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Glossary - Dupe.mp4
DUPE: An assessment of a potential worker's skill, often administered after a trial period.

An image of an aluminum sheet printed with the front page of the newspaper
Throughout the printing process multiple versions of the paper were produced. In order to print these pages, aluminum plates were attached to the printing press. The inked plate transferred the text and images to the paper, a process known as off-set…

A scanned image of the letter which welcomes Golightly to the Union.
Deaf printers obtained membership to the International Typographical Union by demonstrating their skills and completing training in a printing shop.

A black and white photograph of the Composing Room with a row of linotype machines and 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 linotype machine, the slugs of lines of text were stacked into a tray known as a galley. The…

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 gathering and social networking was a benefit of working at The Washington Post. The large number of…

A black and white color photograph of two fair skinned people, a man and woman, as they stand over a table with various newspaper page layouts. The woman, on the right, appears to be middle aged and has short hair; she wears a collared button down shirt with a suit jacket and tie. With one hand on her hip, she uses a pen to point somewhere on the newspaper layout. The man, on the left, appears to be older and wears glasses and a button down shirt with jeans.
Newspaper printing required speed and efficiency. Printers worked closely with writers and editors to ensure that pages were made-up accurately. Occasionally, this meant that editors would come to the Composing Room to implement changes.

A black and white photograph of a line of fair-skinned middle to older aged men as they each sit at their corresponding linotype machines, each of their hands typing onto the keyboard on the machine in front of them. Two of the men are turned toward one another using sign language.
Linotype operators received copy from writers and keyed stories into linotype machines. The machine used molten lead to create slugs, lines of text which would then be arranged into blocks known as galleys, forming columns of newspaper text.

A black and white photograph of two fair skinned middle aged people, a man and woman, as they stand in front of one linotype machine looking at the machine. The woman has short hair, glasses, and wears a shirt underneath an apron and long pants. The man has short hair and wears a collared button down shirt tucked into dress pants.
As Deaf employees entered administrative roles at The Washington Post, they often supervised other Deaf printers. In this work context Deaf printers experienced an ease of communication as Deaf supervisors could provide feedback and instruction in…

A black and white photograph of a fair skinned older man as he works on a front page of a newspaper on a Make-up table. He wears glasses and a collared button down shirt with an apron.
In the Composing Room the pages of the newspaper came together in Make-up. Here printers would use a mark-up sheet prepared by the editors to lay out the galleys of text and other elements to form a page of the newspaper. The lead blocks were locked…

A black and white photograph of a line of fair skinned middle to older aged men as they sit in front of their corresponding linotype machines. Some of them engage with each other in conversation; others are mid-typing on the machines.
Linotype operators received copy from writers and keyed stories into linotype machines. The machine used molten lead to create slugs, lines of text which would then be arranged into blocks, forming columns of newspaper text.
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