Students in the North Dakota State University Introduction to Publishing class will be printing the cover of a poetry chapbook on an 1897 hand-fed printing press. The class is taught by Dr. Suzzanne Kelley, Publisher, NDSU Press. This is the sixth year Dr. Kelley’s students have printed a chapbook cover on the Chandler & Price platen press in The Hunter Times building at Bonanzaville, West Fargo. They print the inside pages and bind the book at The Braddock News Letterpress Museum, which is part of the South-Central Threshing Association at Braddock, N.D.
“For students to print a book the old-fashioned way is unique in today’s digital world, and we are fortunate to have access to two sites where students can experience printing as it was done in the 1890s,” Dr. Kelley said. “Bonanzaville provides an opportunity for students to do hands-on work away from the screen on their devices.”
Beth Jansen, executive director of Bonanzaville, said she is pleased to welcome the students to the pioneer village. “There is nothing better than to have students visit Bonanzaville to experience history through 19th Century technology,” Jansen said.
The students will divide into shifts to print the cover on Sun., Sept 26th, 2021. Introduction to Publishing is one of the required classes for NDSU’s Certificate in Publishing. Assisting Dr. Kelley and her students will be retired newspaper publisher Allan Burke of Linton, N.D. Burke is volunteer curator of the Braddock Museum. He was an apprentice (printer’s devil) at The Carthage News, Carthage, S.D., where he started working when he was 11 years old.
Cass County North Dakota Historical Society (CCNDHS) is the cultural institution in charge of telling the county story, as well as preserving and collecting artifacts connected to the county’s history. CCNDHS owns and operates a museum, event center and prairie village that sits on 12 acres of land in West Fargo, North Dakota called Bonanzaville. Bonanzaville includes a large main museum, 36 historic buildings, a carriage house, car museum, air museum, tractor museum, agricultural museum, and law enforcement museum. Bonanzaville has been an iconic part of the Red River Valley since 1967!
