jgilbert

Personal Information

Full Name

Jenny Gilbert

Bio

Jenny Gilbert is an MA student at the Centre for the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto. Her research interests are in nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century printing technology, and typography and book design. She works on the history of printing technology as a research assistant at the Sablé Centre for Nineteenth Century French Studies, and through this position gets her hands dirty in the printing room at St. Michael's College, which houses six late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century printing presses.

Affiliation

University of Toronto

Country

Canada

Personal Statement About Topic

The scrapbook of job printing created by David Williams in the collection of the Thomas Fisher Rare book library was a fascinating research project that was thoroughly engaging from start to finish. I began the project knowing only that the scrapbook came from
Collingwood, and the research was like a puzzle which I gradually pieced together to discover who made it, where, when, and how. Research on the scrapbook allowed me to synthesize much of the knowledge I gained in the Book & Media Studies program at St. Michael's College at the University of Toronto. My interest in book and print culture began well before I attended university, but this program offered interdisciplinary courses in the history of printing images and text, book making, reading and publishing and enhanced and formalized my interest and knowledge in printing.

Case studies by Jenny Gilbert

Case study :

Job Printing and a Town Newspaper: The Collingwood Bulletin

Like many nineteenth- and early twentieth-century newspapers, the Collingwood Bulletin played a major role in its community, providing information to residents, advertising commercial enterprises and social events, and weathering challenges from competitors. Its significance is documented within the pages of the newspaper itself, as well as in articles and notices in the trade journal Canadian Printer and Publisher, and in a unique scrapbook filled with examples of the job printing that emanated from the presses of the Bulletin. Stationery, concert programs, handbills, church announcements, and other intriguing items tell their own tales of a bustling Ontario town and reveal much about the technological capabilities of the newspaper’s print shop.