warehouse in Sandvigå in Stavanger. The building and its neighbourhood were later re-zoned for hotel construction and in 2013 the museum closed and the collection was put into storage, in anticipation of new premises which were duly inaugurated in the Spring of 2021. The Norwegian Printing Museum now shares a site with the Norsk hermetikkmuseum (Norwegian Canning Museum), founded in 1982, under the joint name IDDIS, the local Stavanger term for labels. The two museums share a common industrial history, as it was the need for colorful labels and packaging for the growing canning industry that laid the foundation for the strong graphic industry in Stavanger.

1992

Schrift- & Heimatmuseum Bartlhaus, Pettenbach, Austria.
Local heritage museum with a significant section dedicated to calligraphy and bookplate art.

Druckgrafische Museum Weimar, Weimar, Germany.

Museum für Papier und Buchkunst, Lenningen, Germany.
Donated to the municipality by the Papierfabrik Scheufelen to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the installation in Lenningen of the first paper coating machine in Europe.

Aiap Gallery, Milan, Italy.
Gallery established by the Aiap (the Associazione italiana design della communacazione visiva) which was itself founded in 1945 to promote Italian graphic  design and the design profession. The Gallery was a precursor in the field.

The Early Printing museum, Cheongju City, Republic of Korea.

The Type archive, London, United Kingdom.
Founded originally as The Type museum.

Oxford University Press Museum, Oxford, United Kingdom.

1993

Book art museum, Lodz, Poland.

Dansk plakatmuseum (Danish poster museum), Aarhus, Denmark.
Based on the collection of a private collector, the artist Peder Stougaard, the project to create a Danish poster museum began in 1986 with the setting up of an association with this end in view. The collection was publicly funded and the posters were stored within the Åbyhøj library, where they continue to be stored to this day. In 1993 the Museum opened in an annexe of the local Art Gallery in the centre of Aarhus. In 2006, the Danish Poster Museum became part of the City’s Old Town (Den Gamle By Den Gamle an institution governed by a board with representatives from the trade union movement, the business community, the region, the municipality, the university and the Museum’s staff). Two years later, when the collection was recognised by the State, it was gifted to the Old Town. In 2009 the Museum was installed in a brand new building in the modern section of the Old Town.

The printing house, Cockermouth, United Kingdom.
The collection began to be assembled in 1979 but it was in 1993 that it was opened to the public in a purpose-built building. The museum closed in 2009, a year after the death of its founder, David Winkworth.

Melbourne Museum of Printing, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
The collections originated with a typefoundry which was established in August 1977 to maintain the availability of metal types. The name change to MMOP occurred in mid-1993.

1994

Leipzig printing museum (Museum für Druckkunst), Leipzig, Germany.

Maison du patrimoine industriel et des arts graphiques, Geneva, Switzerland.

Les Silos – Maison du livre et de l’affiche, Chaumont, France.

Museo des periodismo y las artes graficas, Guadalajara, Mexico.

Dong-A printing museum (Printing culture exhibition hall), Ansan, near Seoul, South Korea.
A company-sponsored printing museum first opened in 1994 then reinstalled in the Dong-A Printing’s new factory in Ansan in 2004.

Espace Gutenberg, Yvonand, Switzerland.

Museum of the American Printing House for the Blind, Louisville, Kentucky, United States.

1995

Musée des imprimés en Luxembourg, Redu, Belgium.

Colophon – Maison de l’imprimeur, Grignan, France.

Moulin de la Tourne, Les Marches, France.

Center for Contemporary Graphic Art, Sukagawa, Fukushima, Japan.
Museum and archive established by Dai Nippon Printing Co., following the previous openings of ginza graphic gallery (1986) and Kyoto ddd gallery. Its aim is to pass on to future generations outstanding works and materials in graphic design and the graphic arts as valuable cultural heritage. Its two principal collections are the Tyler Graphics Archive Collection, a collection of prints representing the history of contemporary American art, and the DNP Archives of Graphic Design, a collection of major contemporary Japanese graphic design.

Centre for contemporary printmaking, Cincinnati, United States.

1996

Historische Drukkerij, Turnhout, Belgium.

China printing museum, Beijing, China.

