April 3rd is American Circus Day! This day commemorates the anniversary of the first circus performance in the United States, which took place on April 3, 1793 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For today, Jared letterpress printed the largest halftone that we have in our print shop at the Sacramento History Museum, which is a poster for the circus performer, Clyde Beatty. This halftone was made in the 1930s. This was printed with black rubber base ink using our Washington hand press. This halftone

January 28th is National Blueberry Pancake Day! This day honors the popular breakfast griddle cakes, featuring blueberries, best served up in a stack. For today, Howard letterpress printed a small halftone from the Brett from Pennsylvania Collection. This halftone, made likely in the 1960s, depicts some stacks of pancakes and assorted toppings on the side. This would have likely accompanied a restaurant’s advertisement in a newspaper or on a menu. This was printed with purple oil base ink using

January 11th is National Milk Day! This day commemorates what is believed to be the first day milk was delivered in glass bottles to homes in the United States (New York Dairy Company on January 11, 1878). Prominent through Sacramento, by in the early 1900s, were horse-drawn wagons delivering milk to customers. Who remembers having milk delivered to their home? For today, Howard letterpress printed a large halftone of a newspaper milk advertisement, likely from the 1960s. The print shows pouring

When looking around our print shop exhibit, Howard found a halftone that you wouldn’t know what was on it until you printed it. In this video, Howard uses a printing press to print an image from a halftone of another printing press. To learn more about the halftone process and early photography in printing, check out: https://youtu.be/CkKiJDeML5c #sacramento #printing #halftone | Sacramento History Museum