Rare printing press sitting in MSU library

WICHITA FALLS(KFDX KJTL)—Hidden in the Moffett library on Midwestern State Unversity’s campus is a nearly 200-year-old machine instrumental in the way we read printed words today. An official common press designed in the late 1820s was donated to the school when an alumnus died in the mid-1990s.

After passing away in 1995, Midwestern State alumni Nolan Moore left a prized, centuries-old artifact to his alma mater. A printing press made by Adam Ramage in the 1800s.

“Nolan Moore was interested in the history of print so he began to collect items that documented man’s attempt to communicate in print through history so the collection starts through man’s attempt to communicate through print up to modern-day,” MSU Librarian Courtney Bates said.

During Moore’s search and in an era of no internet, he received a phone call from a bookseller who found this press in a barn in northern Mexico.

Soon after finding it Moore had a close call.

“After he got it he put it in storage and there was a fire so you can tell the wood is blackened so it survived a fire it’s still in excellent condition,” Bates said.

But, now following Moore’s death, what he spent so long researching is now a learning tool for thousands of MSU students.

“In his will it was between us and U.T. For where it was going to go his main stipulation was that is was supposed to be used by students for research..he did want it just locked away somewhere he wanted people to use it and learn from it,” Bates said.

Learning that still continues today and will continue for many years to come.