Musée Aristide Bergès, Lorpe-Santareille, France.

Papeterie de Vaux, Vaux, France.

National print museum, Dublin, Ireland.

Museo della Carta, Pietrabuona, Pescia, Italy.

Ogaki Poster Museum, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. The first Japanese museum devoted exclusively to posters.

Printing Museum of Cieszyn, Cieszyn, Poland.

Crandall historical printing museum, Provo, Utah, United States.

1997

Österreichische Papiermachermuseum, Laakirchen, Austria.
Hand papermaking and printing museum with temporary exhibition space on the site of a century-old papermaking factury.

Museo internacional de la gráfica, Chillán, Chile.

CNEAI (Centre national édition art image), Pantin, France.
Originally founded as the Centre national de l’estampe et de l’art imprimé.

Musée français de la carte à jouer (French playing card museum), Issy-les-Moulineaux, France.

Druck-und Satztechnik Privatmuseum Goldschagg, Munich, Germany.
Founded by newspaper publisher Rolf Goldschagg who started collecting printing machines in 1991.

Buchdruckmuseum Zschopau, Zschopau, Germany.
Officially opened in 1997, several of the machines in the collection had been exhibited since 1993 in Zschopau Castle.

Druckmuseum/Haus für Industriekultur, Darmstadt, Germany.

Museum Papiermühle Homburg, Homburg/Main, Germany.

Museo della carta di Mele, Acquasanta, Italy.

Museu nacional de imprensa, Porto, Portugal.

Jeonju Hanji Museum, Jeonju, South Korea.
Originally founded as the Hansol Paper Museum, it changed its name to Pan-Asia Paper Museum in 2001, before adopting its present name in 2005.

Newseum, United States.
The Newseum was originally located in Rosslyn, Virginia, just outside Washington DC, until 2002 when its parent institution, the Freedom Forum, purchased a site on Pennsylvania Avene (close to the White House) where it reopened in 2008. After a successful period of activity the Nuseum was closed again in 2019 when the building was sold for financial reasons. In 2021 it was hoping to find new premises in which to reopen.

1998

Museum of printing at NERAM, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia.

Mundaneum, Mons, Belgium.
The original Palais Mondial-Mundaneum was destroyed in 1934 at which time its collections were put into storage. After several removals the collections were installed in a former Art Deco style L’Indépendance department store in the centre of Mons in 1993. The building was renovated and the new Mundaneum was opened to the public in 1998 with an exhibition and conference space designed by François Schuiten et Benoît Peeters.

Offizin Schwarze Kunst, Buchdruckerei-Museum und Schauwerkstatt, Krakow-am-See, Germany.

British library (new building and exhibition spaces), London, United Kingdom.
Created by act of Parliament in 1973, the British library acquired the printed collections of the British museum. It’s new building, inaugurated in 1998, devoted extensive spaces to temporary and permanent exhibitions related to books and other printed material.

Crandall historical printing museum, Provo, Utah, United States.

1999

Mercury print museum, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
Closed to the public in 2015.

Musée de la Biscuiterie LU, Nantes, France.

Papiermuseum Alte Dombach, Alte Dombach, Germany.
In December 1987, the papermakers Zanders Feinpapiere AG and J.W. Zanders AG transferred the buildings and properties of the Alte Dombach to the Landschaftsverband Rheinland for incorporation into the LVR Industrial Museum. Opened in 1999, the museum covers the history of paper production and paper use from around 1750 to the present day.

Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum, Two Rivers, Wisconsin, United States.

2000

Japan Newspaper Museum (Newspark), Yokohama, Japan.
Founded by the Nihon Shimbum Kyokai (NSK), the Japanese Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association.

Print and playing card museum of Luxembourg (Kulturhuef) / Musée luxembourgeois de l’imprimerie et de la carte à jouer / Luxemburger Druck- und Spielkartenmuseum, Grevenmacher, Luxembourg.

Ivan Fedorov Museum, Moscow, Russia. The Museum of the History of Printing, Book Publishing and Moscow State University of Printing and Publishing
It is named after Ivan Fedorov, the first known Russian printer in Moscow and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Encre & plomb. Atelier-musée de l’imprimerie, Chavannes-près-Renens, Switzerland

Musée suisse des arts graphiques et de la communication, Fribourg, Switzerland.
Formerly the Gutenberg Museum (see 1900) which had been closed since 1985.

