Salsedo Press

Salsedo Press Offset and digital printing, union shop, employee owned cooperative. In business since 1969.

Chris BurkeThe lengthy process of donating Salsedo Press' archives to the Chicago History Museum is nearly complete. I b...
06/21/2023

Chris Burke

The lengthy process of donating Salsedo Press' archives to the Chicago History Museum is nearly complete. I began assembling our posters in September 2021, right after we closed shop. Unfortunately I suffered a severe sciatic nerve tear almost right after that while moving boxes and old equipment up in the mezzanine---it's healing, but very slowly.
Very fortunately two people I hadn't known at all, Ron Kollath and Brad Freeman, volunteered to help with the project. It was nasty work, dirty, heavy and it was usually either too hot or too cold there. This couldn't have happened without their help. I want to thank them both, and will hereby sponsor their nominations for induction into the Great Pantheon of Unrecognized Worker-Heroes.
We also sent several hundred prints of our posters to our longtime friends and comrades at the Center for the Study of Political Graphics in LA.
Two CHM staff members also came over to my house last December and did a two hour oral history interview with me about Salsedo's 52 year history. Thanks Jojo and Elena!

In April of 1973 we founded Salsedo Press in Chicago, named in honor of Andrea Salsedo, a radical Italian immigrant pri...
06/02/2023

In April of 1973 we founded Salsedo Press in Chicago, named in honor of Andrea Salsedo, a radical Italian immigrant printer.
On 25 February 1920, Salsedo, who was working in the Canzani Printshop in New York City as a typesetter at the time, was arrested and brought to the Bureau of Investigations (FBI predecessor) offices on Park Row during the Palmer Raids. Salsedo was suspected of being one of the writers of the incendiary radical pamphlet Plain Words. At the BOI offices Salsedo was harshly interrogated, was denied the right to contact his lawyer and his family, and was held incommunicado in the offices for eight weeks. On 3 May 1920, his body was found on the pavement in front of the BOI offices: he been thrown from the 14th floor.
Salsedo's death happened just two days prior to Sacco and Vanzetti's arrest.
I thought this was very cool---in 2017, 97 years after Salsedo's death and 44 years since the founding of Salsedo Press, we received this message on our website from Italy:
"Hello, I read on Wikipedia that your company is called Salsedo in honor of my great-grandfather, Andrea Salsedo
I thought about writing to know you, thank you and tell you that I am very honored.
My grandmother, Silvestra Salsedo, was very small at the time, and she never told me much about that time. It must have been very hard for her to lose her father so suddenly. I also met my great-grandmother, Andrea Salsedo's wife, but she never wanted to talk about that time spent in America.
I'm honored to have met you"

01/12/2023

Salsedo Press: Helping Build Solidarity in Chicago and Beyond

Closing Reception: March 3rd from 6-9pm

URI-EICHEN Gallery 2101 S Halsted Chicago IL 60608
January 13th through March 3rd, 2023

Open by appointment outside of receptions.

Come see many of the posters and learn the history of Salsedo. They were worker owned and operated for 52 years until their closing in 2021. Their history encompassed everything in between those years, from the Hampton assassination in the Nixon era through the Trump administration-- serving the Women's movement, the ongoing struggle for Immigrant Rights, LBQT and Gender Equality, the Harold Washington elections, the anti-Iraq war movement, Occupy, BLM, and many, many more.

Masks will be required, and an air cleaner is installed in the space. Snacks and drinks as usual, just ask that you consume outside!

Open by appointment outside of receptions.

Questions and to schedule an appointment? Email: [email protected] or call (312) 852-7717

Address

3139 W Chicago Avenue
Chicago, IL
60622

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

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