Crandall Printing Museum

Our adult children are great at discovering fun places for their children to explore, and invited us to join them for a tour of the Crandall Printing Museum in Alpine, Utah. This is an appointment-only museum, but they planned a time for when we were in town, and off we went to learn some new things. I was intrigued with the history of the alphabet (including the name which comes from alpha beta, the first two Greek letters). Wayne liked learning why we have upper case and lower case letters - they come from the bins holding the printing pieces. (Capital letters were above the others on the shelves.) We learned all about apprenticeships, and that printers were stronger than blacksmiths. Our tour guide demonstrated turning hot liquid metal into the typeset pieces, explained the saying "mind your Ps and Qs", gave us opportunities to read backwards and upside down, and showed us how to ink a press. So many different things to learn!

This is a replica of the printing press Benjamin Franklin used to print the Declaration of Independence. It takes a lot of upper body strength (or four kids plus one adult) to move the lever which presses the ink onto the paper.

After touring the museum, we went to a couple of nearby parks (one before lunch and one after) before saying goodbye for the time being. What a beautiful day!