David Shields, Wood Type Historian (Tiny Typecast)

David Shields is the preeminent expert on the history of wood type, and currently the chair of the Department of Graphic Design at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, where he teaches design. David previously taught at the University of Texas at Austin, where he was the Design Custodian of the Rob Roy Kelly American Wood Type Collection. David has engaged in extensive studies of the history of wood type production in America and Europe, as well as actively using historical type in printing. He produced the reproduction edition of American Wood Type: 1828–1900.

His work provides an invaluable tool to historian and to printers, by helping people track down the provenance of type and re-assemble sets of type that have been scattered. By educating people about historic wood type, he makes it more likely that it will continue to be cherished, retained, studied, and used. David is also always looking for the people behind the type. David’s research has helped him identify the people who worked in many wood-type companies, and even tie particular workers to fonts of type.