The possibility of a Museum of Fonts

[William]

I have been thinking that it would be a good idea if there were a Museum of Fonts which could archive, in conjunction with one or more museums or libraries, copies of the various versions of the Font Creator program and copies of fonts produced by various fontmakers using the Font Creator program.

Any fontmaker who so chose could deposit copies of his or her fonts, making a choice as to whether copies could be made available to the public and making a choice as to whether there should be a time delay before a font is made public.

For example, someone could produce a font now as a commercial font yet deposit a copy with, say, a ten year time delay specified, then the font would be safely archived for the future at the museum.

For example, someone could produce a font now and deposit it now for immediate access by the public.

There could perhaps also be the facility of a Typecaster like the one at http://www.p22.com whereby graphics using a font could be produced, maybe on a variable background as at http://www.p22.com or, if the fontmaker so chooses, upon a plain background.

The large font companies have their own font libraries with on-going curator facilities. It would, I feel, be a good development if there were one or more museums or libraries which conserve fonts made by individuals as a record of the fontmaking culture of our times. These fonts need not be entirely those made with Font Creator, yet Font Creator and fonts made using it would be a significant part of the collection due to the accessibility to fontmaking that the Font Creator program provides to individuals making their own fonts.

The museum or library could mount exhibitions of fonts, both specimens of alphabets and pages showing the fonts in use.

How do readers feel about this idea? Would you welcome the opportunity for the fonts you produce to be archived and made available in a museum or library?

Maybe there is a museum or library somewhere doing this already. Does anyone know please?

Is there anyone reading this who works in a museum or library who could, if there is a positive response to this thread by fontmakers, initiate the process of such a worldwide museum of fonts please?

Quite where the balance would exist as between whether the High-Logic company would organize such a facility or whether it would be organized entirely independently by an existing museum or library or whether there could be some form of participation between the two would depend upon the views of the High-Logic company and of the museums and libraries. The Gallery forum provides a good facility for those that choose to use it, yet the fonts are only available while the webspaces to which links are provided continue to be available. Depositing a font at a museum would, hopefully, conserve it for the future.

William Overington

[William]

I am wondering whether the Museum of Fonts could be started in these forums.

Does the software system which High-Logic uses to produce the forums allow a new forum named Museum of Fonts to be added, perhaps directly below the Gallery forum, with the facility that a person making a post can upload a copy of the font as an attachment to the post?

If so, could you possibly add a Museum of Fonts forum with a description such as follows please?

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Museum of Fonts

A collection of fonts produced using Font Creator, presented as an exhibition.

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The idea would be that running threads about fonts with notes, comments and reviews would still be in the Gallery as at present, the Museum of Fonts would contain short posts each presenting a font as an attachment. The person posting could update the attachment as desired. Examples of the font in use, such as in a bmp or a pdf could also be uploaded to the Museum. This would then form a permanent collection of fonts regardless of whether webspaces of individual contributors come and go. In time, the Museum of Fonts might gather many fonts and copies be archived by libraries and museums around the world.

William Overington