For over 80 years, starting in 1929, Globe Printing was a private, Baltimore-based company that provided a very colorful product – old-fashioned letterpress-printed posters that advertised events. Most memorable are the fluorescent prints from the 1960s and 70s that became as iconic as the soul and R&B stars they promoted. After hitting hard times in the 1980s, the company abandoned the old presses in favor of more modern, more efficient printing. Then the company finally closed in 2010.
However, the wooden type had been saved and, thanks in part to a loyal fans and a friends group, the company’s tradition now lives on at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA)… “Boxes and crates of wood type, letterpress cuts, posters and other Globe holdings moved from Highlandtown to MICA in the summer of 2011, and when the fall semester started, Bob Cicero began teaching a new generation of artists how to make a poster ‘pop.’ ” The acquisition of the Globe collection by MICA keeps Globe’s legacy alive as a working press, a teaching tool, and a source for research.
The photo here is a special display outside a MICA building.
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| A sample from the Globe Printing collection. |