Ludlow Typographic Company donated leads and slugs. Sarah Taylor Leavitt, chair of the Education Committee at STA, coordinated the collecting of equipment and setting up the shop. Another need for the beginning shop was to find an instructor a printer with not only considerable experience, high standards of performance, and knowledge of printing history, but also the willingness to share these assets with others. That person was close at hand STA member Gordon Marein. His wife Jessie, an equally fine printer, also helped.
Members bring in their own projects and are shown how to set type, lock up, and print.
While at the Newberry location, a very small annual registration fee was paid for running expenses wash-up fluid, inks, and other miscellaneous supplies. For the first few years, instruction was available two evenings a week, and at the first year's registration 25 members signed up. It was just the addition needed a larger press with three rollers for better ink distriibution. It was acquired, along with 20 English cases of type in a cabinet and a new STA member, Edward Kahn, who has been a very valuable member ever since. A 1956 listing of typefaces shows a modest increase of type on hand, especially in foundry type 27 fonts, over half coming from Kahn.