"All politics is local."This familiar phrase was often used by Massachusetts Congressman and Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill to drive home the point that representatives should never forget those that elect them. Like politics, printing has decidedly local roots. Pilgrims and other colonists brought presses to the new world well before America became a nation. Presses were among the first equipment put aboard the westward-bound covered wagons by U.S. pioneers. These machines were used to print handbills and flyers, as well as the local newspapers in nearly every town with more than a few hundred residents. As recently as the 1950s, virtually every hamlet boasted a printer who served the community as well as the nearby farmers and ranchers.
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