Letterform Archive

Letterform Archive A nonprofit center for inspiration, education, publishing, and community in graphic design and type. We are open to all who love letters.

Letterform Archive is a nonprofit center for inspiration, education, publishing, and community.

Emory Douglas, The Black Panther, vol. 7, no. 5, 1971, “We’re going to keep on struggling for brighter days. We’re going...
06/19/2026

Emory Douglas, The Black Panther, vol. 7, no. 5, 1971, “We’re going to keep on struggling for brighter days. We’re going to keep on struggling until we win your love.”

Founded in 1966, the Black Panther Party advocated for armed citizens’ patrols to challenge police brutality in Black communities. While known for its beret-wearing, rifle-toting image, the Black Panthers made a major impact through social programs and information campaigns, both anchored by its weekly newspaper.

This image is featured in our 2022 publication, Strikethrough: Typographic Messages of Protest. https://letterformarchive.org/shop/strikethrough-typographic-messages-of-protest/

Just over fifty years ago, at the apex of the civil rights movement in the US, Dorothy Jackson interviewed five Black de...
06/18/2026

Just over fifty years ago, at the apex of the civil rights movement in the US, Dorothy Jackson interviewed five Black designers about “the frustrations and opportunities in a field where ‘flesh-colored’ means pink”. ⁠
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The article for Print was perhaps the first in the mainstream trade press to directly address the impacts of racism in the profession and describe the experience of Black practitioners in their own words. What has changed since then? What remains the same? ⁠
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In 2020, we asked today’s design leaders to compare their experience to the 1968 discussion and imagine what’s next. Read The Black Experience in Graphic Design: 1968 and 2020.⁠ https://letterformarchive.org/news/the-black-experience-in-graphic-design-1968-and-2020/
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Timothy Ely, Scans artist. book, United States, 2016⁠⁠Discover the riches of Letterform Archive’s vast collection, inclu...
06/16/2026

Timothy Ely, Scans artist. book, United States, 2016⁠
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Discover the riches of Letterform Archive’s vast collection, including Scans by in this in-person, guided tour. ⁠
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Collections Tour: Intro to the Archive⁠
Fri, Jul 10, 2026⁠
1:30pm–3:00pm PT⁠
In-Person at Letterform Archive⁠
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Explore and interact with a curated selection of books, periodicals, posters, sketches, original art, and related ephemera that chronicle the history of written communications. From the invention of writing and medieval manuscripts to the advent of print and the proliferation of digital type, our collection illuminates humankind’s ongoing engagement with written expression.⁠
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https://letterformarchive.org/shop/collections-tour-intro-to-the-archive-ziyw/?sku=EVENT-COLLECTIONS-TOU-JUL-2026-GE-1-1-1

Amos Kennedy Jr., Know Justice Know Peace, 2020⁠Amos Kennedy Jr., Everyday I Dream of Black Freedom and Pride, 2009⁠NewL...
06/13/2026

Amos Kennedy Jr., Know Justice Know Peace, 2020⁠
Amos Kennedy Jr., Everyday I Dream of Black Freedom and Pride, 2009⁠
NewLights Press, The Work Continues Stay Strong, 2016⁠
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Not long enough ago, Black people were denied access to reading, writing, and formal interactions with letters. Yet, they found powerful alternatives to preserve and transmit their legacies. These constraints often led to the most compelling forms of creativity and storytelling.⁠
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In celebration of Juneteenth National Independence Day, curator Jada Simone Haynes will lead a conversation on the objects that inspired and are on display in Black Memory Scholar. This tour is meant to emphasize the importance of memory work and the preservation of Black communities, legacies, and stories within and outside “GLAM” institutions.⁠
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Juneteenth Tour: Black Memory Scholar with Jada Simone Haynes⁠
Thu, Jun 18, 2026⁠
1:30pm–3:00pm PT⁠
In-Person at Letterform Archive⁠
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https://letterformarchive.org/shop/juneteenth-tour-black-memory-scholar/
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Created in his off-hours on the weekend and in part inspired by the modern artists of his day, Jack Stauffacher’s exquis...
06/11/2026

