Browse Items (425 total)

A black and white photograph of the front page of the newspaper in hot metal, composed of blocks of lead type.
Each newspaper page was made-up and locked into a metal frame. The separate galleys of lead typeface and imagery permitted printers to proofread a test print, identifying any errors and easily substituting slugs from the blocks of text.

A color photograph of a white man, wearing a t-shirt, jeans, and glasses, stands smiling in front of shelf with wire baskets, beside a grey metal output slot on the wall.
The film output room was an important stop in the work process. Text and images were combined to create newspaper pages.

Glossary - BegOff.mp4
BEG-OFF: To ask to be released from work without penalty.

A black and white photograph of the backside of a large linotype machine, revealing much of its mechanics, gears, and wires as they protrude from the machine.
The linotype machine increased the speed with which newspapers could be printed. Unlike earlier printing forms, which used individual typeface blocks for each letter of text, linotype machines cast lines of type known as slugs. These would be stacked…

A black and white photograph of a large linotype machine with wires and various mechanics protruding from it, including a keyboard, placed upon a slightly taller platform on the floor.
The use of punched tape with linotype machines reduced the need for multiple linotype operators. Rather than multiple operators typing text into the keyboard at each linotype machine, the text was read into the machine using punched paper tape. This…

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.

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 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 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 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.
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