The National Trust for Scotland – Working Places Resource Pack

Transcription

The National Trust for Scotland – Working Places Resource Pack
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www.nts.org.uk/Learn
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Contents
About the Robert Smail’s Printing Works Resource Pack
Practical Information
1.0
1.1
1.2
1.3
A Visit to Robert Smail’s Printing Works
Booking your Visit
The School Programme
The Visit
2.0 The National Trust for Scotland
2.1 NTS Membership
2.2 Learning with the National Trust for Scotland
3.0 The Curriculum for Excellence
Historical Information
4.0 A Short History of Printing
4.1 Timeline
4.2 Printing Phrases and Sayings
5.0 Introduction to the Site
5.1 Introduction to the Printing Works
5.2 The Smails
6.0 A Tour of the Print Works
6.1 The Office
6.2 The Office Staff
6.3 The Caseroom
6.4 The Work of the Compositor
6.5 A Compositor Remembers Typesetting in the 1950s
6.6 The Machine Room – The Printing Machines
6.7 Powering the Machines
6.8 The Printers
6.9 The Printer’s Apprentice
6.10 The Print Finisher
7.0 Newspapers
7.1 The St. Ronan’s Standard and Effective Advertiser
7.2 A Printer Remembers ‘newspaper day’ in the 1950s
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Contents (continued)
8.0 Robert Smail’s Staff and Wages
Pupils’ Activities
Gathering evidence at Robert Smail’s Printing Works
Classroom and whiteboard work
9.0
9.1
9.2
9.3
9.4
9.5
Pupils’ Activities
Activity 1. Primary Sources
Activity 2. Mirror Writing and Relief Printing
Activity 3. Get the Message?
Activity 4. A Printer’s Apprentice
Activity 5. A Dab Hand
Contacts and Resources
10.0 Contacts and Resources
Archive photograph of staff outside Smail’s
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About the Robert Smail’s Printing Works Resource Pack
There are two elements to the pack:
1. Teacher’s Notes
Practical information about visiting Robert Smail’s Printing Works.
Historical information about Robert Smail’s Printing Works and printing.
A visit to Smail’s
A set of activities for pupils (particularly for interactive lessons using whiteboards).
2. Folders of Images and Documents
Using the pack
Teachers can:
Print the Teachers’ Notes
Download the digital images and documents
Robert Smail’s Printing Works Resource Pack was created by the NTS Learning Services
Department.
Teachers’ Notes: Fay Bailey
Modern photographs: Mike Bolam
Archive photographs: NTS
© 2014 the National Trust for Scotland
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The office
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Robert Smail’s Printing Works – Practical Information
practical
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1.0 A Visit to Robert Smail’s Printing Works
1.1 Booking your Visit
For more information and a booking form contact the property manager at Robert Smail’s
Printing Works. We advise you to book well in advance to avoid disappointment. The maximum
class size is 35, with a ratio of 1 teacher/adult to 10 pupils.
1.2 The School Programme
Aims
1. To allow learners of all abilities and learning styles to experience the sights and sounds
of a fully working historic site.
2. To show pupils the various stages required to create a printed piece of work.
3. To introduce pupils to the staff and their roles at a printing works.
3. To help pupils understand the significance of printing in a community.
4. To relate a 21st-century child’s lifestyle to his/her 19th-century counterpart.
Curriculum
1. The programme complements People, past events and societies, and Technologies.
2. It can also be used as a basis for classroom work across the curriculum.
3. We can design a visit to suit the age group and level of your pupils. Please discuss
your school’s requirements when making a booking.
4. Secondary schools are welcome. Please phone Robert Smail’s to discuss your
requirements.
5. A visit provides an opportunity for pupils to develop essential skills such as planning,
gathering evidence, recording and presenting.
6. You can help your pupils to plan the visit themselves by defining which aspects of the topic
they are to investigate, the type of information to be gathered and the methods to be used.
The Programme
• Tours usually last 1.5–2 hours.
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NTS staff will lead the school programme.
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Pupils do not need to bring any materials with them unless they wish to. Your pupils may
come prepared with various methods of information recording (such as writing, drawing,
recording and/or photography) but please let the staff know when booking your visit.
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Your class will be split into a number of groups, depending on the class size. Each
group should be accompanied by a teacher or school helper. Please check the number
of groups when booking your visit.
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Activities
• In past days, the local printing works was an essential part of a community. During the
school programme, your pupils will tour the office, the caseroom and machine room and
learn about the printing process from the customer’s order to the finished article.
Handling objects are available to help pupils learn about life in a Victorian printing works.
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A special feature of this historic site is that pupils can also receive ‘hands-on’ typesetting
and printing experience.
From time to time, special workshops are offered. Please contact Smail’s for more
details.
1.3 The Visit
Arrival
Please come to the front door of the printing works and knock.
Shop/Toilets
The old Smail’s shop is now run by the National Trust for Scotland. Pupils are welcome to
visit the shop, with supervision from an adult from the school. A toilet is available at the
property. We regret that the toilet is not fully accessible.
Access and Additional Support
All areas except the caseroom (upstairs) are fully accessible. We have hearing equipment
for two people. We want to ensure that everyone gets the most from their visit – so do
please contact us to discuss your requirements. We will do our utmost to accommodate you.
