About the Pierson Press
Pierson/Davenport Book Arts Center
The Pierson Press, together with our colleagues, the Davenport Press, are located in the Pierson/Davenport Book Arts Center, a unique facility created during the renovation of both residential colleges in 20002.
The Book Arts Center is home to one of the best-equipped academic graphic arts facilities in the country, including our flagship letterpress printshop, a book binding studio, metal type library, digital graphics studio, facilities for paper making and paper marbling, and a public exhibition space for student work.
We have six gorgeous presses, an enormous collection of hundreds of cases of classic metal type fonts, the ability to work with digital files, and many more resources to create countless projects!
The Press is open to all Pierson and Davenport students regardless of class, and welcomes students from other colleges as guest printers on a space-available basis (JE and Branford also have presses, as will potentially Franklin and Murray Colleges). The Center is located in the Davenport-Pierson shared basement, with direct access by stair and elevator from the foyer of the Pierson Dining Hall.
Piersonites of every class are welcome to visit the press and learn about our amazing facilities. If you would like to print things yourself, you will need to take our introductory Apprentice Course which is offered in several sessions each semester. Once you learn the basics, you can come to the Press Open Hours on weekends, where you can work on whatever you want, and as your skills progress, you may be eligible for independent access! Classes and materials are completely free for all students.
What can you print at the Press? Anything!
Among the multitudinous projects that Pierson printers have produced in the past (say that three times fast!) are:
- Birthday, holiday, & anniversary cards
- Poetry broadsides
- Event posters & decorative posters
- Zines
- Linoleum block prints (similar to woodcuts)
- Stickers
- Custom button
- pins
- Personalized stationery
- Business cards
- Personalized tote bags
- Monoprints
- Invitations & menus
- Book covers & bookplates
- Custom beer coasters
- … and of course, entire books!
Learn to print at the Pierson Press!
If you already know you want to learn how to print, you'll want to take the Apprentice Course we hold throughout the semester on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings from 7-9pm.
The courses are offered in three-week sessions, with one class per week. You can choose a day of the week to attend each week, though you don’t necessarily have to come the same day each week if it doesn’t work in your schedule (let me know if this is the case!). Please note, you must attend all three classes in order to complete the course and use the Press in the future. Sign up for a session with this form https://forms.gle/dJ7VMBUogJvrnsKSA
This semester open press hours will be on Saturdays from 1 to 5! If there is demand, we will add additional open hours.
If you have any questions, please send them our way at info@pierson.press.
We hope to see you in the press!