Register Print Shop

The printer was the voice of the community and one of the few well-educated people in the village. His apprenticeship could take seven years but he would be an expert at the process of setting type by hand by the end of that time. The printer printed handbills announcing sales, public notices of election, notices of various community events and published a weekly newspaper that offered local news, advertisements, and announcements, with some news of national and international events.

The Register Print Shop building at Lang Pioneer Village Museum was built in the 1840s, originally serving as a school in South Monaghan Township. It was common for a printer to take over an existing building for his print shop. The large windows made this building a good choice as the natural light would make the printer’s precise work easier. Most of the printing equipment displayed in Lang’s print shop including over ninety job cases of wooden and metal type, a proof press, and the more efficient foot-powered Golding press was donated by a former owner of the old Norwood Register.