Frogmore Paper Mill, Hemel Hempstead, United Kingdom.
In 2000 the Apsley Paper Trail charity was formed to conserve this unique historical site and make it accessible to the public. The exact date at which the facility was open to the public is not known for the moment.

The Grabhorn Institute, San Francisco, United States.

2001

Penrith Printing Museum, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia.

Päivälehti Museum, Helsinki, Finland.
Dedicated to the history of newspapers and the media, contemporary media and freedom of speech in Finland and elsewhere.

Museum für Druckgeschichte, Weilerswist, Germany.

Plöger paper mill, Schieder-Schwalenberg, Germany.

Druckereimuseum (Benary-Speicher Museum), Erfurt, Germany.
Based on the collection put together since 1981 by employees of the local printing firm of Fortschritt.

Buchdruckerei-Museum, Burkhardtsdorf, Germany.
Installed in the premises of the local Schreiber printing which closed in 1992.

Museo Civico della Stampa Mondovì, Mondovì, Italy.

Museum Graphia – Museo Internazionale della Stampa, Urbino, Italy.

Nederlands steendrukmuseum, Valkenswaard, Netherlands.

2002

Miniatür Kitab Muzeyi (Museum of miniature books), Baku, Azerbaijan.

Propaganda Poster Art Centre, Shanghai, China.
Offers a view of changes in modern China as seen through posters. It founder, Yang Pei Ming, started collectin poster in 1995 after propaganda materials were deleted by official government organisations for political reasons.

Tipoteca italiana, Cornuda, Italy.

Buchdruck-Museum Hannover, Hanover, Germany.

Anokhi Hand Printing Museum, Amber, Jaipur, India.

2003

Archivio museo della stampa, Genoa, Italy.

Museum of the image (Musée de l’image), Épinal, France.

Bodmer museum, Cologny, Switzerland.

Stichting Grafisch Erfgoed (Graphic heritage foundation), Orvette, Netherlands (ceased activity in 2014).

Technikmuseum Im Manz-Bau (Linotype museum), Schopfheim, Germany.
Unable to continue in its existing premises, the Museum closed in October 2017.

Woodblock Print Museum, Sillim-myoen, South Korea.

2004

Museum für Druckgrafik, Rankweil, Austria.

Die Druckwerkstatt Mosbach, Mosbach, Germany.
Collection was brought together by the Druckwerkstatt e.V. support and fundraising organization which was set up in 1994 and displayed as a department of the Mosbach City Museum (Stadtmuseum) since 2004.

Papiermuseum Fockendorf, Fockendorf, Germany.

German newspaper museum (Deutsches Zeitungsmuseum), Wadgassen, Germany.

Muzeum Piśmiennictwa i Drukarstwa w Grębocin (Paper and Printing Museum of Grębocin), Grębocin, Polish People’s Republic

IMOGA Istanbul museum of graphic arts (Istanbul grafik sanatlar müzesi), Istanbul, Turkey.
The museum also houses the Artess printmaking studio (1984) whose origins go back to 1974.

2005

Museum of typography, Chania, Greece.

Litografiska Museet (Lithography museum), Sundby Gård, Huddinge, Sweden.
The Litografiska Museet is a combined museum and workshop specialized in stone printing. It owns a large collection of art works, posters, labels, letterheads, packages etc. from the first half of the 20th century as well as 1,000-odd lithographic stones, most of which still have old motifs preserved on them. The collections are to a large extent based on donations from individual lithographers and printers.

m.a.x. museo, Chiasso, Italy.
Museum founded by Aoi Huber Kono to celebrate the work of her late husband, the Swiss graphic designer Max Huber (1919-1992) and her father the Japanese graphic designer Takashi Kono. Its mission is to promote graphic design, photography and art.

2006

Musée de l’imprimerie du Québec, Montréal, Canada.
Le Petit musée de l’impression fut créé en 2006. Il adopta son nom actuel en 2012.

2007

Moravské kartografické centrum (Moravian Cartography Centre), Velké Opatovice, Czech Republic.
Cartography
museum.

