Posted: Monday, November 9, 2009 11:34 am

Local artist Shona Cowart will lecture from 6:30 p.m.-7:00 p.m. Thursday in Room 462, followed by the public’s chance to make their own prints on the library’s showpiece, its 18th century-replica printing press, from 7-8 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.

Each participant in the Community “Pull the Bar” Night will be allowed to manipulate the press under professional supervision to print and keep a quote from English essayist and lexicographer Samuel Johnson on off-white classic-laid text, also known as “printer’s paper.”


The quote from the Sept. 7, 1751, edition of Johnson’s periodical “The Rambler” is:

“The man whose genius qualifies him for great undertakings, must at least be content to learn from books the present state of human knowledge; that he may not ascribe to himself the invention of arts generally known; weary his attention with experiments of which the event has been long registered; and waste, in attempts which have already succeeded or miscarried, that time which might have been spent with usefulness and honour upon new undertakings.”

A reproduction of the English common press used by Benjamin Franklin in the early 1700s, the press was handcrafted from chestnut and white oak wood and features brass, iron and steel parts forged by hand. The Printing Press Project at MTSU supports educational outreach initiatives to local schools, MTSU students and the community.