Refreshments
There are no refreshments available at the site but pupils are welcome to bring their own.
Pupil Behaviour
Teachers are responsible for pupils and their behaviour.
Photography
You are welcome to take photographs at this site.
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1.3 The Visit (continued)
Risk Assessments
The site has been risk assessed. You may ask for a copy of the RA. Teachers are expected
to prepare their own RA for their visit.
More information
There is more information about planning a visit to a Trust site on the NTS Learn website:
www.nts.org.uk/Learn/schools
For more information about Robert Smail’s Printing Works, please go to:
www.nts.org.uk/Learn/schools/sitespecific
Getting there
Robert Smail’s Printing Works is in the small town of Innerleithen, 30 miles south
of Edinburgh (A72), and 6 miles from Peebles on the Innerleithen Road.
Address: Robert Smail’s Printing Works, 7/9 High Street, Innerleithen EH44 6HA.
NTS staff at Smail’s (re-enactment)
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2.0 The National Trust for Scotland
The National Trust for Scotland is the conservation charity that protects and promotes
Scotland’s natural and cultural heritage for present and future generations to enjoy. With
over 310,000 members, it is the largest conservation charity in Scotland and depends for its
support on donations, legacies, grants and membership subscriptions.
Established in 1931, the Trust acts as a guardian of the nation’s heritage of architectural,
scenic and historic treasures. The NTS is not a government body. As an independent charity,
it acts on behalf of everyone to safeguard our heritage.
The Trust is unique in that its activities cover the full range of cultural, built and natural
heritage. Our challenge is to make this heritage relevant to the people of Scotland and all
those who have an interest in Scotland’s magnificent heritage.
If you wish to find out more, then please visit our website:
www.nts.org.uk/Charity/Reports/Strategy-And-Performance/ – where you can read and
download the NTS corporate plan, policies and principles.
Registered Scottish Charity Number SCO 007410
2.1 NTS Membership
With NTS Educational Membership, your school will support the conservation of Scottish
heritage.
There is an additional benefit of free entry to almost all Trust sites. Where there is an entry
fee or a charge for a particular learning programme (to cover costs), these will be reduced
for NTS educational members.
Please remember to bring your membership card with you!
If your school does not have NTS Educational Membership, it is possible to join on the day.
You can also go to the NTS website: www.nts.org.uk/Learn/schools – or call the National
Trust for Scotland’s central office and ask for the Membership Department.
2.2 Learning with the National Trust for Scotland
The school programme offers many opportunities for cross-curricular work and engaging
with the Curriculum for Excellence. Further information for teachers, and free resources, can
be found on the Trust website – www.nts.org.uk/Learn/schools
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3.0 The Curriculum for Excellence
The Curriculum for Excellence aims to provide a coherent, flexible and enriched curriculum
for pupils aged 3 to 18. It combines a totality of experiences for children and young people
throughout their school education, wherever they are being educated.
The purpose of the curriculum is encapsulated in the four capacities: to enable pupils to be
successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors.
Our school programmes aim to support the development of the four capacities. A visit to a
National Trust for Scotland site encourages enjoyable learning while developing new skills
and understanding.
A site visit takes learning beyond the classroom, offering teachers a broad range of learning
opportunities. It allows their pupils to see the real thing (whether it is an historic building, a garden
or the countryside) and to interact with or use primary sources. Core curriculum elements such
as language and numeracy, and health and wellbeing, can be built into a visit. Different sites
offer primary sources for Social Studies, Expressive Arts, the Sciences or Techologies.
More information about our policies (such as the Access, Enjoyment and Education Principles)
can be found on the NTS website: www.nts.org.uk.
Setting type in the caseroom
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Robert Smail’s Printing Works – Historical Information
historical
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4.1 Timeline
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The first words: Cave paintings and picture writing are some of the earliest examples of
human handwritten communication.
Early writing materials: Clay, stone and later papyrus in Egypt were all used as writing
materials in ancient civilisations.
AD 618 to 906: T’ang Dynasty – the Chinese printed on paper, using ink on carved
wooden blocks to make multiple transfers.
868: The world’s oldest known book, the Diamond Sutra was printed. (It was found in
a cave in Turkestan in 1907.) It was made in China using carved wooden blocks.
During the fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of Christianity, religious
establishments became centres of learning and the main source of books. Monks
worked in scriptoriums copying books by hand. A single book took years to complete.
Scribes continued to work well into the 15th century.
The Renaissance or ‘Age of Learning’ resulted in an increased demand for books.
Printing became a secular skill. A way of making accurate copies more quickly was
required. Europe developed woodblock printing.
1338: The first paper mill opened in France.
1440: Johann Gutenberg invented single metal block letter-type and moveable type for
printing. His invention spread across Europe. This basic printing technology was used
until the early 19th century.
1476: William Caxton began using a Gutenberg printing press in England.
1508: Myllar and Chapman introduced book printing to Scotland. (The licence was
granted in 1507; the first book was printed in April 1508.)
1605: The first weekly newspaper was published in Antwerp, Belgium.
1725: Stereotyping (a process in which a whole page of type is cast in a single mould so
that a printing plate can be made from it) was invented by William Ged in Scotland.
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4.1 Timeline (continued)
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1870: Paper began to be mass-manufactured from wood pulp.