Museo della stampa Remondini, Bassano del Grappa, Italy.

Izba Drukarstwa, Lublin, Poland.
Originally established in 1973, then closed, the museum reopened in 2007 with a new theatre centre. The building was renovated and a permanent exhibition installed.

2008

Guanlan Printmaking Museum, Shenzhen, China.
Part of the vast China Guanlan Original Printmaking Base.

Eesti Trykimuuseum (Estonian printing museum), Tartu, Estonia.

Museo della stampa e stampa d’arte ‘Andrea Schiavi’, Lodi, Italy.

MOTI Museum of the image, Breda, Netherlands (which officially adopted this name in 2011).
On 1 January 2017, MOTI merged with Breda’s Museum to become Stedelijk Museum Breda.

Casa de la Primera Imprenta de América (House of the first print shop in the Americas), Mexico City, Mexico.
Now the Continuing Education Center of the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, it houses the Museum of the book.

Newseum, Washington D.C., United States.
Originally located in Arlington, Virginia from 1997 intil 2002, the Newseum reopens in new premises in Washington D.C.

2010

Bibliotheca Wittockiana, Brussels, Belgium.
Originally a private collection centred on the book arts and bookbinding, the Bibliotheca Wittockiana opened to the public in 1983. It acquired official museum status in 2010.

TYPA, Tartu, Estonia.
Founded in the spring of 2010 as a private museum to fill the gap within memory institutions in Estonia and save the country’s last surviving letterpress machines and equipment. Since its establishment, its aim has been to work as a functioning museum and visitor centre. In 2020, it was awarded the ILUCIDARE Special Prize — part of the European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards, a major European honour in the field of cultural heritage — for its distinctive solution to preserving cultural heritage.

Maison de la typographie, Haspres, France.

Museo della stampa ‘Città di Lecce’, Merine, Lecce, Italy.

Museo del Libto Fadrique de Baslea, Burgos, Spain.

2011

Musée de l’imprimerie de Limoux, Limoux (Aude), France.
L’idée de préserver le patrimoine culturel et transmettre le savoir-faire de de l’imprimerie a été impulsée par l’ancien imprimeur Jean-Claude Laffont, mais ce n’est qu’en 1996, qu’elle a pris forme. Les responsabilités diverses de Jean-Claude Laffont, dont celle d’administrateur national du Fonds social de la Caisse de retraite complémentaire de l’Imprimerie, en charge des régions du Poitou-Charente, du Limousin, de l’Auvergne, de Midi-Pyrénées (Aveyron-Tarn) et du Languedoc-Roussillon (Lozère), lui ont permis de rencontrer de nombreux imprimeurs et de construire, grâce à leurs dons, une importante collection. Il a regroupé autour de lui des imprimeurs actifs et retraités, auxquels sont venues s’ajouter des personnes qualifiées qui, en avril 1998, fondèrent «l’Association du musée des arts graphiques et de la communication», avec comme objectif de mener des activités culturelles, de créer un Musée de l’Imprimerie et de proposer des ateliers manuels pédagogiques. Après le déménagement des collections de Bozouls, à Capdenac-Gare, au Pont-Viel et à Bel-Air à Rodez, aucune solution convenable n’ayant été trouvée, l’Association des Amis du Musée de l’Imprimerie, des Arts graphiques et de la Communication a été accueillie par Jean-Paul Dupré, député-maire de la Ville de Limoux, qui a été intéressé par le projet et mis en place le Musée de l’Imprimerie. Le Musée a été inaugurée le 21 octobre 2011, partageant l’espace de l’ancien tribunal avec le Musée du Carnaval. (https://museedelimprimerie.fr/historique/)

Comana Paper Museum, Comana, Romania.
Paper mill and letterpress printing and bookbinding workshop-museum.

Museo Alzamora, Girona, Spain.

