The following article was submitted to our White Hat Melbourne Newsletter No. 295 by the proprietor of the museum.
“One of White Hat's "strange and quirky readers" felt, in the 1980's, that too much of Melbourne's history, particularly industrial history, particularly of the fading industry of traditional printing, was being discarded as scrap metal and waste paper.
Michael Sachsen (an Adelaide immigrant to Melbourne) had his day job at the P.M.G. (remember that, a story in Itself?) while at night he pursued his interest in printing with a small press and many founts (better known in American spelling as "fonts") of metal letters in the spare room at home. He had begun this in his bedroom in Adelaide, aged 9.
With the established makers of these founts of letters closing down because mainstream printers no longer needed this "hand set type", what was an enthusiast to do? Michael HAD to become a typefounder and make founts for himself and others around Australia.
But the urgency of preserving the disappearing artefacts and documents of the printing trade, along with machinery and the unique cabinetry, overtook the need to run the typefoundry as a business and in 1992 declared the enterprise to be a museum, the main activitiy being lecturing and demonstrating to students of modern design and typography just how this was done without a computer.
The museum had to close in 1998 due to the building being sold, and reopened in 2004 in much smaller premises with most of the machinery and artefacts in storage.
Many students and artists worked at the museum using traditional metal and wooden types to produce posters (often illustrated with beautiful linocuts) that now grace the tiny, cramped access studio within the museum. This activity has recommenced and the "Access Studio" is sometimes very busy. There are several regular volunteers and many more occasional volunteers.
As is sometimes the case with privately started musea, it consumed all of Isaachsen's time (he gave up his day job) and then all of his money, and at this stage has failed to become self-supporting. An appeal is being started for sponsorship and other forms of support.
At present it is still open on Sunday and Thursday afternoons from 2 to 6. Group tours are conducted by arrangement, as are school and university classes.
The General Admission charge is $6 (or $4 if unwaged).
Call (03)9689 7555 for further information or see:
www.PrintingMuseums.com/melbourne/"
Click on the the Melbourne Museum of Printing link to the right of the map. Use the controls to zoom in or out on the map or change to satellite view.
