Grants Programme
Grants for 2013 details
The Printing Historical Society is pleased to continue its limited number of small grants in 2013, including:
* Research on topics relating to the history of printing
* Publishable reports on archives relating to the history of printing.
Grants are limited to historical research in: printing technology, the printing and related industries, printed materials and artefacts, type and typefounding, print culture, and printing processes and design.
Applications for research funding may be up to £1,000; applications for publishable reports on archives, up to £500. In both cases grants may be used to cover material or other expenses, including travel, subsistence, photography, etc. Applications should specify the amount requested and offer a budget for the use of the funds envisaged; costs incurred before application are unlikely to be successful, as are projects that are deemed to be primarily bibliographical. Students, academics and independent researchers may apply. Some preference will be given to independent researchers.
The application should consist of: 1) a covering letter of up to 500 words, containing a brief curriculum vitae, and the name, address and email of one referee (who has agreed to serve as your referee), and 2) a description of the project and budget, of up to 1,000 words. The project description should state its purpose clearly, and succinctly. Please also state whether your project is part of a larger one, and whether you are applying elsewhere for funding. You will be expected to submit a written report one year after the award of your grant.
Submit your application to the Chairman of the PHS Grants & Prizes Sub-Committee, Dr Peggy Smith, m.m.smith1@btinternet.com. Hard copy submissions are no longer encouraged, but consult Dr Smith if this is necessary.
Application deadline: 1 January 2013. Awards will be announced at the PHS AGM in Spring 2013, for disbursal the following month.
Donald Milham Award: In the Print
The second half of the 20th century was a period of growth and affluence for British industry; for the printing industry it was a period of rapid change. Letterpress had gone just about as far as it could go in relation to reproduction quality and was slowly and surely slipping over the precipice.
The copying machine spurned by the jobbing printer, was taken up by newcomers and with the aid of the Varityper a whole new industry was created. Later the introduction of the desktop computer with digital scanning revolutionised colour printing and brought offset-printed low-cost colour to even the humblest brochure.
It is important that these changes are recorded for future generations and the best persons to do this are the very persons who were involved at the time. Accordingly the Printing Historical Society created the Donald Milham Archive and invited members of the printing industry to send factual details of those difficult times, with an award for the best submission.
Donald Milham was a letterpress machine minder and his son Peter Milham, wishing to use part of his father's legacy to commemorate his memory, funded the project with Rob Clayton.
The award, which is now closed, was open to anyone from tea lady to chairman who spent three years or more in the British printing industry, all entries have been archived in the St Bride Library, for access by future printing historians.