March 2, 2018, Filed Under: Conservation, Exhibitions + Events, Featured1Explore UT and the Harry Ransom Center This Saturday, visitors to The University of Texas at Austin campus will notice a lot of activity as students, parents, and alumni flood the forty acres for Explore UT day. Joining in the day, the Harry Ransom Center will contribute several activities to the Explore UT offerings. In addition to running three public tours of our current exhibition Vaudeville! at noon, 2 p.m., and 4 p.m., our Stories To Tell exhibition features new materials from the Ransom Center’s collections. This Kelsey letterpress was restored by the University’s Art Department. A small table-top Kelsey letterpress and a hot foil KwikPrint stamper will be set up in the south atrium for live printing demonstrations from noon to 4 p.m. Explore UT day visitors will be able to experience pulling their own print–a tribute to the history of printing and book arts demonstrated in the Ransom Center’s collections of rare books, manuscripts, and visual art. The KwikPrint Foil Stamping machine was provided by the Ransom Center’s Book Lab, while the small table-top Kelsey letterpress was restored by Kevin Auer, Lecturer and Letterpress Lab Technician at the University’s Art Department. The demonstration plates we’ll be using in the Kelsey press are special, as they have been recreated from printing blocks and proofs in the Ransom Center’s collections, including images from an early twentieth century Houston-based printing agency, the Dealey-Adey Company, and illustrated text from the Eric Gill collection. Serving as a campus-wide open house, Explore UT “seeks to broaden the horizons of students in Texas and motivate them toward achieving higher education after high school. It seeks to help parents and teachers encourage the excitement of learning and discovery, and welcomes alumni to reconnect with the institution that prepared them for their careers.” Visitors to the Ransom Center during Explore UT can expect a day of discovery and engagement with the humanities. Visit the Harry Ransom Center on Explore UT day from noon to 5 p.m.; exhibition tours will be offered at noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Printing demonstrations will be offered from noon to 4 p.m., or as supplies last.
