Yiddish Printing Presses and Typewriters

Because the major years of Yiddish publishing predate the digital age, most Yiddish books were set by hand or by linotype. While this technology was once ubiquitous, now few know these skills outside of specialty letterpress print shops. While working with the collections of the Yiddish Book Center (2021-22), I researched, maintained, and taught about their remarkable assortment of Yiddish wood and metal type, typewriters, a cylinder printing press, and a linotype.

In consultation with colleagues at the Cary Collection at Rochester Institute of Technology, I led workshops to train volunteers, interns, and students in cleaning, measuring, and sorting wood type. I also restored a 1950s Challenge Proof Press and gave demos to tour groups to help them better understand the laborious process that once went into producing this literature.

My teaching also included a hands-on workshop on Yiddish typewriters (in Yiddish) for the Steiner Summer Program. Intermediate language students learned about the differences between Yiddish and Hebrew typewriters, the development of different models, and how to use them. Students were invited to try typing out shprikhverter (expressions) or the first lines of the Yiddish translation of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina or Kafka’s The Trial.

My research on the type collection will be featured in the Yiddish Book Center’s new core exhibit “Yiddish: A Global Culture”