Crandall Printing Museum

Before going to the Crandall Printing Museum, I have to admit that my expectations weren't high--I'd never heard of or noticed the museum on Center Street before. I had no idea that the museum held a Gutenberg press, a Benjamin Franklin press, or a press like that of what the Book of Mormon was printed on. While traveling from room to room in the museum, my thoughts wandered to the evolution of printing. In just 700 years, the world has gone from hand printing, letter for letter, Bibles in Latin to today, where I can quickly type letters into my computer and print them out in seconds. The evolution of printing really is quite amazing--and the flow of history makes even more sense after learning what I did today at the museum.

It makes sense to me the way that the Bible came about--that men back in the 1200's were inspired to come up with a creation to print Bibles for the common man. Printing presses spread throughout Europe, making Bibles more easily attainable to common people. Columbus discovered America, America was colonized, and Benjamin Franklin came up with another genius printing press invention. Shortly after, the Erie Canal was created and a small press established just in time for the foundation of the church and the printing of the Book of Mormon in northern New York. I think what struck me most about the visit through the museum was when Brother Crandall bore his testimony as a printer of his knowledge that it was virtually impossible for the Book of Mormon to have been established without the Lord's help. This is just another witness to me of the divinity, reality, and truth of the Book of Mormon.