Nick and Lianne Howard in Oakville, Ont. The Howard Iron Works Museum displays more than 100 printing presses and various artifacts.Supplied
The organizer: Nick Howard
The pitch: Creating the Howard Iron Works Museum
Throughout his many decades of buying, selling and appraising printing equipment, Nick Howard always loved collecting old machines.
“In my travels over the course of my career I used to pick up the odd machine when I was buying something else,” recalled Mr. Howard, 68, who is president of Oakville, Ont.-based Howard Graphic Equipment Ltd. “I would have it shipped back in containers.”
He and his wife, Liana, eventually decided to find a home for the collection and in 2016 they purchased a 2,044-square-metre building in Oakville and opened the Howard Iron Works Museum.
It’s a non-profit venture that displays more than 100 printing presses and various artifacts. The museum also employs two people who restore old equipment. “We make sure everything is able to run and operate,” he said.
The Howards cover all the expenses and any money they make from renting out the facility for events is donated to an Oakville-based charity called Lighthouse for Grieving Children. It provides counselling and support to families who have lost a loved one. “All the folks that work there are volunteers and they just do some amazing work,” he said.
Mr. Howard also raises money for Lighthouse along with Ms. Howard and their daughter Sarah.
Some of the museum’s printing presses date back to the 1830s and Mr. Howard has dozens of artifacts, including the Globe and Mail sign from the newspaper’s building on Front Street in Toronto. The museum also has the original typesetting for the front page of The New York Times on July 20, 1969, which announced the Apollo 11 moon landing.
Most of the machines were used to print newspapers but some also printed invoices, cheques and envelopes.
“We’ve put little flags on a lot of the machines to let people know where they come from,” he said, rhyming off a list of countries including the United States, Britain, Germany, Japan, Czechia, Switzerland and Canada.
Even as printing machines become more high tech and physical newspapers fall out of fashion, Mr. Howard sees value in showing people how printing used to be done. “It’s fun to see how things were done in the old days. And I think it’s important that we keep some of these things for future generations.”