Upcoming Events: Common Press

Open Studio Session: Papermaking in the Revolutionary Era

Join us for a drop-in Open Studio at Common Press to print a broadside about rag collectors and papermaking in 1770s!

• October 3, 2025
• 12:00pm - 2:00pm
• Common Press, Fisher Fine Arts Library, Lower Level

Letterpress-Printed Poetry Broadside

Practice letterpress printing and typesetting as you design and print your own broadside featuring a short poem or excerpt of your choosing.

• October 24, 2025
• 1:00pm - 5:00pm
• Common Press, Fisher Fine Arts Library, Lower Level

Reinterpreting the Declaration: A Creative Typesetting Workshop

In this creative typesetting workshop, the Declaration text will be split amongst registered participants, and each participant will have the freedom to choose to include, edit, or redact the words in their segment.

• January 16, 2026
• 12:00pm - 5:00pm
• Common Press, Fisher Fine Arts Library, Lower Level

Open Studio Session: Indigenous Space

Join us for a drop-in Open Studio at Common Press to print a broadside about the Lenape, the original users of the land around the Historic Rittenhouse Town papermill!

• March 6, 2026
• 12:00pm - 2:00pm
• Common Press, Fisher Fine Arts Library, Lower Level

The 12-Hour Declaration of Independence: Community Typesetting

To honor the 250th anniversary of the Declaration, Common Press will host a 12 hour, two day community typesetting event during which all are invited to hand-set metal type to help create a historically-accurate replica. The final forme of metal type will remain available for printing on our 19th-century hand press through August 2026.

• May 14 - 15, 2026
• Common Press, Fisher Fine Arts Library, Lower Level