Crandall's Printing Press

Yep, lived in Provo almost my whole life, and it wasn't until this summer that I had even seen Crandall's Printing Press. 

I am so glad we were required to go for class, I probably never would have gone in on my own. 

The sweet old men who helped us and gave us the tour seriously made it worth the visit, they were so cute! 

 I learned so much from that short little tour, I really felt like I became an expert on printing.

It was cool being able to see an LDS view of the history of printing, all the way back to writing scriptures.  What did they use? How did they write? These were all questions I had never even thought to ask, and now I know the answer! It really makes the scriptures that much more real: real people had to write these and they used real techniques of the time.  It was fascinating for me. 

 It was crazy to learn all of the elements of Gutenberg's invention.  He not only invented the moveable type, but also literally had to invent everything to go along with it.  The number of things he started really did blow my mind, and it was a testimony to me of how famous figures throughout history really were inspired to help progress the work of the gospel.

Being able to "walk through" the history and development of printing (literally) was something you don't usually get to see in a history class, taking 4 months to see the same process.  Different things made connections being able to see it from one stage to the next right after each other.  How cool is it that Gutenberg got his idea for the printing press from an olive press something very prominent in the Bible.  The fact that Gutenberg built six different printing shops and trained the staff was a miracle that helped progress the work, vs. a disaster that ruined him according to most scholars.

 Something that really stood out to me however was coming to "E.B. Grandin's shop". I never thought about the history of man who printed The Book of Mormon but how fascinating! The fact that the Eerie Canal was completed RIGHT before the book was printed, and just happened to pass right in front of his shop was no coincidence.

I saw the hand of the Lord in this process, more than I ever had before.  I really hope he receives church sponsorship like he has hoped, because it truly is an experience every member of the church should have.  

The coolest machine ever, the Linotype!