Aubry becomes the first woman to run the letterpress print shop in its 140-year history

NASHVILLE, Tenn., May 2, 2019 - As Hatch Show Print, one of the oldest letterpress print shops in North America, celebrates its 140th anniversary this year, the Nashville institution does so under the leadership of newly promoted Shop Manager and Designer-Printer Celene Aubry. She is the first woman to be promoted to this role.

Aubry joined the Hatch Show Print staff in 2012, when former Hatch Master Printer Jim Sherraden—whose 30-year tenure at the print shop is credited for its revival and continued relevance—hired her to be his eventual successor. Aubry coordinated the shop’s move from Lower Broadway to its new, expanded location at the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum. Aubry also guided the shop’s embrace of an educational mission in which students and adult learners alike become familiar with letterpress printing and with the shop’s long history. Seven years later, Aubry manages Hatch Show Print, and the shop is in this most productive incarnation to date.
 
Aubry and her team of designer-printers have as their motto “preservation through production.” A variation on that theme, “preservation through education,” informs an ever-growing staff of educators, who work with visitors eager to learn and willing to get their hands inky. The shop prints more than 200,000 posters per year and offers nearly 2,000 public tours and educational programs. Aubry’s staff of seventeen provides more products, services and experiences than ever.
 
As a historic holding of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Hatch Show Print is sustained by its continuous production of letterpress-printed posters and custom-design services. Though the shop’s traditions and techniques have their roots in the 19th century, the shop has used the tools of the digital age to provide book and magazine designs, packaging, clothing and a Snapchat campaign. From reprints of posters for Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash (available in the museum store), to restrikes of historic blocks, to the show posters made for contemporary artists including Rosanne Cash and Beyoncé, Hatch Show Print is making and preserving history every day.
 
As Hatch Show Print celebrates its 140th anniversary this year, Aubry is keenly aware of the legacy she has been entrusted with upholding.
 
“Every day in the shop, we are reminded of the pride the Hatch family took in their work,” Aubry says. “We see their craftsmanship, their attention to detail, and their style, not only in historic prints, but in the incredible collection of carved blocks and type, the tools they chose to use and maintain, and their business records, which detail their dealings with clients over the three generations they owned the shop. They set the bar very high, Jim raised it higher, and I am honored and excited to shepherd this venerable institution into the future.”

To learn more about the history of Hatch Show Print and its 140th anniversary programming, visit HatchShowPrint.com.

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Contact:
Zoe Chichelo      (615) 577-7749       ZChichelo@CountryMusicHallofFame.org
 
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About Hatch Show Print
Founded by brothers Charles and Herbert Hatch, Hatch Show Print opened in Nashville in 1879. For much of the 20th century, the shop’s vibrant posters served as a leading advertising medium for Southern entertainment, and included work for many members of the Grand Ole Opry such as Bill Monroe, Minnie Pearl and Ernest Tubb, and for rock & roll greats such as Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry. Thousands of posters and billboard-size advertisements were printed for traveling vaudeville and minstrel shows, circuses and carnivals barnstorming across the country. In 1992, Hatch Show Print became a historic property of the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum. Today, Hatch Show Print is a thriving letterpress poster and design shop in downtown Nashville, with seven full-time designer-printers on staff. The shop creates and prints 500 to 600 poster jobs every year for clients ranging from Mumford & Sons and Willie Nelson to brands such as Fossil, Taschen and the U.S. Postal Service.
 
For more information about tours or the history of the shop, visit HatchShowPrint.com.