Browse Items · DeafPrinters

A black and white photograph of a group of fair skinned middle aged men and women, gathered in front of several linotype machines. They are dressed casually. In the background are several people moving and working.

During breaks Deaf printers often gathered in their workspaces for conversations in ASL about work and other topics. This opportunity for frequent…

A black and white photograph of the Composing Room with a row of linotype machines and operators.

Deaf Linotype Operators

Linotype operators at The Washington Post retrieved edited articles from the newsroom from racks behind their seats. After the text was keyed into the…

A scanned image of the letter which welcomes Golightly to the Union.

ITU Letter

Deaf printers obtained membership to the International Typographical Union by demonstrating their skills and completing training in a printing shop.

An image of an aluminum sheet printed with the front page of the newspaper

Aluminum Press Plate

Throughout the printing process multiple versions of the paper were produced. In order to print these pages, aluminum plates were attached to the…

Definition: DUPE

DUPE: An assessment of a potential worker's skill, often administered after a trial period.

Linotype Machine

A historical display in the entrance of the newspaper building included various forms of printing technology.

A color photograph of a fair skinned older woman sits at a desk within an office space. She wears glasses, has short, blonde hair, and sports a white sweater with a floral design on it. She smiles for the camera, and her hand rests on a computer mouse.

Deaf Supervisor Penny Herbold

As an Assignment Supervisor, Herbold would meet with both Deaf and hearing employees at her desk, giving them job assignments.

A color photograph of a fair skinned, older man with a mustache sitting at a desk table in an office space, his hand resting on a computer mouse. He wears a dark blue and green collared shirt and glasses. He is sitting within an office cubicle at a desk which holds a large, older box-shaped computer monitor with a document displayed on it, a keyboard, and mouse.

Bob Zekas Creating Ads

The transition from linotype to digital page creation occurred in the early 1990s. Employees like Zekas utilized the computer program Ad Maker to…

A color photograph of an older Asian man sitting at a desk table. He smiles for the picture and wears a plaid shirt tucked into jeans. On the desk is a large box-shaped computer monitor that displays a page of newspaper ads and a keyboard.

Deaf Printer William Sugyiama

With long lists of prices and items, advertisements for local grocery stores, in this case Magruders, were labor-intensive tasks. In the 1990s,…

A color photograph of a cafeteria, four fair-skinned men of middle and older age sit at a table playing a card game. They are wearing collared-work shirts and t-shirts. Around them other dining tables with chairs fill the room. The table closest to them is set with food and drink items in paper wrappings.

Deaf workers on a lunch break

Workers often played cards and chatted during lunch breaks, which lasted 30 minutes.

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