C. C. Stern Type Foundry, Oregon, United States.
Opened as a working museum in 2011, the C.C. Stern Type Foundry has continued to acquire equipment, tools, and matrices, as well as books, artwork and ephemera from the letterpress printing and type casting community. Its collection includes (as of 2024) American Monotype composition casters and keyboards, an English composition caster, an Orphan Annie sorts caster, a Thompson sorts caster, a Material Maker strip caster, a Monotype Giant Caster, a Linotype 31, a Ludlow Typograph line caster, a Pantograph, a hand casting mould, and a Welliver computer keyboard interface for the Monotype Composition Caster. The type library consists of nearly 1,000 matrix cases, one of the largest collections of Monotype casting matrices in the United States. The techniques on display during working hours and special events offer a window into the skill and wisdom of type casting tradesmen and craftspeople from many corners of the world. The working museum is meant to be dynamic, rather than a collection of static exhibits. The active restoration and operation of its machines allows the type foundry to evolve over time, drawing volunteers and visitors to interact more deeply and directly with the elements of the Foundry as they encounter them.

2012

The Museum of Printing, Yerevan, Armenia.

DruckZeug, Graz, Austria.

Conservatoire des arts et techniques graphiques, Ribeauvillé, France.

Spazio La Stampa, Turin, Italy. House museum of La Stampa daily newspaper.

Georgia Weekly Newspaper Museum, Homer, Georgia, United States.
Privetaly-owned museum show how a typical North American rural weekly newspaper was published by letterpress in the era of 1888-1940, and even into the 1960s.

2013

The Royal Press, Melaka, Malaysia.
Living metterpress museum based on the polyglot printing establishment of the same name.

Museu de imprensa Madeira, Câmara de Lobos, Madeira, Portugal.

2014

Musée Médard, Lunel, France.
Consacré à l’histoire du livre et aux arts et métiers liés au patrimoine écrit, conçu autour de la collection qui a été léguée à la ville de Lunel par le bibliophile Louis Médard (1768-1841).

Hakle toilet paper museum, Düsseldorf, Germany.

Per Via – Museo Tesino delle Stampe e dell’Ambulantato, Pieve Tesino, Italy.

International Advertising & Design Database (IADDB), The Hague, Netherlands.
Founded as a not for profit foundationin the Netherlands in 2014 in hommage to, and to carry on the work of Dr Sachs. The aim of the Foundation is to publicize as much information as possible concerning advertising and related graphic design and to ask the public to actively participate by adding images, names, dates and all other kinds of information. The database starts with but is not limited to posters. Posters are just part of a campaign, that in the old days would include newspaper advertisements, poster stamps, handbills, packaging, etc.  Nowadays an advertising campaign would also not be complete without commercials on radio and TV as well as on social media.

Barcelona Design Museum, Barcelona, Spain.
Incorporating a large part of the collections of the Museu de les Arts Gráfiques (1981-1994).

2015

Museu Tipografia Pão de Santo Antônio, Bairro Rio Grande, Diamantina, Brazil.

Le Moulin à papier du Liveau, Clisson, France.

2017

Magyar Papírmúzeum (Hungarian Paper Museum), Dunaújváros, Hungary.

Museo della carta, Toscolano Maderno, Italy.

2018

Atelier-Musée Imprimerie (AMI), Malesherbes, France.

Museum of Typography and Graphic Arts Technology, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece.

Museo del Libro e Officina della Stampa, Montepulciano, Italy.

Muzeum Drukarstwa w Nowym Targu (Printing museum of Nowym Targu), Nowym Targ, Poland.
Located in a new building created as part of the project Following the trail of technical monuments from Podhale to Liptov, which was implemented in 2017-2018 as part of the EU Cross-border Cooperation Programme Interreg V-A Poland-Slovakia 2014-2020 by the Municipality of Nowy Targ with partners from Slovakia, the Žilina Self-Governing Region and the Municipality of Ludrova. The Museum was inaugurated on the 12 October 2018.

2019

Le MANA Musée de l’affiche de Nantes, Nantes, France.

Musée typographique Le Rachinel, Saint-Lô, France.
Musée fondé par Fernand Le Rachinel à partir de sa collection privée de matériel d’imprimerie.

Design Museum Dedel, The Hague, Netherlands.
Dedicated to advertising and graphic design, the Museum opened while still under development. Its collections include advertising and design in the broadest sense of the word: not only posters, but also postcards, metal packaging, magazines, books, wallpaper, photos, stamps, business cards, enamel billboards, TV commercials, etc. It is located in a 17th century town house which was originally a private residence. In the early twentieth century it was acquired by an antiquarian book dealer who established his business in the building. The book business continued under verious ownerships until 2016, when it closed down.