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1904: Offset lithography became common. The first comic book was published.
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18th and 19th centuries: Increased demand for printed matter encouraged technological
change, mass production, greater speed and economy. Many new presses came into
use, for example: the Stanhope all-metal press (1800); the rotary press (1845)(though
only in large commercial printing businesses); the linotype press (1885); the
monotype press (1887).
1907: The modern screen-printing process originated from patents taken out by Samuel
Simon in England.
1960s: Xerographic office photocopying was introduced by Xerox.
1969: The laser printer was invented at Xerox by researcher Gary Starkweather. Laser
printing became a multibillion-dollar business for Xerox.
1970: The dot matrix printer, or impact matrix printer, was invented. The computer printer
had a print head that ran back and forth on the page. A variety of fonts and graphics
could be used.
1993: The invention of the digital printing press.
4.2 Printing Phrases and Sayings
1. ‘Upper case and lower case’: capital and ‘small’ letters
Type is stored in two trays known as cases. The case containing capital letters was
traditionally placed uppermost on the work surface, and the case containing the small (or
‘lower case’) letters was traditionally placed beneath it.
2. ‘Mind your ps and qs’: to be on your best behaviour or to mind your language
It is possible that this phrase derives from the printing industry. It was easy to confuse these
two characters when redistributing them back into the case after they had been used.
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4.2 Printing Phrases and Sayings (continued)
3. ‘Out of sorts’: feeling slightly unwell
A collection of letters in one type font, eg all the As or all the Cs, is known as a ‘sort’. If the
compositor has run out of these he is ‘out of sorts’.
4. Getting the ‘wrong end of the stick’: to misunderstand something
This phrase may relate to a person picking up the setting stick in an incorrect manner.
5. To ‘come a cropper’: to fall over or fail
H S Cropper and Co began selling the Minerva platen printing press in 1866. It was a successful
design and before long all platen presses were known as croppers. The cropper is fed by hand
and it is easy to catch and hurt your hands in this machine. (However, it is possible that the actual
derivation of this phrase may have originated in the 18th century and described anyone who took
a headlong fall from a horse and was said to have fallen ‘neck and crop’.)
6. A ‘dab hand’: an expert
Before rollers, printers used a ‘dabber’ which was a wooden stick with a leather pouch on
the end. This pouch was usually filled with sand or straw. It was the printer’s job to dip this
into the ink and dab it onto the set up type. To get the right amount of ink evenly across the
letters was very tricky. Those who became skilled at this were considered ‘a dab hand’.
The word ‘dab’ to describe someone very skilled has its origins in the 17th century. The
phrase may have been assigned to the printer’s dabber during the 19th century.
Printer on Leithen Crescent
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5.1 Introduction to the Printing Works
Robert Smail’s is a time-capsule comprising a complete printing works. It was established by
the Smail family and run as a family firm for over 120 years. It is now owned and run by the
National Trust for Scotland. Smail’s offers an insight into the Victorian period of industrial,
educational and technological change. Printing techniques and equipment used to produce
printed material for the local community can be seen here.
In the caseroom, visitors experience the almost-forgotten craft of hand typesetting. The printing
machinery (dating from Victorian times through to the 1950s) is still in working order and is
demonstrated in the noisy machine room. Other features include a restored waterwheel
which once powered the machinery prior to the introduction of gas.
The office contains stacks of business records. A facsimile (using examples from 52
guardbooks stored at Smail’s) shows the range of printed items produced. Both the facsimile
and a genuine guardbook can be viewed in the office. These provide primary sources for
pupils, showing documentary evidence of life in the local community over the last century
and a half.
Today, the property is managed and run by professional craftspeople, printers and
apprentices who work for the National Trust for Scotland. Visitors can watch the compositors
hand setting type and the printers producing customers’ jobs using the original machinery.
Robert Smail’s continues to operate as a print works and undertakes small commissions.
The guardbook is kept up to date: every new print job is recorded along with the date when
the commission was undertaken and the number of copies printed.
5.2 The Smails
Robert Smail opened his first shop in the town of Innerleithen in 1857, selling goods including
footwear, newspapers, books and stationery. After ten years in business he bought a property
in the High Street for £500, which included a workshop and a house next door in Leithen
Crescent.
Robert equipped his new premises with printing machinery and began a business which
formed a central place in the community of Innerleithen and provided an income for three
generations of the Smail family.
When Robert died in 1890, aged 64, his three sons continued the work. The eldest son,
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5.2 The Smails (continued)
James Scott Smail, joined the family business around 1877 when he was 19. He became a
commercial traveller for Smail’s, visiting the local towns to obtain print orders. He also made
extra income supplying news to Borders newspapers. Robert Cowan Smail, born in 1864,
took over his father’s printing business as a senior partner; he also operated a shipping
business from Smail’s office under his own name. Robert Smail’s youngest son, Adam C
Smail, was, like his brother James, a commercial traveller for Smail’s.
Robert’s son Cowan began work in Smail’s aged 16 and studied printing at Heriot-Watt
College in Edinburgh. Initially he was employed mainly in the caseroom, but after the
Second World War he spent more time in the machine room, preferring to work in the works
rather than the office. He was content to continue with the old methods and machinery,
working long hours to keep his customers happy. He retired in 1986, aged 76, and sold the
business to the National Trust for Scotland.
