November 16 | 6–9pm | 207–211 Water Street | Free
Step into the Seaport Museum’s 19th century-style letterpress printing shop Bowne & Co. to kick off the holiday season at our annual Wayzgoose––a 500-year-old printers’ tradition celebrating the changing of the seasons.
Join the Museum community for light refreshments as the printers of Bowne & Co. give you the opportunity to get hands-on with printing equipment from the Seaport Museum’s working collection and print your own holiday-themed works. For those looking to get a head start on holiday shopping, be the first to check out this season’s delightful selection of holiday gifts, cards, and other seasonal paper goods at the Bowne & Co. gift emporium.
The charming 19th-century-style letterpress printing shop offers the perfect setting to continue the Wayzgoose tradition. This event provides a special opportunity for printers to share the fruits of their labor with colleagues and friends, to raise a glass in celebration, and to reflect on the year and the joys of the upcoming holiday season.
Registration is encouraged for this free event but walkups will be accommodated as possible.
Please Note This is a Past Program, Event, or Activity
You are viewing an archived page for a program, event, or activity that has already taken place. In most cases these pages are no longer actively maintained and because of that may contain inaccurate or out-of-date information. These pages are left publicly viewable to preserve institutional memory and to allow the public to learn more about the types of programs, activities, and content created and made available by the South Street Seaport Museum throughout its history.
A Brief History of Wayzgoose
Legend has it that when Johannes Gutenberg and his team completed the first edition of the Bible, he invited them to his countryside residence for a celebratory dinner where he served a roast goose—they went away to eat a goose, giving rise to the term Wayzgoose.
Bowne & Co.
Bowne & Co. is New York’s oldest operating business under the same name. Using seven historic presses from the Museum’s working collection, our resident printers continue the age-old tradition of job (or small batch) printing, creating individual designs using custom plates or historic fonts.