Collection Summary
Information for Researchers
Administrative Information
Biography
Scope and Content
Collection Summary
Collection Title: Ted Freedman Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1926-1974
Collection Number: BANC MSS 79/79 c
Creator: Freedman, Ted
Extent:
4 boxes, 1 oversize folder
Repository: The
Bancroft Library
Berkeley, California 94720-6000
Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Abstract: Correspondence with private and small press owners; records of his press, The Platen Press, in Orinda; clippings, including
some on labor unions. Contains material on the Rounce and Coffin Club and the William Morris Society.
Languages Represented:
English
Information for Researchers
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts
must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft
Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which
must also be obtained by the reader.
Preferred Citatation
[Identification of item], Ted Freedman Papers, BANC MSS 79/79 c, The Bancroft Library, Universtity of California, Berkeley
Administrative Information
Note
No printing types or allied materials are in Bancroft. They are at South Hall Press, School of Library and Information Studies.
[K. Levenson]
Biography
A printer by trade, employed by the University of California Press in Berkeley from 1944, Ted Freedman also delighted in printing
as a hobby. In 1935, when living in Los Angeles, he borrowed a platen press to publish his first work with the Platen Press
imprint,
Annunciation by Meridel Le Sueur, in an edition of five hundred copies signed by the author. A gift in August 1944 of a Pilot platen press
revived the Platen Press imprint, this time in Orinda, leading to the design and publication of greeting cards and numerous
small pieces, many of which were distributed to members of the Typophiles and other organizations interested in fine printing.
Scope and Content
This collection of papers, given to The Bancroft Library by Freedman's widow, Mrs. Stella Freedman, on January 25, 1979, consists
primarily of letters written to Freedman by fellow printers, such as H. Richard Archer, Jack W. Stauffacher, Frederick Folger
Thomas and William Cheney, in which are discussed current projects and problems. Included also are a few records for the Platen
Press itself, with some accounts, mock-ups, texts, designs for ornamentation, etc.
Photographs and printed material from private presses have been removed for separate cataloging.
A key to arrangement and a partial list of major correspondents follow.