{"id":111576,"date":"2015-06-23T16:38:24","date_gmt":"2015-06-23T22:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/funding-deadline-nears-for-press\/"},"modified":"2015-06-23T16:38:24","modified_gmt":"2015-06-23T22:38:24","slug":"funding-deadline-nears-for-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/funding-deadline-nears-for-press\/","title":{"rendered":"Funding deadline nears for press"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"University
University of Pennsylvania officials clean the Cranston Press in the Mancos Times-Tribune building.<\/span>Mary Shinn\/The Mancos Times<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Considered a modern steam-powered marvel in the late 1800s, a rare Cranston Press is currently collecting dust and cobwebs in downtown Mancos.<\/p>\n

More than a dozen people stopped by the former Mancos Times-Tribune building to get a closer look at the historic press during Mancos Studio Tours this weekend. A small group is raising funds to help bring the press roaring back to life.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a letter press,\u201d Betsy Harrison explained to interested visitors on Saturday. \u201cYou have to set the individual letters in what\u2019s called furniture, or spacers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe letters are all backwards?\u201d a woman asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, you have to set the type backwards,\u201d replied Harrison, commenting on a unique skill required of bygone typesetters.<\/p>\n

Launched in 2014, the Mancos Common Press is a nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring, revitalizing and reusing the ancient press. Harrison, a board member with the organization, said an online crowd-funding campaign aims to raise $15,000 by July 3. As of Monday, some 30 people had pledged nearly $2,500.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have some people waiting in the wings to come in at the last minute,\u201d said Harrison. \u201cBut we would love more support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harrison said proceeds from the Kickstarter campaign would be used as matching funds if awarded a grant from the Colorado Historical Fund in August. The funding would be utilized to renovate both the press and former newspaper building with hopes to establish a community arts center, complete with an artist in-residence program and an educational graphic arts center. The entire project could cost up to $250,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis would be a great opportunity for students living in today\u2019s digital world,\u201d Harrison said.<\/p>\n

In addition to the Cranston printing press, 19th century typesetter\u2019s equipment, boxes of metal type, image blocks featuring cartoons, advertisements, maps and photographs and an archival newspapers dating to 1910 were all found inside the building.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is amazing,\u201d a man said while touring the site on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Frank Matero, a part-time resident of Webber Canyon and University of Pennsylvania professor of architecture, helped to launch the preservation efforts. He and a team of graduate students and staff from the university helped to assess and restart the press in 2014.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to check and see if the press was even operational,\u201d said Harrison. \u201cNow we know the press works.\u201d<\/p>\n

Board member Richard Ballantine, whose family owns the Mancos Times, Cortez Journal, Dolores Star and Durango Herald, has transferred ownership of the 100-plus-year-old building to the nonprofit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it is quite appropriate for a former newspaper building to be used in a graphic-arts way,\u201d Ballantine said. \u201cArt has always been a form of communication, and this is an extension of the Times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Only a handful of similar Cranston Presses are believed to exist, and most of those are on display in various museums.<\/p>\n

The Mancos Times-Tribune was the town\u2019s first newspaper, founded in 1893, and in 1910 moved to its current location on Grand Avenue. The press, constructed in Connecticut, was last used in 1968.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would think they shipped it out here in parts on a train,\u201d Harrison speculated. \u201cIt remains a mystery.\u201d<\/p>\n

tbaker@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Campaign hopes to raise $15,000 by July 3<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":111577,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6371],"tags":[363,13,198],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-111576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mt-news","tag-arts","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-history"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111576"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=111576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}