6th blog post

The Crandall Printing Museum is a very quaint place. The men who work there are well informed about their topic and are very interesting to listen to. Watching these men work the machinery right in front of you is something that is not done in other museums. Seeing how the actually printing is done is my favorite part of the tour. They first carve the letter, then make a mold, cast the type, then they actually take a sheet of paper and print a page from the Bible. It is so interesting to me to watch how printing would have been done in the fourteen hundreds. The time and the effort put into the job is astounding and because of that I am so much more appreciative of modern technology.
After seeing how printing first started, you move on to the American influence. The analysis of the events that were happening in Germany and how they affected the founding of our nation is very insightful. In history classes it seems that we don’t often draw ties throughout history to see which event sparked another. The Crandall Printing Museum does a very good job of making these connections which gave the whole museum deeper meanings for me. The influence of literature always astounds me and I liked how the presenter emphasized the fact the pamphlets and newspapers where popular in America and how that affected the way our country thought about politics and other events.
The last presentation was my favorite. I loved to hear the stories of how the printing press actually ended up in Palmyra. I know the Book of Mormon was a miracle, but it always strengthens my faith when I hear about those miraculous circumstances behind its creation. Even though they may seems like coincidences to others, the fact that there was a printing press where Joseph Smith was living and that they were able to print so many copies in such a short amount of time, shows me that Heavenly Father had his hand in the printing of that book. Since the Book of Mormon is the most influential books in my life I always love to learn about its history.
One thing I did not like about the Crandall Printing Museum was how long the presentation was. Taking two hours to go through three rooms seemed a little extreme to me. I feel if they could shorten their program people would be more focused on what they had to say. By cutting out some of the side stories they would shorten their presentation. I also wanted to roam and read about the objects in the museum. I felt, because the presentation was so long, that I didn’t have any time to explore the museum by myself. Listening to the tour is great but actually reading about it and seeing all the objects up close would help me to remember what had been said. However, the Crandall Printing Museum is a wonderful museum and I was so glad I had the opportunity to go.