What Is It Wednesday: “Out Of Print”

Many of you will, no doubt, know what this is:

But, for those of you who may not, this is what’s known as a printers’ tray or a letterpress drawer.

In the days before our modern typewriters and computers, printing was a much more involved task than it is now. These drawers, or trays, were used to store the type ‘blocks’, and were kept in larger cabinets.

For many years, my late cousin, Lona, was the advertising manager for our local, small town, weekly newspaper, “The Smithfield Times”, which dates back to 1920.  I believe it was back in the 1980’s that the owners of the paper decided, since they no longer used these printers trays, that they would give them away.  Lona kept one for herself and gave this one to me.

Most of the little trinkets displayed there are just things that I’ve collected through the years.  A few have special meaning:  the white thimble with the orange butterfly, on the next to the bottom row on the left, was my mom’s. And on the bottom row, a few spaces from the right, are two of the little flocked bears that Marshall played with as a little boy. (Last week’s “Monday’s Memories” post.)

Lona knew that I collected vintage things, even back then, and this fits perfectly with my other ‘stuff’.  It has special meaning knowing that it’s a piece of history from our little town. Even more importantly, it was a thoughtful gift-for-no-occasion from Lona.

~These Days Of Mine~