. >> my name is alex cristie. i'm an author, printer, and journalist. my grandfather worked for the mck mckenzie type foundry. i want to share with you some of the history to illustrate the history san francisco shares with this trade. as you have heard in the introduction, these firms that are applying for recognition today are the successor firms that have 100-year history in the city of san francisco, but what's less known is san francisco has always been and continues to be one of the world's major centers of printing and fine book production. it goes back to before the gold rush. printing started here in 1846 when sam branon disembarked with a hand press to start a newspaper. the story goes that a printer tailor so loved books that when the earthquake hit, he buried his most precious volumes in his garden. by the 1920s, our predecessor was so much entrenched that they laid the foundation for the rest. in 1926, fresh out of high school, my grandfather apprenticed to the previous company. what i want to stress and what i found interesting looking thr