The Type Archive (formerly the Type Museum) is a collection of artefacts representing the legacy of type founding in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, whose famous

type foundries A type foundry is a company that designs or distributes typefaces. Before digital typography, type foundries manufactured and sold metal and wood typefaces for hand typesetting, and matrices for line-casting machines like the Linotype and ...

and composing systems supplied the world with type in over 300 languages. The Archive was founded in 1992 by Susan Shaw in

Stockwell Stockwell is a district in south west London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. It is situated south of Charing Cross. Battersea, Brixton, Clapham, South Lambeth, Oval and Kennington all border Stockwell. History The name ...

, South

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Overview

The Type Archive is a repository of the original forms, punches,

matrices Matrix most commonly refers to: * ''The Matrix'' (franchise), an American media franchise ** ''The Matrix'', a 1999 science-fiction action film ** "The Matrix", a fictional setting, a virtual reality environment, within ''The Matrix'' (franchis ...

and patterns of some of the most successful metal and wood type foundries. It holds a historic collection of presses. It is estimated that the collections include between five and eleven million artefacts. The archive is a working factory that manufactures matrices (moulds for typecasting) for

letterpress printing Letterpress printing is a technique of relief printing. Using a printing press, the process allows many copies to be produced by repeated direct impression of an inked, raised surface against sheets or a continuous roll of paper. A worker com ...

. The Museum is an educational resource for colleges wanting to see an experimental type workshop.

Collections

The Museum’s major collections are: * The

Stephenson Blake Stephenson Blake is an engineering company based in Sheffield, England. The company was active from the early 19th century as a type founder, remaining until the 1990s as the last active type foundry in Britain, since when it has diversified in ...

Collection of English

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

type with industrial and hand casting equipment. In their long trading history

& Company acquired many of the other famous-name English

such as the

Caslon Type Foundry The Caslon type foundry was a type foundry in London which cast and sold metal type. It was founded by the punchcutter and typefounder William Caslon I, probably in 1720. For most of its history it was based at Chiswell Street, Islington, was the ...

. The remaining material associated with these companies now resides at the Type Archive. The cataloguing of the Stephenson Blake collection obtained in 1996, was completed in 2005 by the late Justin Howes thanks to the Pilgrim Trust. * The

Monotype Monotyping is a type of printmaking made by drawing or painting on a smooth, non-absorbent surface. The surface, or matrix, was historically a copper etching plate, but in contemporary work it can vary from zinc or glass to acrylic glass. The ...

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 Archive. The complete archive and plant of the Monotype Corporation was purchased with a National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) grant in 1992. It belongs to the

Science Museum A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in ...

, which delegates its care and operation to the Type Archive. The Science Museum is currently cataloguing the Monotype collection for the public benefit. * 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.

Entities

The Type Archive 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).

Location

:100 Hackford Road :London SW9 0QU :England

Access

A small team of staff and volunteers work at the Type Archive on a regular basis. Some are directly involved in the manufacture and provision of Monotype matrices and spare parts, and are employed by Monotype Hot Metal Ltd. The company has never been without orders for matrices and machine parts since it began trading from the Stockwell site. Uniquely skilled volunteers also maintain and operate the historic presses and Monotype casting machinery. Access to the Type Archive collections in recent years has been hampered by a shortage of experienced and qualified volunteers who are familiar with the Archive's holdings, but this issue is currently being addressed and it is hoped that provision can be made for researchers to have limited access to the collections in the future. Much of the material held at Stockwell is unique and irreplaceable, so procedures must be in place to protect the holdings from theft or damage. Access will be provided only on days when a volunteer is available to locate material and supervise its use. A major exhibition showcasing the work of the late Berthold Wolpe, artist, designer, calligrapher and typographer opened in September 2017, and although scheduled to end in October it was extended until 4 December due to popular demand. Around 1000 visitors viewed the material on display. The Wolpe exhibition, arranged in conjunction with Monotype Imaging, which provided much of the funding for the event, is hoped to be the first of a series of regular opportunities for the public to access the wealth of unique, historic material held at Stockwell. An exhibition featuring the calligraphic work of Icelandic artist and handwriting expert, Gunnlaugur SE Briem, opened in June 2018, closing in mid-July that year. Further exhibitions and a regular series of Type Archive Talks (TAlks) are planned. The

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

and the unrelated death of founder Susan Shaw (1932-2020) made access particularly difficult for staff, volunteers and researchers from March 2020. On the 29th of November of the year 2021, and after over seventy-five years of service on the board of Monotype Hot Metal, Duncan Avery decided to take a back seat and retired.

Overview

Collections

Entities

Location

Access

References

External links