WWII Copper Plate Drive

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The Print Center participated in many activities in support of the war effort and our troops. This included a drive to collect copper etching and engraving plates to be melted down. An article from that time noted that the “donations … Read More

Carl Zigrosser, Print Curator

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In 1941 Carl Zigrosser was appointed as the first Curator of Prints, Drawings and Rare Books at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, a position he held until 1963. Under Zigrosser’s direction, the collection grew dramatically and came to include a … Read More

WPA’s Philadelphia Fine Print Workshop

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During the New Deal era, the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project (WPA/FAP) engaged over 10,000 artists in communities across the US. In Philadelphia, a Fine Print Workshop was established in the same building where a WPA/FAP Poster Workshop was … Read More

First Photography Exhibit

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In its early years, The Print Center exhibited artworks in a wide variety of media. The earliest photography exhibit was offered in 1933,  entitled Colored Photographic Reproduction. In 1958, the second show dedicated to photography was mounted: John Reed, Photographs.

A History of The Philadelphia Print Club

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In 1929 we published A History of The Philadelphia Print Club. The book is authored by Dorothy Grafly, who had a long career as an art journalist, including as a columnist for The Philadephia Inquirer. Engraved and printed by The Beck Engraving … Read More

Brooklyn Museum of Art, Exhibition Exchange

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The Print Center has organized dozens of traveling exhibitions that have visited organizations throughout both the region and the world. In our early history, we had a particularly close relationship with the Brooklyn Museum of Art. At least a dozen … Read More

Mrs. Andrew Wright Crawford: Our First Director

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  In 1925, Mrs. Crawford was appointed the first Director. Earlier, the organization had been led by the efforts of Mrs. Laurence Eyre, the first President, Executive Secretary Mrs. Elizabeth Forbes Dallam, and her assistant, Miss Flora Lash.

Annual International Competition

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The Print Center’s Annual International Competition is one of the oldest competitions of its kind. The first Annual Exhibition of American Etchers was held in 1924 and subsequent competitions in the early years focused on other print processes, including block printing and lithography. … Read More

A Permanent Home

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Since 1918, The Print Center has been located at 1614 Latimer Street, in an old carriage house in Philadelphia’s historic Rittenhouse Square neighborhood. The organization purchased the building in 1927 and has made many renovations over the years, including enclosing a … Read More

Leopold Stokowski Letter

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Leopold Anthony Stokowski (1882 – 1977), the renowned conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, was an early patron of The Print Center. In this letter from 1916, he apologies to Judge Jasper Brinton, one of the founders of the organization, for … Read More

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