Centro de Interpretación da Imprenta de Mondoñedo: Jesús López Díaz, Mondoñedo, Spain.

Poster House, New York, United States.
Poster House was founded in 2015 and opened its doors to the public in 2019. Located in central Manhattan, it claims to be the first poster museum in the United States and, as such is dedicated to presenting the impact, culture, and design of posters, both as historical documents and methods of contemporary visual communication, offering temporary exhibitions, a permanent collection, and educational events.

2021

Museo Universitario del Grabado MUG (University Museum of Engraving), Valparaíso, Chile.
The MUG was born as a project of the Arts Fund of the Universit of Playa Ancha, a repository and archive that holds 13,357 works by Chilean artists including 9,780 prints by Latin American engravers. Funding from the Regional authorities and the University itself made it possible to acquire and restore a large house of architectural interest located in the area of Valparaíso which is a Unesco World Heritage Site (2001). The result was a modern museum with perfectly suited to the exhibition and conservation of engravings which pursues a policy of making its collection known through various media and platforms in order to reach the widest possible audience and to achieve recognition in the world of museums, especially university museums.

Музей “Книга художника”, (Artists Book Museum), Moscow, Russia.

Museum of Graphic Arts Ángel Gallego Esteban-University of Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), Spain.
Based on the collection which the printing entrepreneur Ángel Gallego Esteban gifted to the University in 2019, and which formerly was that of the Museo didáctico de artes gráficas in the nearby town of Arganda del Rey. Born in La Horra (Burgos), Ángel Gallego arrived in Madrid in 1942 at the age of 14. There he started an apprenticeship in a printing house, first as a hand compositor and then as a linotype operator. He later went on to learn the techniques of stone lithography, page assembly and offset. During a long career in printing, first as an employee and later as an entrepreneur, he worked with many different techniques and processes. In 1958, having learned various aspects of the trade he co-founded with Germán Gutiérrez, the firm of Litografía GÁEZ de Artes Gráficas, rising from a simple workshop in Vallecas into a 12,000 m2 facility with 200 employees in Arganda del Rey. Upon his retirement in 2007, he decided to pay tribute to the graphic arts by creating a company museum for which he had already collected a wide range of objects and documents related to printing, subsequently transferred Alcalá de Henares for the University of Alcalá de Henares’ new museum.

Norwich Printing Museum, Blickling, United Kingdom.
Formerly the John Jarrold Printing Museum (Norwich) which closed in 2019. The Jarrold collections are now housed as the Norwich Printing Museum which opened in the Blickling Hall Estate in July 2021.

Organisations working in the field of printing heritage

1901

Gutenberg Gesellschaft, Germany

1954

Wynkyn de Worde society, United Kingdom

1964

Printing historical society, United Kingdom

1971

International Senefelder Foundation, Germany

1975

The Ephemera Society, United Kingdom

1979

American printing history association, United States

1980

The Ephemera Society of America, United States

1981

Bild-Druck-Papier, Germany. In 2017 the working group ceased activity, replaced by the BildDruckPapier forum which was founded the same year.

1984

Australian Printing Historical Society, Sydney, Australia. Early pringed documents issued by the Society in 1985 indicate that it was established a year previously.

1983

Internationalen Arbeitkreises Druck- und Mediengeschichte (IADM), originally the Internationalen Arbeitkreises Druckgeschichte (IAD).

1987

Victorian Printing Historical Society, Melbourne, Australia. Short-lived but very active in its five years of existence.

1988

Scottish Printing Archival Trust, founded to promote the preservation of skills, archives and artefacts relating to the heritage of the printing trade.

1989

National printing heritage trust, United Kingdom (formally launched in April 1992). It became the National Printing Heritage Committee of the Printing Historical Society in 2016.

1991

Sharp (Society for the history of authorship, reading and publishing), United States

1993

Centre for ephemera studies, United Kingdom

2000

GRAMUS (Sveriges grafiska museers samarbetsråd), Swedish council for cooperation among printing museums, Sweden

2001

Association of European printing museums, Belgium

2018

International association of printing museums, South Korea