Type Archive

The Type Museum • London • Founded 1992 - Closed 2006

The Type Museum is a unique and massive collection of the majority of the legacy of type founding in England. These famous foundries and composing systems supplied the world with type in all languages. The Type Museum is the final repository of many of the original forms (punches and matrices) which originated the literature in those languages. The skills have also been preserved in this working Museum which manufactures matrices for letterpress printing as a part of the Museum with which the public could interact. The Museum has become a valuable educational resource for many Colleges. The historic collection of presses was being assembled in order to satisfy the demand for an educational and experimental type workshop. The punches, matrices and patterns of some of the most famous and successful metal and wood type foundries held at the Type Museum represent somewhere between five and eleven Million artefacts. Much of the work of cataloguing this vital aspect of the national heritage has only begun. The collections are particularly unique in being the only location in which successive generations of the technological development in the art and crafts of type design and manufacture (from hand foundry and machine composition through wood type, photo & film setting which laid the foundation for the digital typography of today. This is a collection of a vital heritage and international cultural importance that should it be dispersed, will be impossible to assemble again. The Museum has suffered financially from failing to find a site and a building sufficient to display the wealth of materials that the Museum has successfully collected over the last fourteen years. That this might cause the loss of access to these collections has galvanised the typographic community and the members of the wider media and communications industries in support of this now locked and hidden jewel of global cultural history.

The Museum’s major collections include: The Stephenson Blake Collection of English foundry type with industrial and hand casting equipment. Stepehenson Blake & Company in their long trading history acquired many of the other famous-name English type foundaries and these all now reside at the Type Museum. The Monotype Collection covers the entire history of Monotype Corporation’s global supply of fine letterpress machine composition in almost all languages and continues as a working company within the Museum. The Robert DeLittle wood type manufactory - the last specialist English wood type manufacturer is a superb resource in this vital, engaging and under-researched area of type design.

The Type Museum involves the following entities; the Type Museum Trust, which is a Registered Charity 1009198 and a Registered Museum 1101 and its subsidiary The Type Museum Limited Registered Company 3677895 (trading as Monotype Hot-Metal). The Museum's website: [1] and address: 100 Hackford Road London SW9 0QU 020 7735 0055

Recent Timeline

Monday 22.05.2006 Staff at the Type Museum informed they would be laid off with immediate effect and the Museum closed because of lack of funding. Tuesday 23.05.2006 Tim Martin, a former member of staff and volunteer at the Museum sent out an appeal calling for a meeting to friends and supporters of the Museum in the name of the Type Museum Society. Appeal Wednesday 24.05.2006 Forty people opposed to the closure and interested in the preservation of the collections and continued access to them met at the Type Museum Minutes The first of many messages of support from all over the world were on display Digest. A 'google group' was set up as a forum for supporters and this quickly demonstrated the widespread support for the Museum. http://groups.google.com/group/TypeMuseumSociety/ Wednesday 31.05.2006 Second meeting. Friday 02.06.2006 The Chair of the Type Museum Trust issues the following statement to the Type Museum Society for publication:

The trustees of the Type Museum recognise the concern expressed among its community of friends and well-wishers regarding the future of the Museum, and wish to make it clear that, although it has been necessary to close the Museum for legal reasons, the trustees, staff and other responsible bodies all remain committed to the Museum's well-being. Careful consideration of the issues involved takes place continuously as part of the normal activities of the Museum. Because these discussions are continuing, it is not possible to determine the specific resolution to which they will come. Until the completion of these discussions, any conclusions drawn by those not taking part are necessarily premature and speculative, and could be prejudicial to their outcome.

The trustees welcome the present public interest in the Museum and acknowledges the depth of support elicited, but they also hope that credence will be reserved for those officially appointed and legally entrusted with the duty of safeguarding and preserving the Museum and its collections.

Wednesday 21.06.2006 Meeting of the Type Museum Society (Supporters and friends of the Type Museum) http://www.typemuseumsociety.org/ in:

The Performing Arts Lab Stevens Building Royal College of Art Kensington Gore London SW7 2EU

The Type Museum Society meeting last night 21.06.06 at the RCA was attended by 23 many of whom were new supporters but there were also former members of staff, volunteers and educational supporters of the Museum present(over 40 other people sent apologies supplying details and asking to be kept informed and involved in the campaign).

Sue Shaw the Founder and first Director of the Museum did not attend but phoned a message at the start of the meeting, reaffirming in her role as Director of Monotype Hot Metal (the trading name of The Type Museum Limited), that while the Museum was not open to the public, Monotype business was continuing as normal and individual research requests for access would be considered.

Piers Rodgers a former director and trustee of the Type Museum spoke arguing for the unique importance of the collections and supported the campaign to relaunch the Museum.

Celia Stothard argued in support of ambitious campaigning for the Museum drawing on her experience campaigning successfully against closure of local libraries in Lambeth and pledged her support.