Seventy years ago, an aspiring young publisher could make up to 100 copies of important announcements, newsletters, or other documents, by way of the hectograph. The process is described here in the August 1949 issue of Boys’ Life magazine.

Back in the day, acquiring all of the needed parts was simple, as they were available at any office or school supply store.  Unfortunately, they are not available in prepackaged form any longer, but at our website, we have have instructions for making yours at home, and the process is quite simple.

For those not familiar with the process, the hectograph was the simpler version of the mimeograph.  The image is drawn or typed on paper using special hectograph ink.  The ink can come from a special sheet of carbon paper or from markers, and both are still readily available.  This image is then transferred to a gelatin surface, and from there it’s transferred to the sheet you want to print.  The prefix “hecto” means 100, but in practice, you’ll probably get a bit fewer copies.