South Street Seaport Museum’s 19th century-style letterpress printers, Bowne & Co. offers a monthly opportunity for you to learn about letterpress printing and get hands-on with the Museum’s working printing history and graphic arts collection the Fresh Prints open house at 211 Water Street in the South Street Seaport Historic District.

Resident printers at Bowne & Co. create bespoke designs produced using the Seaport Museum’s extensive working collection of historic printing presses, moveable type, illustrations, and additional equipment. Bowne & Co. is a prime example of how the Seaport Museum is dedicated to preserving New York’s history as well as the skills and expertise it took to run a turn-of-the-century business like this. bowne.co

Fresh Prints Open House | First Thursday of Every Month | 6–7:30pm | 211 Water Street | Free

Come to Bowne & Co. for a one-of-a-kind New York experience! These monthly open houses will feature a breadth of printing equipment that you will be invited to use. You’ll get to see how the designers at Bowne lock up limited edition designs that showcase some of the more eccentric parts from the Seaport Museum’s printing and graphic arts collection. 

Established in 1775, the original Bowne & Co., Inc. was one of New York’s oldest printing firms. The Bowne & Co. that you can experience today at the Seaport Museum is an offshoot of the original and continues the age-old tradition of job (or small batch) printing. 

Advanced registration is encouraged for these workshops but walkups will be accommodated as possible. Anyone ages 12 and up is welcome. All participants get to take home the items they print during the afternoon. Can’t stay the full 90-minutes? No problem! Leaving a bit early is fine, but you might miss out on taking home something special. seaportmuseum.org/fresh-prints

If you don’t see tickets available for a specific first-Thursday date, pre-registration for that date has reached capacity. You are welcome to try joining the event as a walkup but space is not guaranteed. These popular workshops fill quickly, so register today!

Upcoming 2024 Open Houses:

Thursday, July 11, 6pm

Thursday, August 1, 6pm

Thursday, September 5, 6pm

Thursday, October 3, 6pm

Please note the July Fresh Prints open house has shifted to Thursday, July 11, at 6pm, due to the Independence Day holiday. Open houses will continue through Fall 2024.

Extend Your Visit

This event occurs outside of the Seaport Museum’s regular open hours. Access to the Museum’s historical ships and introduction galleries is not included with this free event. To see more that the Museum has to offer, ask Museum staff about our Wednesday–Sunday, 11am–5pm, Pay What You Wish General Admission tickets when you check in.

Pay What You Wish General Admission tickets include access to all current exhibitions on view in the introduction gallery space at 12 Fulton Street and access to the 1885 tall ship Wavertree. Free timed tickets for a tour of the 1908 lightship Ambrose are available separately at no additional cost. seaportmuseum.org/general-admission

About Bowne & Co.

The original Bowne & Co. was established by Robert Bowne in 1775 and is one of New York’s oldest printing firms. In 1975, the 19th-century-style print shop that you can visit today was created to honor the Bicentennial of Bowne & Co., Inc., in partnership with the South Street Seaport Museum and the Bowne Foundation. Today, it weaves together New York’s maritime and printing heritage through the Bowne & Co. Printing Office––a workspace that continues the age-old tradition of job (or small batch) printing using historic presses from South Street Seaport Museum’s working collection––and Bowne & Co. Stationers, a 19th century-style gift emporium selling a carefully-curated selection of unique wares including books, stationery, and oddities, as well as house-designed and -printed paper goods. seaportmuseum.org/bowne-co-stationers