Museum Founder - Louis E. Crandall

The world ended 500 years of letterpress printing in the 1940s, the same decade that Louis Eugene Crandall, at the age of fourteen, began hand setting type at Strauch's Print Shop in Mesa, Arizona. His love for printing and the graphic arts have continued throughout his life. While completing his education at Arizona State University he managed the letterpress print shop of the Tempe Daily Newspaper in Tempe, Arizona.

Due to his intense interest in printing, he learned rapidly and spent many hours setting type for all kinds of printing jobs. He composed complicated forms using lead slugs, riglets, furniture and copper rule to build all types of business forms including statements, invoices and ledgers. Louis was not only a typesetter but also became an accomplished pressman during his employment at the Daily News.

It was during his employment at the newspaper that he married Mabel Jane Austin on July 9, 1950. Shortly thereafter he moved on to manage the Central Printing Company, a small job shop in Phoenix, Arizona.

His next employment was in the art department of Arizona Public Service Company, where he labored as a commercial artist. There he designed and constructed branch office displays.

He opened the Louis Crandall Art Studio in Phoenix in 1953. Soon he received a contract to produce all of the ads for the Mountain States Tel. and Tel. Company Yellow Pages Directories. The account grew rapidly to include Arizona, New Mexico, and part of Utah. At one time he and his staff produced all the ads in the Arizona, New Mexico and Utah Telephone Directories.

At the age of 28 Louis designed and built Legend City. One half the size of Disneyland, the theme park was enjoyed by thousands of visitors annually. Legend City operated for many years before its sale to the Salt River Project. Today the site houses their corporate headquarters.

Louis moved to Provo in 1964 with his wife Mabel and their five children. There he organized and operated a successful and respected advertising and public relations agency. Over the years he produced advertising for Brigham Young University and for nineteen years directed advertising, printing and art for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Murdock Travel, The Osmonds, Utah County, Provo City and many others. Currently his clients include the City of Provo, Utah National Parks Council - BSA, Far West Bank, and PATA (Pacific Asia Travel Association).

Louis and Mabel traveled extensively throughout the world and have guided thirty-eight world tours. Twenty-seven of their tours have been to the Holy Land (Israel and Egypt) with the remaining balance to China, Europe and Alaska.

Since Mabel's passing away, Mr. Crandall married Marie Creviston of Provo. Together they operate the Crandall Historical Printing Museum.

Mr. Crandall has been collecting antique printing equipment since 1954. His belongings include presses, type cabinets, stones, paper cutters and other period printing equipment. These historical items are displayed in his printing museum at 275 East Center Street, Provo, UT.