The Printing Museum

Really cool printing presses that work. The tour was really interesting and he let the kids try them out.

Very cool little museum. One of my favorites in Houston, actually. Can easily stay entertained walking through the various rooms for several hours. They have a great collection of prints, definitely worth checking out.

Investigating the various Free museums around Houston and this one piqued our interest.
It’s easy to find, plenty of parking, with extra parking across the street.
This museum does exactly what it says on the tin. It’s a museum of printing history, and that’s what you get. They had lots of interesting «stuff» to look at, including a few large gallery rooms, with walls filled with interesting art.
I found it to be more interesting than I expected it to be, as did my hubby. It was a very modern museum, with clean facilities. It was pretty quiet, but we spend around an hour there.

On their website, it stated that meeting could be held there. I called set an appointment told the lady why I was coming and she told me to have my deposit ready. I went, and I talked to her, then all of a sudden she told me the rooms were not available for meetings during the day at all. She clearly told me before I went that they were available. This make me think that they rent to people of «their» cultural persuasions. Their loss. Just wanted people to know that they do this type of selection. Shameful.

Impressive museum. Much larger than I expected, and filled with rare printed material from the early days of Texas, woodcuts (even some Durers). Lots of printing equipment. Not much in terms of signage — I’ll go back someday when there is a tour.

This is a great gem of a museum. It is a great way to spend an afternoon and learn something. Growing up in a newspaper family it was lovely to see all the items i saw my grandfather and father use so regularly.
I highly recommend this for any one who enjoys learning and wants to see a little bit of history that changed our world forever… Life before the Internet… Imagine…

On a hot Saturday, I expected to see a lot more people visiting the museum — not so. This place is a hidden gem of classes, visuals, and the history of prints/​print making. For those who are visual, there are lots of printing presses of various kinds from different eras, video presentations, and occasionally, movies in their theater. They, also, have a little gift shop with lovely handmade cards and some interesting items. Come out of your sphere, explore this Houston gem. Let’s keep it alive!

«To emancipate the mind. is the great task which printing came into the world to perform.»
— Abraham Lincoln
This is the quote that the printing museum is represented by. I might agree with the statement but this museum does not free my mind, if anything it put my mind to sleep.
This overall is very boring museum. I guess that’s the reason no one was there. I could tell no one had been there for awhile because literally the lights were off. I guess the designers figured they would not get much traffic since they installed movement sensors to turn on as people came by.
I did enjoy the historical pieces of printing machinery. But really besides a quick oo and aa at an old printing press there are also old newspapers on the wall and there is a section for traveling exhibits.
It is FREE and you are more than welcome to take photographs.

I know what you’re thinking, Museum of Printing History??? Lame Sauce right?! Well its actually not as boring as one would think and offers some interesting facts on… well… on printing history!
I actually held an event for ENVY magazine here when I was the marketing coordinator, which is how I came about to find this place. And at the time they had an exhibit of old rock posters from the 70s. How cool is that?!! The museum continues to have interesting exhibits that come thru, although I’m not so sure how keen they are about having parties there anymore! J/​K. the event was a success and everyone was respectful. I believe the museum also has work shops for kids and other activities that go on monthly.
So before you turn your back to printing history, give it a try! Its something different to do then the norm and admission is free. Yay paper!

The Museum of Printing History is a diverse collection of printing technology throughout the ages. It contains in depth descriptions of printing processes, such as woodblock printing, movable type, and lithography as well as the outputs of such methods.
There are also quite a few examples of old printing presses, some are even functional and used in workshops that are offered to the public.
In addition to printing presses and such there’s a decent collection of old business machines such as typewriters and photocopiers.
During our visit there was a photo display of various Las Vegas (or as I like to call it, Lost Wages) neon signs from abandoned and/​or defunct casinos.
This is a great little off the wall museum with far more to offer than I would have expected.