International Printing Museum Youth Programs

International Printing Museum Youth Programs include historic printing demonstrations, hands-on activities inspired by America’s revolutionary era, and Museum field trips that explore the history of printing. Participants can take part in letterpress printing, bookbinding, screen printing, paper marbling, collaging, linoleum block printing, experimental pressure printing, and hands-on workshops. The program also offers historic re-enactments such as reenacting the Constitutional Convention, meeting Ben Franklin virtually, and demonstrations of working machinery.

• Ages: 10–18 years old
• Schedule: Open Saturdays from 10 am to 4 pm (except Scout events), with additional programs available Tuesday to Friday by reservation; sessions include half-day, full-day, and multi-day classes and full-day special events

International Printing Museum Youth Programs include Book Arts Institute workshops for adults and teens, with options for half-day, full-day, and multi-day classes. The program offers private workshops for small groups such as friends, colleagues, and families, as well as Scout Merit Badge Days where scouts can earn the Graphic Arts Merit Badge and the Pulp & Paper Merit Badge in a full-day event by printing their own t-shirt, running an offset press, grinding pulp, making paper, and creating letterpress cards. A full-day Book Arts Patch Day for Girls includes binding booklets and creating letterpress bookmarks. The Museum on Wheels program brings assemblies to schools, libraries, and other organizations across California, with options such as an assembly at the history trailer, a virtual visit with Ben Franklin, and add-on hands-on printing or paper making activities.

Seasonal and special events connected to the youth programs include Krazy Kraft Day, the Los Angeles Printers Fair, the Typewriter Festival, the Surplus Sale & Wayzgoose, the Americana Car Show, Merit Badge Days for Scouts, and Book Arts Patch Days for Girls. The Americana Car Show highlights technologies that helped shape the American experience.

The International Printing Museum features one of the world’s largest collections of antique printing machinery and graphic arts equipment and is home to the Lindner Collection of Antique Printing Machinery. The Museum is recognized worldwide for the size and scope of its collection and for innovative and creative approaches to sharing its collection with the community and the world. The Museum was founded in 1988, was located in Buena Park from 1988 until 1997, and moved to its present facility in Carson, California in 1998; in February 2001, the Board of Trustees authorized and raised funds to purchase the Carson property.

The Museum’s mission is to educate visitors about the history of books and the impact of printing innovations on the modern world through demonstrations, reenactments, and hands-on workshops. The International Printing Museum Foundation is recognized as a tax exempt, 501c3 public charity by the IRS, and the Printing Industries Association selected Mark Barbour, Executive Director and Founding Curator of the International Printing Museum, as the PIA 2023 Executive of the Year. The leadership team includes Mark Barbour (Executive Director & Founding Curator), Meighan Maguire (Museum Manager), Kirstin DeMarquez (Museum Educator & Graphic Designer), Lorna Turner (Book Arts Studio Manager), and Peter Small (Museum Educator), along with a Board of Trustees that includes Doug Haines (President), Dan Freedland, Mark Barbour, Lou Caron, Michael Druyen, Ethan Lipton, Jack Stoughton Jr., Doug Haines, Dennis Howey, Paul Carney, Hanna Wood McConaghy, Frank Buono, Gino Brancolini, and Mike Birkholm. Free parking is available in the Museum’s parking lot and on the street in front of the Museum.

Last updated July 2, 2026.