Crandall Printing Press

Last week instead of going to class we attended the Crandall Printing Press on Center Street, in Provo. Like I have said in previous blog entries, I really enjoyed the opportunity that we have in this class, to get outside of the class room and learn about things that I would never have the opportunity to learn about otherwise. I have run past the Crandall Printing Press museum quit frequently and noticing that it is quite a small building I assumed that the tour would be relatively short. To my surprise the tour was two and a half hours! The information was relayed through 3 experienced men; two printers, and one historian. These men have given of their time and their savings to make this knowledge known to everyone. Similar to the bible seminar in the special collections, they focused on how things have been “published” over time. What I enjoyed, was learning about the Gutenburg press. Not only did we get to hear about the press, we were able to reenact everything in it. We made moveable type and we even printed a page of the bible in latin! We also learned about the founding fathers and how they produced the Declaration of Independence. What especially interested me was learning about how the Book of Mormon was published. The basement was my favorite room and was modeled after the original printing press where the first 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon was produced. I was touched as these men bore their testimonies of the divine help that was necessary to complete this impossible task in such a short amount of time. I was touched and it helped me understand and helped strengthen my testimony of the importance of the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon contains a FULNESS of the gospel. I know that everything that happened, including the legacy of the Johannas Gutenburg, was in preparation for the publishing of the Book of Mormon. This opportunity to attend this museum lecture has helped me to understand and gain a greater appreciation for God’s hand in bringing forth the precious book of truth that we have, The Book of Mormon.