The Initiative for the Book’s makerspace, the Scarlet Letterpress, welcomes students, faculty, staff and any New Jersey resident to use our collection of metal and wooden type on our Showcard (tabletop, roller) press and two Book Beetles (downward plate presses). Our Scarlet Letterpress makerspace also offers typewriters, parchment, book binding materials, paper making materials, ink making materials, and more analogue technologies of print making and book history. Our collection of materials and technologies is ever-growing, so please stop by to see what’s new!

Please get in touch with us if you would like to visit our workspace or talk about our resources.

We are located in Room 309 of Murray Hall – College Avenue, New Brunswick.

Fill out this Google form: https://go.rutgers.edu/zgir0x95 if you would like your class to visit the Scarlet Letterpress or have fellows of the Rutgers Book Initiative visit your class.

The Scarlet Letterpress’s Beginning

On Election Day, 2023, 120 people crowded into Rutgers’s new humanities makerspace, the Scarlet Letterpress, to learn to print on a vintage press, bind their own notebook, make typewriter art, or examine old books for clues to the people who owned them.

Students, faculty, and community members each walked away with their own handmade copy of a poem by Evie Shockley, Distinguished Professor of English and a finalist for the National Book Award.

How It’s Going

The Scarlet Letterpress continues to host events and offer a space of creation and learning for its community. Below are photos from various events that have allowed students, faculty, employees, and visitors from beyond Rutgers University to enjoy using our materials and resource to make and learn about print making and book history.