Metal Plates
Woodcarving is an easy way to create print blocks, but not the most durable. Over many printings the pressure of the press grinds down the wood surface and ruins the crisp lines of the image. So while covers for specific issues of Towson University newspapers used wood blocks, images that would be printed in very large volumes, or across many publications, would be created from zinc or aluminum metal.
Making Metal Plates
To make metal printing plates, also called offset plates, an artist first draws the image they want to reproduce and makes a negative of that image. Next, a sheet of metal is coated with a thin layer of light-sensitive material. The negative image is then placed on top, and both are exposed to intense light. The light hardens the exposed parts of the metal, resulting in some areas of the plate that are harder than others. These areas will form the image.
When the metal has hardened, the negative is removed and the light-sensitive material is washed off the unexposed areas of the plate. This unexposed metal is then etched away using an acid solution. The light-hardened parts of the surface remain raised above the etched-away space, resulting in the finished printing plate.
The metal sheet is then mounted on a wooden block to make the printing process easier. When ink is applied to the completed block, the raised areas will create a clear, crisp copy of the original design.
The State Teachers College at Towson used this method to create many plates depicting school buildings - especially the iconic Stephen’s Hall clock tower - as well as illustrations, comics, campus maps, and sheet music, like the plate pictured above.
In 1941, the State Teachers College at Towson Alumni Association produced the book Seventy-Five Years of Teacher Education, documenting the school's 75-year history. Amoung contributions from faculty and staff, the school comissioned a number of metal plate printing blocks that depicted many different buildings the school had occupied.
The plate seen here features an illustration of the Atheneum Club Home, which the school occupied from 1873 to 1876. The Atheneum stood on the corner of Charles and Franklin streets in Baltimore City.
This plate was used at the start of Chapter Three, an account from E. Irene Little of the institution's move from its location on Carrollton and Layfayette avenues in Baltimore City, to its current location in Towson. On the left is an illustration of the Maryland State Normal School tower at Carrollton Avenue, and on the right is the iconic Stephen's Hall clocktower.
The start of Chapter Five featured a familiar sight to many modern Towson University students. This plate is an image of the entrance to Richmond Hall. Built in 1924, the buiding was named for former principal of the Maryland State Normal School, and today is still a dormatory for students.
This metal plate of the Stephen's Hall Tower saw multiple uses, and was featured on the cover of all the Tower Light newspapers during the 1939-1940 academic year.