Honorable Company of College Printers Collection

Collection

Call Number: AOB 50

Scope and Contents

This collection gives a snapshot of the activities of the student group the Honorable Company of College Printers from the inception of the printing presses in residential colleges at Yale to the 1990s. The heyday of this group was in the mid 1950s to the early 1980s, when George Vaill was active.

Dates

1936-1991

Conditions Governing Access

The materials are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Transfer from various Yale University residential college print shops.

Arrangement

Arranged in five series: I. Correspondence, 1955-1983. II. Honorable Company of College Printers (HCCP), 1936-1984. III. Lohmann Prize, 1973-1991. IV. Printed Materials, 1937-1972. V. Wayzgoose, 1952-1991.

Extent

0.83 Linear Feet (2 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Catalog Record

A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog

Persistent URL

https://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/arts.aob.0050

Additional Description

Abstract

Biographical / Historical

The twelve residential colleges that make up Yale College have, in the past, each had their own printing facilities. The printing offices were started over a period of 40 years between 1937 and 1967. The Company of College Printers was founded in 1937 at the instigation of Clarence W. Mendell, then Master of Branford College. The group was made of Masters, faculty advisers, and undergraduate printers from the three colleges to first have printing offices. They met sporadically for dinners, lectures and discussions, and to print. The group did not become "Honorable" until Mr. Carl Lohmann so called them in 1940 on an invitation to an evening of printing activities. A history was written in 1965. According to this history, in 1952 George D. Vaill, '35, Director of the Branford College Press, was persuaded to accept appointment as “Historian pro-tem” of the Company and was charged with the task of preparing its official history. The history lists revival meetings in 1952, 1955, and 1962. The HCCP has existed sporadically since its inception.