The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Guest Editorial Gary Taig - Features Editor garyt@melbpc.org.au |
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On the September PC Update mailer you will recall I sent out an urgent call for help for Melb PC member Michael Isaachsen. Michael's unique printing museum was about to suffer a fate equivalent to death and a good part of his life would have gone to the council tip with it. Michael located a new premises and the gear was moved out with less than 24 hours to spare.
In October we saw a photograph taken by member Gordon Macmillan who went out to Maribyrnong to assist with the move. And now, talking to Michael Isaachsen I find the news is encouraging; the new premises is working out. The immediate threat of complete disaster is deferred and with renewed enthusiasm, undoubtedly the most important ingredient, Michael is already planning the resumption of classes and workshops he ran in years past.
The Melbourne Museum of Printing grew out of Michael's business, about 10 years ago. For 15 years prior to that he ran a Type Foundry, a place where one could obtain handset metal type for old style printing machines.
While the computerisation of the publishing industry was slowly killing off the old printing methods, and printers either upgraded or died off, and metal type was fast becoming a thing of the past, Michael kept his doors open. Eventually he owned the only Type Foundry in the country. The museum resulted and for several years he added to his collection of old machinery, buying up at auctions and buying not just the cream, not just the main printing machines but often he bought the entire printing works, as they stood.
He has early model, computer driven typesetters, he has many thousands of fonts, thousands of examples of work in progress and literally all the paraphernalia to go with it. It was described by both the Science Museum in London and the Smithsonian Institute in Washington as a collection of world significance and, because of the extensive range of materials he saved, probably (they said) the most comprehensive collection in existence in the world today. Mind you, all this was happening right here in Melbourne, right under our very noses.
Michael ran classes where secondary and tertiary teachers could bring their graphic design and typography students for some hands-on, practical lessons in the art and the history of typesetting and printing. He also ran "Artist Access Studios" where artists and other people could come and get their hands dirty, setting up type (typesetting) and running the hand operated printing machines on a variety of projects including such things as limited edition books. Several books were produced at the museum by this method, all under Michael's guidance and supervision.
One activity that sounds really good to someone like me, whose interest in publishing began during and after the computerisation period, is "The Roots of Printing Workshop". Michael describes it as an eight hour, hands-on course, for which the small class paid a not insignificant sum.
Things Happen
Things happen, don't they, and Michael closed the museum. Over the next few years this massive collection of historical machinery and artifacts lay dormant in a warehouse with the ongoing rent eating up his funds.
I first met Michael at a monthly meeting at Pharmacy College in 2001. This museum sounded really interesting and I had planned get together with him and write about it for PC Update. But, things happen, don't they, and deadlines wait for nobody. My time was scarcer than the proverbial hen's teeth and the next thing I knew, Gordon Macmillan had posted a message in melbpc.general. Gordon's message resulted from his hearing Michael interviewed on ABC radio. That evening I spoke to Michael and two days later the PC Update mailers were printed... we are now back at the top of this page.
Michael plans to reopen the museum as soon as a few minor details are sorted out and hopes to have classes running by early 2003. Obviously he has much to do, but, there is a remarkable change in his voice these days. Clearly he is spurred on by the support he is receiving from all quarters. The radio interview helped considerably, this led to coverage by a local TV station and the rest isn't hard to work out.
The Museum will operate again and I'm sure it will receive the funding it urgently needs to continue. Volunteers are needed to help sort out the mass of equipment and get it all back into top condition. Government funding is apparently coming but I can hear quite clearly the tune "So is Christmas" in Michael's voice when he tells me the latest news on that front.
If you are interested in the publishing game, in computer typesetting, in the history of this incredible and fascinating subject and wish to learn more, you need look no further than the museum. Hop in, get involved with Michael and I can confidently say you will learn more than you bargained for. What a magic classroom!
Huge thanks to Gordon Woolf for his wonderful contribution to this issue. Gordon is more than qualified to write about the first two decades of Desktop Publishing and he has given us two very interesting and informative pieces, and a review.
I hope you enjoy your PC Update.
Reprinted from the November 2002 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