Mrs Robert Smail
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This section describes the rooms at Smail’s and the roles of the staff who worked in
these areas.
6.1 The Office
The contents of the office at Smail’s provide a detailed record of the business covering 120
years. In this office customers placed orders for printing – and also booked their passage on
steamships to Canada, the United States of America and Africa when Robert Cowan Smail
operated a shipping agency in the early decades of the 20th century.
Stock books dating from 1866 record the costs of materials and machinery. Ledgers detail
printing costs for each job, the costs to the customer and the wages paid to staff.
There are bundles of invoices and receipts, collections of press cuttings from 1880, cash
books from 1878 to 1983, bound copies of Smail’s weekly newspaper (The St. Ronan’s
Standard and Effective Advertiser) and sheafs of letters connected with Smail’s shipping
agency.
The most important records are the 52 guardbooks, which provide a remarkable insight into
the past businesses and social life of Innerleithen. Examples of every single item of print
produced from 1877 to 1956 have been meticulously pasted into these large books.
As well as this, there are many boxes of printed matter containing copies of jobs from the
1950s to the 1980s. These include brochures, dance tickets, concert posters and programmes,
advertising leaflets, labels for the woollen industry, golf fixture cards, police reports, letter
headings, order forms, invoices, receipts, envelopes, funeral notices, hymn sheets, menus,
County Council assessment rolls, chemists’ prescription labels and postcards.
6.2 The Office Staff
Smail’s day-to-day clerical business was handled by the office clerk and a secretary. The
office clerk was concerned with the business bookkeeping and taking orders for jobs. Orders
were usually written, others were taken over the telephone or over the counter. The completed
job was handed over the counter, neatly parcelled in brown paper and tied with string.
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Mr Soutar and Mrs Leslie in the office in 1903
6.3 The Caseroom
In this room compositors assembled type (by hand) into
a setting stick from one or two of the 400 cases containing
typefounders’ (or hard) type. ie The compositors chose
individual letters and punctuation marks to create words
or sentences. They had to choose between many different
sizes and styles of letters.
Once the setting stick was full, the type was stored on a
metal tray (galley) until the whole typesetting job was
complete. A proof was then taken using the
hand-operated proofing press. (At Smail's the Columbian Eagle Press was used.)
The proof was checked for any mistakes. Any spelling errors were corrected at the ‘imposing
stone’, or metal-topped table. The type was finally placed in a metal frame (chase) and
locked up (imposed) ready for the machine room. The compositors now had formes of type.
The formes were carried downstairs to the machine room to be printed. Since these were heavy,
they were often slid along the grooved wood at the sides of the narrow wooden staircase.
After printing the type was brought back to the caseroom. If the type was to be used again it
was stored in the wooden forme racks to await reprinting. If the job was not to be reprinted
all the spacing material was put back in the racks and the type distributed (dissed). The task
of distributing (dissing) the type back into the cases usually fell to the youngest apprentice
compositor who had to memorise the position of each letter in the cases.
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6.3 The Caseroom (continued)
NB The elaborately decorated Columbian Eagle Press was widely used in Britain, on the
continent and in North America, and was a great improvement on the earlier wooden
presses. The machine at Smail's has been kindly loaned to the Trust by Gray’s School of
Art, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen.
6.4 The Work of the Compositor
In 1910 there were, at times, up to six compositors working in the caseroom. They set the
type for all the print jobs and earned around £2.10s (£2.50) per week. They served a
seven-year apprenticeship and were highly skilled and educated men. An apprentice
compositor in 1910 earned around 9s (45p) per week whilst learning the skills of typesetting,
design and imposition in the caseroom.
The compositor took the customer’s manuscripts and transformed them into visually pleasing
and easily readable designs. They selected typefaces and produced a layout which would
have the most impact in relaying the printed message.
The compositor stands in front of the cases of type picking up the pieces of type and placing
them in his ‘setting stick’. The type is a mirror image, and is placed with the bottom of the
letter facing away from the compositor. An experienced compositor can read type upside down
and in mirror image as quickly as if it were the correct way round. It can take a compositor
around an hour to set 30 lines of type by hand.
6.5 A Compositor Remembers Typesetting in the 1950s
‘If there is only a small amount of type to set, the comp may pull the case halfway out of the
rack and quickly work from there, or he may pull it out fully and place it on top of the frame.
It is possible that one job may require several typefaces and so you can be crossing from
one side of the room to another to set all the styles needed.
Holding a setting stick in the left hand, the compositor will start to pick the type from the
case, letter by letter, using his right hand and place it in the stick. This is known as setting.
Speed is of the essence, but ‘clean’ setting (few mistakes) is important. In the past compositors
were paid by piecework and any setting they did above the basic amount would earn them
more money.
As soon as the stick is full, the comp will lift the type with great skill and care onto the galley
where the job will be built up. Once it is complete on the galley it will be tied together with
page cord and proofed.
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6.0 A tour of the print works
6.5 A Compositor Remembers Typesetting in the 1950s: (continued)
A job may take a lot of building up and need several hours or more to complete, or it may be
a short job, such as a business card, in which case once the job has been proof-read and
any corrections made, the comp will move on to the next job. Every job will vary according
to the size and the amount to be set, but the routine of finding the typeface and standing,
often hour after hour, at one case setting is always there. Patience is needed by a compositor
as the type can be very small and fiddly and it is not a job that can be rushed.’
