Handmade History3 Nov 2025

Episode 23: Mimeographs & More

This episode is brought to you by our Patreon page: visit patreon.com/handmadehistorypodcast and sign up to get our free posts! You'll be the first to know when an episode is live. Explore more on each topic with videos, photos, and links to research rabbit holes.

This week also marks the launch of our first collaboration: the Wild Pansy Stumpwork Stitch Along! Pre-order your kit to make a beautiful stumpwork pansy designed by Melissa Galbraith of MCreativeJ. A PDF pattern is also available. Both include an exclusive history article from Handmade History. Then, join us for a stitch along in March. Visit MCreativeJ to pre-order your Wild Pansy Stumpwork Kit or PDF pattern today!

This week, we are talking about the mimeograph and other defunct print technology, including spirit duplicators, hectographs, and of course, the Gocco.

Did you know that an embroidery transfer method called pouncing inspired Thomas Edison to invent the first-ever copy machine, a flatbed mimeograph? Or that Allied airmen who plotted the Great Escape used food tins and gelatin from Red Cross rations to create a hectograph to copy maps and forged papers? Learn all this and more in this episode.

You'll find out how the mimeograph, a favorite tool of 1930s zinesters, evolved, and how to make a master for a spirit duplicator. You'll hear gems from a 1960s secretary training course, too. Plus, relive the glory days of early craft blogging as we chronicle the attempt to Save Gocco!

Show notes and sources here: https://tinyurl.com/4s3fktuw

Have a question, comment, or idea for a future episode? Email us at handmadehistoryhosts@gmail.com.

Visit our website at handmadehistorypodcast.com for more information.

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