Created in his off-hours on the weekend and in part inspired by the modern artists of his day, Jack Stauffacher’s exquisite prints demonstrate what wood type can do when released from its role in traditional communication and used to explore letters as pure form. In the resulting abstract, dynamically composed, often lushly layered prints, Stauffacher reclaims typography as a subject fit for the gallery wall.⁠
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Take a look at the first comprehensive look at Stauffacher’s striking typographic experiments, featured in Only on Saturday: The Wood Type Prints of Jack Stauffacher.:https://letterformarchive.org/shop/only-on-saturday-the-wood-type-prints-of-jack-stauffacher/
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Michael Bowen (art director); Allen Cohen (editor); Mark DeVries (illustrator); Rick Griffin (Illustrator); Rick Grimsha...
06/09/2026

Michael Bowen (art director); Allen Cohen (editor); Mark DeVries (illustrator); Rick Griffin (Illustrator); Rick Grimshaw (Illustrator); Paul Kagan (Illustrator), San Francisco Oracle, no. 7, United States, 1967 ⁠

Known for its bold sans-serif typefaces, crisp asymmetrical grids, and clean use of negative space, the Bauhaus emerged ...
06/07/2026

Known for its bold sans-serif typefaces, crisp asymmetrical grids, and clean use of negative space, the Bauhaus emerged as the forebearer of a new look—one that seized the tools of mass production in the creation of a radical new art. Today, just over 100 years after the Bauhaus’s opening in 1919, the school’s visual hallmarks have come to define modernity as it appears on the printed page.⁠
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Tap this image from the link in our bio to read more about Bauhaus Typography at 100 from Letterform Archive.⁠
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Travel back to the Golden Age of exploration with Hotel Retro, a collection of 330 full-color stickers faithfully reprod...
06/06/2026

Travel back to the Golden Age of exploration with Hotel Retro, a collection of 330 full-color stickers faithfully reproducing the vibrant luggage labels that globetrotters once pasted onto their steamer trunks as souvenirs from the world's grandest hotels. ⁠
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Drawn from our collection, these stunning examples of graphic design — spanning art deco opulence to Swiss Style minimalism — celebrate the artistry of a bygone era while restoring the labels to their original adhesive purpose for a new generation to enjoy.⁠
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Purchase your copy today: https://letterformarchive.org/shop/hotel-retro-vintage-luggage-labels-from-tokyo-to-buenos-aires-330-travel-ephemera-stickers/
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Black Memory Scholar: The Language of Storytellers Juneteenth Tour ⁠⁠Thursday, June 18th, 2026 ⁠⁠1:30-3:00pm PT⁠⁠In-Per...
06/05/2026

Black Memory Scholar: The Language of Storytellers Juneteenth Tour ⁠
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Thursday, June 18th, 2026 ⁠
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1:30-3:00pm PT⁠
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In-Person at Letterform Archive ⁠
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Celebrate Juneteenth, meet the curator of our pop-up exhibition, and interact with inspiring objects that didn't make the show’s final cut.⁠
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In celebration of Juneteenth National Independence Day, curator Jada Simone Haynes will lead a conversation on the objects that inspired and are on display in Black Memory Scholar. This tour is meant to emphasize the importance of memory work and the preservation of Black communities, legacies, and stories within and outside “GLAM” institutions.⁠
⁠
https://letterformarchive.org/shop/juneteenth-tour-black-memory-scholar/
⁠

Jean Midolle, Oeuvres de Jean Midolle: Escritures Modernes, France, 1834–1835⁠⁠Jean Midolle was a 19th-century French ca...
06/04/2026

Jean Midolle, Oeuvres de Jean Midolle: Escritures Modernes, France, 1834–1835⁠
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Jean Midolle was a 19th-century French calligrapher and graphic artist whose enigmatic portfolio of fantastical lettering styles continues to fascinate designers and historians. Letterform Archive’s Tholenaar Collection includes the Spécimen des écritures modernes comprenant les romaines flueronées, gothiques noveles, fractures, françaises, anglaise, italienne et allemande, one of several Midolle portfolios printed in the mid-1830s by Frédéric Emile Simon at Strasbourg. ⁠

Read From the Collection: The Alphabet Lithographs of Jean Midolle: https://letterformarchive.org/news/jean-midolle/
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