6.6 The Machine Room – the Printing Machines
In this room the formes of type from the caseroom were printed. The system of printing used
at Smail’s is called ‘letterpress’, or relief, printing. In letterpress printing, the top surface of
the type is coated with a thin layer of printer’s ink by the machine’s ink rollers. A sheet of
paper is fed over the type, then even pressure is applied.
The largest machine in the machine room is the Letterpress Flat-bed Wharfedale Reliance
Press. This machine works differently from the other printing machines at Smail’s in that it
employs a cylinder to make an impression against the forme of type. It is known as a
stop-cylinder machine because the cylinder comes to rest after each impression to allow
the type bed to return and the type to be inked. This machine was used to print large paper
sizes. The posters for the St. Ronan’s Games and the local newspaper, the St. Ronan’s
Standard and Effective Advertiser, were printed on this useful machine.
All of the other printing machines in this room are platen machines. The Arab, the smallest
machine, has been donated by Messrs John S Burns & Sons of Glasgow to replace a similar
machine once used in Smail’s. It was inexpensive to buy, cheap to run (operated by foot
treadle), and as such was a valuable piece of equipment to use for printing small items such
as tickets, labels and small handbills (flyers).
This machine is known as a ‘clam-shell’ platen because the vertical bed of the machine,
which carries the type forme, is hinged to the platen at the bottom. When the hinged
surfaces close together, the platen carries the paper towards the type forme, and the
impression is made.
There are two Falcon clam-shell machines which are slightly larger than the Arab. The printing
principle is the same as the Arab except these two machines are power-driven. The larger
of the two has an automatic paper feeder but the other is fed by hand.
The Original Heidelberg was purchased in 1953. This versatile machine is much faster
than the others, capable of printing up to 4,500 sheets per hour.
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6.6 The Machine Room – the Printing Machines (continued)
The New Conqueror Guillotine was made by J Greig & Sons of Edinburgh. This type of
machine was being advertised for sale in 1927. Paper for printing was cut to a suitable size
on this machine. After printing, paper could be trimmed to the correct size.
Paper for cash ledgers, work sheets and other documents requiring lines were prepared on
the Pen Ruling Machine. Each of the pens draws a line on the paper which passes below
the pens on a type of conveyor belt. The pens are lowered into contact with the paper to
make lines of exactly the right length, then raised, ready to be lowered onto the next sheet
as it advances.
6.7 Powering the Machines
The early printing machinery was powered by a system of wheels and belts driven by two
waterwheels, one at each end of the paper store. The waterwheel on show today at Smail’s
has been reconstructed and replaced. The fast-flowing Leithen Water was harnessed in a
channel or lade that flows below the building. The lade also powered five woollen mills, a
silk mill, an engineering machine shop and a sawmill. There was no sluice (gate) to regulate
the water flow, so the waterwheels were lowered into the lade at the beginning of the working
day and raised at the end.
The waterwheels became redundant in 1930 when the source of power was changed to a
gas-fuelled Crossley 1hp engine which stood on a concrete base in the paper store. The
concrete base can still be seen. Later, the machines were powered by electricity.
6.8 The Printers
At busy times there were four or five printers or machine men operating the presses in the
machine room. They were highly skilled tradesmen who were trained to get the best from
their machines. They cut the paper to size, mixed the inks, ran the machines and were
responsible for the quality of the printed job. During wartime periods when the men were
away, women took over some of the jobs normally done by men.
6.9 The Printer’s Apprentice
Printers’ apprentices served a seven year apprenticeship before becoming fully time-served
journeymen. Young men began their seven-year apprenticeship at a printers aged between
14 and 16 and were known as ‘Printers’ Devils’.
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6.9 The Printer’s Apprentice (continued)
Robert Smail’s employed several apprentices in the machine room, who performed jobs
such as mixing the printing ink and feeding the machines with paper and eventually running
the printing machines.
6.10 The Print Finisher
Print finishing was a semi-skilled job which involved glueing and numbering labels, then
stringing and eyeleting them. Help was given to the machine minders in the machine rooms
– for example with feeding the machines and folding the weekly newspaper.
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7.0 Newspapers
7.1 The St. Ronan’s Standard and Effective Advertiser
On 12 May 1893 the first edition of Smail’s weekly newspaper the St. Ronan’s Standard and
Effective Advertiser, was published. It appeared every Wednesday until 1916 at a cost of
one halfpenny (0.2p). The price stayed the same throughout its 23 year life. Circulation was
around 800 copies.
The newspaper was a chronicle of every aspect of the town’s life, covering both local and
national issues. The editor boasted that ‘it would not be merely a medium for claptrap and
gossip’. News items included town council meetings, national political issues, church
services, freemasonry, football, curling, shinty, fishing, shooting, billiards, poetry, Innerleithen
School Board reports, the condition of the south of Scotland woollen trade and the annual
St. Ronan’s Border Games.
