Print Shop

LOCATION: Main Street

All Sites, Tours, Shows, and Rides at Historic Nauvoo are FREE!

As in our day, the printed word in Nauvoo was an essential element of the community. The Nauvoo Neighbor and The Times and Seasons, Nauvoo’s two newspapers, kept folks informed of current events and conveyed ideas and information. The Nauvoo Neighbor, a weekly publication, included local, national and world news, practical advice, and advertisements.

The Times and Seasons, the official publication of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, came out twice monthly and featured counsel from Church leaders, letters from missionaries, and revelations received by Joseph Smith. A printing office was once located at the corner of Bain and Water Streets, with Don Carlos Smith, brother of Joseph, and Ebenezer Robinson as publishers of The Times and Seasons. The Times and Seasons and Nauvoo Neighbor newspapers were both printed in this office. Later, John Taylor became the editor of both papers, and operated the business in this Main Street shop, beginning in May 1845.

The printing presses in the shop today are similar to those used here in Nauvoo in the 1840s. The process used for printing newspapers in Nauvoo was used for many years, well into the twentieth century. Printers worked very hard, setting all the type by hand, and printing only one copy at a time. The time required to produce one printing of 600 copies of The Nauvoo Neighbor was about 150 hours. In this shop, you’ll learn various printing terms and see the process of printing a newspaper in Old Nauvoo demonstrated from beginning to end.