If you have ever stared at a vintage poster or a beautifully printed book and wondered who drew those letters, Letterform Archive in San Francisco is built for you. The nonprofit museum and special collections library focuses on the history of lettering, typography, printing and graphic design.
How it started
Graphic designer Rob Saunders founded the Archive in 2014 with his private collection of books, periodicals, posters and other ephemera, according to Wikipedia. It opened in February 2015 with about 15,000 items. By 2020 the collection had grown past 100,000 items, and that year the Archive moved to a larger, custom-built space in the Dogpatch with its first dedicated exhibition gallery.
Notable acquisitions include the collection of Dutch collector Jan Tholenaar, more than 200 wood type prints from San Francisco printer Jack Stauffacher, and a large donation from Emigre, including the full run of Emigre magazine.
On view this fall
- Type for All! Ten Years of Type West, in the Main Gallery through Nov. 15, celebrates a decade of the Archive's type design program with original typefaces from every class.
- Martin Venezky: Process Work, in the Reading Room through Nov. 8, shows the designer's collages and experiments made along the way to finished projects.
Hours and getting there
Exhibition hours, per the Archive:
- Thursday: 1-8 p.m., free to all
- Friday: 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
- Saturday-Sunday: 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. and 2-6 p.m.
- Closed Monday-Wednesday
The entrance is under the glass awning at 2325 Third Street; take the elevator to floor 4R. The T Third Street light rail and several Muni bus lines stop nearby, and the 22nd Street Caltrain station is about a 10-minute walk. Street parking is limited.
Tours, research visits and workshops are booked separately, and the Archive also runs an online archive for anyone who can't make it in person.