The usual section of births, marriages and deaths kept readers informed, while they could plan
their shopping from the advertisements on the front page. R Smail & Sons’ advertisements
appeared in most issues, offering an ever-increasing variety of goods for sale: novels, sheet
music, watercolour paints, dressed dolls, purses, pocket-books, diaries, calendars,
handbags, work boxes, cigar cases, shaving sets, inkstands, vases, china teasets and
teddy bears.
In 1916 the St. Ronan’s Standard title was incorporated into what is now the Peeblesshire
News, and so ended Smail’s newspaper publishing enterprise. Commemorative editions of
The St Ronan’s Standard are occasionally produced at Smail’s and are still printed on the
Wharfdale Press.
7.2 A Printer Remembers ‘newspaper day’ in the 1950s
‘The hours worked are generous during the week but on newspaper day it is torture. Starting
at 9am, finishing at 1pm as usual. During this time the machine (special and only used once
a week and situated in a different part of the works) is prepared and inked up, also the
folder which folds the newspapers is attended to.
The printing machine prints both sides of the newspaper simultaneously and when folded
produces eight pages of a broadsheet. The first four pages are placed on the machine after
lunch, printed and proof copies are sent for reading. At 4 o’clock I go home for tea and
prepare sandwiches for the night. I start work at 5pm hoping to put the other few pages on
the machine, to be proofed and corrected. If the frames are late at this point then the printers
will be late in finishing and this is often the case.
25
7.0 Newspapers
7.2 A Printer Remembers ‘newspaper day’ in the 1950s (continued)
We print and fold 7,500 copies every week: three men working, one on the machine, one on
the folder, the other checking and resting (the machines are all hand-fed). After 45 minutes it
is all change, so each had it in turn.
Supper is 10 o’clock – flasks of tea and sandwiches and sometimes a hot pie heated on the
coal stove that is there for heating. The newspaper should be finished at 2am. We are not
paid any extra for finishing at this time of early morning; this is a normal 43 hour week, the
exception being working a 15 hour day on a Friday.
There is also an unwritten law that you do not go home until the newspaper is complete, so
although 2am is supposed to be finishing time, it is more likely to be 4am. The record for
working was when there was a breakdown of the machine and the men worked from 9am
Friday morning and finished at 11am on Saturday morning, a total of 26 hours. This was not
unusual and continued into the early 70s.
Up to 18 years you are not allowed to work after 12 o’clock (midnight) so the other printers
have to work without you from midnight. Christmas day is worked by printers and plumbers
in the town. I was 22 years before I had Christmas day off.’
26
8.0. Smail’s Staff and Wages
At the height of the business in the early part of the 20th century a team of between eight
and ten staff were employed at Smail’s:
•
•
•
•
•
•
2–3 compositors and print finishers in the caseroom.
2–3 printers in the machine room.
A clerk and a secretary in the office.
Salesmen who travelled the country.
Shop staff.
Plus a varying number of apprentices to the compositor and printer.
8.1 Smail’s Staff and Wages in 1924
Staff were paid in pounds and shillings
Name
Mr Oliphant
Occupation
Head Compositor
£6. 18/-
Machine Operator
£6. 18/-
Willie Oliphant (his son)
Printer
John Tait
Lithographic Printer
Andrew Makin
John Hume
Alec Allen
Jimmy McNaught
Nettie Thompson
Miss Chisholm
Compositor
Proof Reader
Apprentice
Office Secretary
Ran the Smail’s shop
Example:
£6. 18/- is £6 and 18 shillings
27
Wages per fortnight
£6. 18/£6. 18/£6. 18/£6. 18/£3. 8/£3. 5/-
£4. 0/-
28
Robert Smail’s Printing Works – Pupils’ Activities
• Gathering evidence at Robert Smail’s Printing Works
pupils’ activities
• Classroom and whiteboard work
29
9.0 Pupils’ Activities
9.1 Activity 1 – Primary Sources
Objectives:
•
•
•
•
Identify, handle and analyse primary source material on a visit to Robert Smail’s.
Demonstrate an understanding of the use of primary source materials for
historical research.
Use the photographs and printed archive materials relating to social and
domestic life in the resource pack to compare life in Victorian and Edwardian
Scotland to life today.
Plan, collect and display a collection of primary source materials which make a
comparison between life now and life in the past, and/or modern life in the
place where they live.
Curriculum for Excellence
Social Studies: People, past events and societies
Literacy and English
Technologies: ICT to enhance learning
Activity 1 – On site
•
•
30
Investigate primary source materials at Robert Smail’s which provide information
about social and domestic life in the Victorian and Edwardian periods. For
example, copies of The St. Ronan’s Standard, the guardbooks, posters,
calendars and archive photographs of the staff.
Ask members of staff to help pupils identify further primary source materials
during your visit.
9.1 Activity 1 – Primary Sources (continued)
Activity 1 – In class
Ask pupils to bring photographs of themselves, family members or their friends into
school or obtain a set of modern photographs of people. They may wish to bring
pictures of themselves as babies or doing something which they enjoy with their
friends or family. Download the archive photographs from the folder. You also
need the documents, which give information about social activities and domestic life
in Innerleithen, eg dance programme, shoemaker advert, opera programme.
Download them onto an interactive whiteboard to complete the activities below.
Early & First Levels
Ask pupils to look carefully at the
photographs. Can they describe what
the people in the photographs are doing
and wearing?
