Wood Block Newspaper Positives

Items were donated by Dean Cox, former Washington County Commissioner. Blocks most likely originate from the Washington County News, a newspaper which closed in 1988.

The wood blocks were used in traditional letter press printing methods. Block would have been loaded onto the tray, along with letters and other paragraph blocks, inked, and a sheet of paper placed over the top before going through a pressured roller to transfer the ink from the blocks to the sheet. Usually multiple pages of a newspaper would be printed on one large paper sheet and cut to make the daily editions. This is the same process as well for book printing, in which multipe pages of a book would be printed on one sheet--used to make signatures--which make up the parts of a book.

The collection contains images of people, places, nature, roads, vehicles, and historical markers. Some images were taken from the public domain, of very well-known or famous figures (such as Brigham Young), which others are most likely the only record in existence of the person or the place during the described time period.

Locations were sometimes marked on the back, but infrequently. Locations include: Enterprise, Santa Clara, Toquerville, and La Verkin. Other blocks included appear to be line-ups of portraits for a "most wanted" type of listing in the paper.

Original images used in the chemical transfer process to metal are unknown. Blocks have the half-tone positive metal plates tacked on with small tacks around the edges.