Print is far from dead. But print is being threatened.

Ken Kulakowsky is a historian, an advocate and a guardian of everything related to the art of lettering, typesetting and lithograph. Currently, Kulakowsky is looking for a new location from which to continue his crusade.

"Printing is something that people need to know about," said Kulakowsky. "I'm really into the history of printing because it has been such a major part of everyone's history. Everyone should know about printing, without hitting the print button. It's a craft that needs to be maintained. We're trying to keep the craft of printing alive."

One of the founding members of .918 Club at Heritage Press Museum, Kulakowsky is trying to save the education center that bears his name, the Ken Kulakowsky Center for Letterpress & Book Arts, located at 117 Parkside Ave., Lancaster. In August of 2023, Kulakowsky's landlord, Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology, informed him that his Memorandum of Understanding was being terminated effective July 1 of this year.

Thaddeus Stevens is planning to use the 2,500-square-foot building at 117 Parkside Ave. as transition space during upcoming construction.

"Hopefully, someone has a place where we can relocate to," said Kulakowsky. "We have a couple of Realtors looking for us. I hope they'll come up with something soon. We could share space with other organizations. We pride ourselves on being hands-on."

Equipped with 10 floor model presses and 15 tabletop presses, the Ken Kulakowsky Center for Letterpress & Book Arts is a unique space to learn about printing and its history. The education center serves as a workshop for school groups, field trips, college classes, technical schools and the general public, as well as offering Boy Scouts of America (BSA) a way to complete the requirements for its graphic arts merit badge.

"We want to bring in students and the community to show them how printing is done," said Kulakowsky, who taught graphic arts in Chester County for 35 years. "Everybody goes out of here with a great experience."

The best-case scenario for the Ken Kulakowsky Center for Letterpress & Book Arts moving forward would be to locate a new, affordable and suitable space soon. The worst-case scenario doesn't currently seem to be under consideration.

"You need space to be hands-on," said Kulakowsky. "We're going to have to pay rent. We have to try to cover the cost of our materials. We might have to do more advertising to schools. Everything right now is word of mouth."

"In the worst-case scenario, we'd have to put everything in storage until we find a place," he continued. "Right now, anything is possible. I'm hoping we don't have to close. It would be a real shame."

The .918 Club at Heritage Press Museum began operating the Ken Kulakowsky Center for Letterpress & Book Arts in the one-time Naval Reserve Armory Building in 2015.

"This letterpress printing struck a chord with me on the first day of eighth grade when I walked into my graphic arts class," said Kulakowsky. "Something just clicked with me like, 'This is really cool!' When I was a senior, my graphic arts teacher said to me, 'What are you going to do after high school? You need to be a teacher.'"

To contact Kulakowsky, email him at HeritagePressMuseum@gmail.com.