Use the zoom, highlight, magic pen or
camera tools to help pupils pick out or
select and isolate some of the details from
the photographs. Talk about the things
we can learn about clothes, housing,
hobbies, transport and families from
looking at the photographs.
Use the split screen function to compare
two images (the modern street scene of
Innerleithen and the archive image, the
image of the young apprentices at work
and the image of the young Cowan
Smail with his fishing rod, for example).
Discuss the images as a class or in small
groups. Use the speech/thought bubbles.
31
Second Level
Follow the photograph activity suggestions
for Early & First Levels.
Identify the primary sources which pupils
discovered during their visit to Smail’s.
Download the documents described
above (dance programme, etc). Use the
zoom, highlight or magic pen tools to help
pupils pick out some of the details.
Ask pupils to consider what printed
materials they could collect for their town
to tell future people about life in the early
21st century. This could be about their
school or town. Ask pupils to use the
pen tool to write their ideas on the board.
Discuss whether photographs and printed
materials are reliable sources of information
for finding out about the past. What can we
learn from them? What don’t they tell us?
Activity 1 – Primary Sources (continued)
Activity 1 – In class (continued)
Early & First Levels
Compare class photographs or search
the internet for modern photographs
which provide a good comparison with
the archive photographs and display
them on the whiteboard.
Create a class display of the family
photographs or photographs of friends
and pets. These could be displayed
beside photographs from the past.
32
Second Level
Discuss other useful sources for
investigating the past.
Collect and create a display of ‘archive’
material about the class or the school.
9.2 Activity 2 – Mirror Writing and Relief Printing
On a visit to Smail’s pupils will have tried setting type into a setting stick. The type
is cast in mirror image (ie each word is backwards) and set upside down. An
experienced compositor can read type upside down and in mirror image as quickly
as if it were the correct way round.
Objectives:
• Explore and practise the technique of mirror writing.
•
•
•
Use the information gained during a visit to Robert Smail’s and via the mirror
writing exercise to create relief printing blocks.
Use the printing blocks to print pupils’ names and print designs.
(Third & Fourth Levels) Research contemporary printing techniques and
modern uses of block printing, and present their findings.
Social Studies: People, past events and societies.
Expressive Arts: Art and Design.
Technologies: ICT to enhance learning.
•
•
•
33
Watch the compositor at work, handle type and try typesetting.
Examine the different typefaces on display and note the arrangement of the
lettering and the decorative designs used.
Learn about the printing processes and how to set type.
9.2 Activity 2 – Mirror Writing and Relief Printing (continued)
First & Second Levels
Third & Fourth Levels
Review the visit to Robert Smail’s and
discuss the processes involved in
printing a word.
Pupils could follow the activities for First
& Second Levels.
Using the pen tool, ask pupils to come
up and write their name backwards on
the interactive whiteboard.
Ask pupils to use a plastic mirror to
read some sentences written in mirror
writing.
With the mirror standing on a plain
piece of white paper and looking only
in the mirror (not at the paper), ask
pupils to write their name on the
paper so that it reads normally in the
mirror.
Ask pupils to glue string to wooden,
cardboard or polystyrene blocks to
create their name when printed.
Create a design using string glued to
cardboard, wooden or polystyrene
blocks. Download the St. Ronan’s
Calendar onto the interactive
whiteboard. Use the relief design
printing blocks to create a printed
border for a calendar.
34
Ask pupils to use ICT to research
Leonardo Da Vinci’s use of mirror writing.
Pupils could cut shapes on blocks of
linoleum (block printing) and use them to
create a design for wrapping paper.
Ask pupils to research contemporary
printing techniques and technology and
the place of block printing in modern
printmaking.
Ask teams of pupils to prepare a
presentation on their findings. Use the
interactive whiteboard to show their
presentations to the class.
9.3 Activity 3 – Get the Message?
Objectives:
• Research the role of the compositor.
•
•
•
Order text and compose a selection of advertisements and notices of differing
styles and purpose.
Select the appropriate text and style to suit the needs of each audience.
Using ICT choose an appropriate typeface for each notice and justify reasons
for choosing each font.
Extension activities for older pupils:
• Investigate the way font styles have been used to convey messages throughout
history in fashion, art and politics.
•
•
Research the role of a typographer.
Design a product and choose a typeface to reflect the style of the product and
also to attract the appropriate target audience.
Social Studies: People, past events and societies; People in society, economy &
business
Technologies: ICT to enhance learning; Craft, design, engineering and graphics
•
•
•
•
35
Watch the compositor at work, handle type and try typesetting.
Find out about the compositor’s skill in creating readable and effective
advertisements and the importance of choosing the correct typeface for the job.
Examine the different typefaces on display and note the decorative designs used.
Look at the guardbooks and note the different styles of notices and
advertisements printed at Smail’s.
9.3 Activity 3 – Get the Message? (continued)
Second Level
Third & Fourth Levels
Review the visit to Robert Smail’s and
the role of the compositor.
Follow the activities for Second Level.
Download the documents from the
folder onto the interactive whiteboard
and discuss the different font styles,
messages and audiences. Use the
interactive whiteboard to compare and
contrast the archive materials with
modern advertisements and notices.
Scramble some advertisements and
notices of differing styles and
instructions, for example: a warning
notice, a poster advertising a school
fair, a short letter, etc. Display them on
the interactive whiteboard and ask
pupils to drag and drop the text into
the correct order.
