Last week, I spent a couple of days working alongside Anna Peterson (née Robinson), the woodworking maven who designed and has built the museum cases for the Tiny Type Museum & Time Capsule. We started with a loose idea, worked through a prototype, then refined into the production design. She took a large skillset and expanded it, learning and consulting with teachers and mentors both in her certificate program in cabinetry (which she finishes this month) and at the Pratt Fine Arts Center, which has an active woodshop where Anna did most of the production and assembly work.

After cases were assembled, there was still sanding, fuming (exposure to ammonia to darken the white oak of the case), oiling, and waxing. Then attaching feet and drawer handles, and building a “book sled,” a unique approach to integrating the book Six Centuries of Type & Printing directly into the each museum.

With the start of summer, it’s also the start of construction of the museum cases for the Tiny Type Museum & Time Capsule. Anna Robinson, the designer and woodworking artist, ordered the wood (white oak), reserved shop space, and has started milling, cutting, piecing, rabbiting, biscuiting, joining, and all the rest. She’s been sending me photos as it progresses.

When I first envisioned this project, it was over appetizers with Anna, as we sorted out a vague idea I had about making type history into something people could hold. It was natural to develop the concept and the case with her, as she pursues a certificate in cabinetry at a remarkable local school, building on her existing woodworking and laser-cutting skills honed over years.

Now owning some type that’s 150 years old and visiting archives with material dating back centuries yet remaining in working form, an intent