HMCT Archetype Press provides students with a full-immersion typographic education, offering students the unique opportunity to practice what has become a Digital Age rarity: setting type and printing by hand. Archetype’s collection of rare American and European metal foundry type, wood type and ornaments—originally belonging to Vern Simpson’s legendary typesetting shop in Hollywood—is the largest in California, and among the largest of any design school in the country. The extensive metal and wood type collection resides in over 3,000 antique wooden cases. Students learn to set and print type on an impressive set of nine Vandercook proof presses.

Established at the College in 1989, the scope of Archetype Press was expanded in 2015 when the College founded the Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography (with The Lowell Milken Family Foundation), which strives to advance the research, teaching and understanding of letterform design and typography.

For more information, visit archetype.hmctartcenter.org.