Ask pupils to research the use of different
fonts to convey messages and styles
throughout history.
They could plan and produce a design brief
for a new product. They should think about
the style of the product, and either choose
or design their own appropriate font. They
should research the target market for their
product and create an advertisement.
Investigate modern print and design jobs;
for example, examine the role of a
typographer and compare it to the role of a
compositor at Robert Smail’s.
Ask pupils to write their own notices
and advertisements in different styles,
choose an appropriate font for each
and discuss why they have chosen
that font, eg Comic Sans for the
school fair poster.
36
9.4 Activity 4 – A Printer’s Apprentice
Objectives:
• Use their observations in the machine room and caseroom to analyse and
describe the role of an apprentice printer.
•
•
•
•
Order the sequences in the printing process and describe the key pieces of
equipment used by an apprentice printer.
Use the information gathered during a visit to Robert Smail’s and selected
archive material in the pack to create a letter of application for the role of
printer’s apprentice.
Role-play interviews for the job.
Write about a typical working day.
Technologies: Craft, design, engineering and graphics
Expressive Arts: Drama
•
•
•
37
Watch the printer at work and try some of the jobs performed by apprentices in
the past.
Pupils should observe the printing process closely in order to identify and
sequence the stages in the composing and printing process.
Imagine life as a printer’s apprentice.
9.4 Activity 4 – A Printer’s Apprentice (continued)
First Level
Second & Third Levels
Review the descriptive words and use the
pen tool to write a class poem about their
visit on the whiteboard.
Download the photographs of printers’
apprentices, the job application letter dated
1949, and the information about wages
from the folders onto the whiteboard.
Talk about the pupils’ visit to Smail’s.
Think of adjectives to describe the visit.
Use the pen tool to write them on the
whiteboard. Use the shape pen to draw
a simple chart and ask pupils to drag the
words into categories: ‘I touch’, ‘I smell’,
‘I see’, ‘I hear’.
Create a comic strip with your pupils on
the whiteboard, showing your visit to
Smail’s.
Download the photographs of the printing
processes onto your whiteboard. Ask
pupils to use the pen tool to label the
photographs of the equipment and drag
the images into the correct order to show
the stages of the printing process.
Review the information gained during the visit
to Robert Smail’s and use the pen tool on the
interactive whiteboard to list the attributes a
printer’s apprentice should possess.
Ask pupils to write a letter of application
for the post of printer’s apprentice.
In groups of two, role-play a printer
interviewing for an apprentice. The
interviewer could discuss pay, hours, tasks
and working conditions. The interviewee
could discuss their suitability for the role.
Each pupil should prepare by choosing 10
questions or considering 10 points about
their character (apprentice).
Ask pupils to write a story or diary entry
imagining a working day, perhaps a pay
day in 1924. Perhaps the apprentice does
something wrong. What happens next?
38
9.5 Activity 5 – A Dab Hand
Objectives:
• Explore the origins of commonly used phrases associated with the printing
industry. Some phrases are listed in these Teachers’ Notes (Section 4.2).
•
•
Research the origins of commonly used phrases associated with other occupations
and industries.
Investigate the origins of modern expressions.
•
•
Prior to a visit to Smail’s, familiarise pupils with the phrases relating to printing.
During the visit, identify the item or machinery associated with the phrase.
Investigate the function of each machine or object and where it occurs during
the printing process (setting stick, dabber, platen printing machine, etc)
Activity 5 – In class – Second, Third & Fourth Levels
•
•
•
39
Use ICT and printed sources to investigate the origins of phrases that we still
use today, such as ‘mad as a hatter’, ‘push the boat out’, ‘loose cannon’ and
‘caught red-handed’. What did they once mean? What do they mean now?
Discuss the information we can gain from phrases such as these about life in
the past. Do these phrases offer us a reliable source of information?
Investigate phrases which have become part of common usage in recent times.
What will these phrases tell people in the future about the modern world? Do some
of our modern words and phrases have double meanings? Would it be possible for
future generations to misinterpret these phrases or assign different meanings to them?
10.0 Contacts and Resources
Contacts
The Property Manager
Robert Smail’s Printing Works
7/9 High Street
Innerleithen
Scottish Borders EH44 6HA
Telephone: 01896 830206
Email: [email protected]
The National Trust for Scotland
Hermiston Quay
5 Cultins Road
Edinburgh EH11 4DF
Telephone: 0131 458 0200
Website: www.nts.org.uk
The National Trust for Scotland
Learning Resources
Website: www.nts.org.uk/Learn/schools
Smails: www.nts.org.uk/Learn/schools/sitespecific
Resources
Books
NTS Guidebook: Robert Smail’s Printing Works
Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase & Fable
NTS website
Smail’s archive: www.nts.org.uk/smailsarchive
The Printer’s Tale: www.nts.org.uk/ScotlandsStories/PrintersTale
The Archivist’s Tale: www.nts.org.uk/ScotlandsStories/ArchivistsTale
Other websites
The Phrase Finder: www.phrases.org.uk
Printing: http://scottishprintarchive.org/
Printing: http://inventors.about.com
Printing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_printing
40

The National Trust for Scotland – Working Places Resource Pack

Transcription

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