[185] Power Of The Press Evident At "Pull The Bar" Night At MTSU

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Nov. 6, 2009
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081

POWER OF THE PRESS EVIDENT AT “PULL THE BAR” NIGHT AT MTSU
Public Can Use Franklin-era Replica Press, Showpiece of James E. Walker Library

(MURFREESBORO) –Local artist Shona Cowart will lecture from 6:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 12, in Room 462, followed by the public’s chance to make their own prints on the library’s showpiece, its 18th century-replica printing press, from 7-8 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.
Each participant in the Community “Pull the Bar” Night will be allowed to manipulate the press under professional supervision to print and keep a quote from English essayist and lexicographer Samuel Johnson on off-white classic-laid text, also known as “printer’s paper.”
The quote from the Sept. 7, 1751, edition of Johnson’s periodical The Rambler is:

The man whose genius qualifies him for great undertakings, must at least be content to learn from books the present state of human knowledge; that he may not ascribe to himself the invention of arts generally known; weary his attention with experiments of which the event has been long registered; and waste, in attempts which have already succeeded or miscarried, that time which might have been spent with usefulness and honour upon new undertakings.

A reproduction of the English common press used by Benjamin Franklin in the early 1700s, the press was handcrafted from chestnut and white oak wood and features brass, iron and steel parts forged by hand. The Printing Press Project at MTSU supports educational outreach initiatives to local schools, MTSU students and the community.
For more information about the Press Project at MTSU or images of the press, please contact Kristen Keene at 615-898-5376 or kkeene@mtsu.edu. Media welcomed.



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With three Nobel Prize winners among its alumni and former faculty, Middle Tennessee State University confers master’s degrees in 10 areas, the Specialist in Education degree, the Doctor of Arts degree and the Doctor of Philosophy degree. MTSU is ranked among the top 100 public universities in the nation in the Forbes “America’s Best Colleges” 2009 survey.