The National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, includes in its collections about one hundred printing devices. Many are full scale models of printing presses produced in the United States and Europe during the eighteen and nineteenth centuries. Others are as small as hand-held stamps.
The following introduction to and descriptions of the collection artifacts are copied and re-edited from sections of the publication: Elizabeth M. Harris, Printing Presses in the Graphic Arts Collection (Washington, D.C.: The National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, 1996). The original publication was illustrated with line drawings, and can be found digitally in the Smithsonian Libraries Catalog at the following address: https://siris-libraries.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?profile=liball&term=511998&index=BIB. This version of the publication offers color and black and white photographs of the machinery to further assist researchers.