Wood and cast lead printing block. The printing image is of a circular seal. The seal consists of two circles, a larger one forming the outer edge of the seal and a smaller one inside of the larger. Situated between the outer and inner circle is a ring of text that reads: "Pan-Messenian Federation of America, 1945." Inside the inner circle, at the center of the seal, is an image of the outline of the Greek region of Messenia. A line of text is enclosed in the outline of the region, but is too small to be legible.

Donated by John Damianos. The printing block was used in a linotype printing machine. Linotype presses allowed for the casting of entire lines to be printed at a time. Linotype printing was eventually succeeded by lithograph printing and computer typesetting during the 1960's and 1970's. This printing block was used by the Chicago-based, Greek Art Printing Company that was owned and operated by Aristotle Damianos. This print image was used for the printing of numerous materials for the Pan-Messenian Federation of America. The materials printed with the image include pamphlets of the minutes from the Sixth National Conferece of the Federation, membership application forms, letterhead, financial reports, by-law booklets, and an Achievement Award certificate that was awarded to Greek Art Printing Company owner and operator, Aristotle Damianos, recognizing him for work in Human Relations. The Pan Messenian Federation, now called the Pan-Messinian Federation of USA and Canada, is a non-profit organization founded in 1945. The Federation works to preserve Greek language, culture, and civilization in Canada and the United States, as well as strengthen the links between Greek-Americans and Greek-Canadians and thier home region of Messenia. Messenia is a region of Greece that makes up the southwest corner of the Peloponnese.

The content on this site is made available for research and education purposes only. The use of these materials may be restricted by law or the donor.

Any other use, such as exhibition, publication, or commercial use, is not allowed except by written permission in accordance with the NHM Image Rights and Reproduction Policy.

For questions on image rights and reproduction, please contact nhmcollections@hellenicmuseum.org