Among the many collections of photographic history contained here in the Dumont Archives, one of our favourites is Brian Cere's portfolio of B/W exhibition prints from the Dumont Press Fifth Anniversary Celebration (with about 125 attendees, the first big Dumont gathering), held at the Chicopee farm in June of 1976. Brian produced a portfolio of 28  individually-numbered 11" x 14" archival black and white prints. Many of them have been scanned, restored and reproduced here on this website. Unfortunately, a number of those prints, numbered 22 to 28, disappeared about 14 years ago, and have not yet been found.

Since then, other copies of two of those photographs, #27 and more recently #25, have turned up and have been digitized to be included in the overall portfolio. Print #25 is still in the process of restoration, but we felt this might be a good opportunity to share it here, as a work in progress, and perhaps a bit of a prompt to help us locate the rest of the missing portfolio prints.

The dates below are gleaned from payroll books, attendance lists at meetings and from names mentioned in the meeting minutes. Many people had extended times away from Dumont and many others did essentially volunteer work which has not been and cannot be independently verified. A comprehensive listing of Dumont workers appears here.

1971

A group of visionaries and optimists are busy finding income producing work, a place to do it, getting that place ready for the work and navigating the business world. These people include Ed Hale, Trudy Chippier/ Harrington, Winnie Lang/Pietrykowski, Gary Robins, Bryan (Notes) Anderson, Ron Colpitts, Liz Willick, Rod Hay, Bill Aird, Peter Lang, and Brenda Wilson. Steve Izma warrants special mention. He is the only person who was actively engaged at both the beginning and at the end of Dumont, weathering all the waxing and waning of the optimism and changing visions over the years. He is still involved in this website, perhaps an indication that there will be only one way his involvement with Dumont will ever finally end.

June 6: Dumont Press Graphix is incorporated.

June 18: Trudy and Winnie become the first employees.

August 1:  The first Dumont Hiring Call. 

August 13: John Stafford leads the pack.

September 10: The first of the annual fall group of new staffers includes Rick Astley, Mike Canivet, Cynthia Campbell, Dan Chabot, Philippe Elsworthy, Ed Hale, Steve Izma, Liz Janzen, Peter Lang, Mike Mears, and Nick Sullivan.

October 8: Dan was having such fun that Diane Chabot joined us just after Phil left, having built all the light tables and other useful items.

November 26: Peter, John and Nick all go on sabbatical; we will see them again sometime in the future.

December 1: Rick departs after only a few months. 

1972

January: Short term employment for Gord Cassleman and Ken Hanley still leaves us short staffed.

February: Reinforcements arrive in the form of Bill Aird, Bob Driscoll, Rod Hay, and Bob Mason.

March: Mike Mears departs, replaced by Marty Pollack but only for a two week work term.

April: Trudy and Bob Driscoll depart while Liz Janzen and Bob Mason go on their sabbaticals. Bill Cino comes in to replace all four.

May: John Stafford rejoins the group.

August: Ed Hale moves on to the bright lights of Toronto.

September: Mass hiring for the upcoming year: Lesley Buresh, Ron Colpitts, Liz Willick, Mary Holmes, Evalina Pan, Gary Robins, Reevin Vinetsky, and Brenda Wilson comprise the bright-eyed group of eager workers. We did re-acquire a game hardened veteran in Nick (Savage) Sullivan to help show them the ropes. 

October: Having trained their replacements, both Dan and Diane Chabot leave along with Evalina who lasted only one month.

December: Cindy, Bill Cino, and Winnie depart while Mary goes on sabbatical.

1973

January: Candace Doff joins us and Liz Janzen returns.

February: More recruits in the form of Douglas Epps and Jan Johnson.

April: A cruel month sees Jan depart after only 30 days service, along with Reevin, Candace, and Nick Sullivan, while Liz also makes her final departure.

August: Rosco Bell, Janet Stoody, and Susan Phillips get hired while Mike Canivet goes on sabbatical. John Stafford says his final goodbyes.

September: The annual fall hiring brings in Ken Epps, Joanne Kennedy, Alice Mills, Alison Stirling, and Jann Van Horne. Susan leaves after only one month.

October: Murray Noll joins -- better late than never.

November: Bill Aird departs, replaced by the returning Bob Mason.

December: A cold winter begins with the departures of Rod Hay and Janet Stoody.

1974

January: Sue Calhoun comes in out of the cold.

February: Neither Joanne nor Jann fear the cold so both depart the warm but draughty shop.

May: Alison Stirling departs for a few years.

July: Ron and Liz depart.

September: The fall hiring flurry sees Mike Canivet and Mary Holmes return from their sabbaticals, joined by first timers Jane Harding, Doug Roberts, Carol Beam, and Michael Rohatynsky. Carol shows up in the minutes for the first time although she may well have been involved previously. The experienced Lesley Buresh and Alice Mills depart, leaving the new folks with big shoes to fill.

1975

March: Ken Epps begins a sabbatical while Mary Holmes departs.

September: Claire Powers is the only fall hire.

1976

January: Carol Beam and Doug Roberts leave for new adventures.

February: Ken Epps returns, joined by Linda Lounsberry.

March: Charlotte von Bezold brings in her unique style.

April: Sue Calhoun and Bob Mason depart.

May: Brenda Wilson leaves and is missed by all.

July: Murrray Noll departs for the nation's capital and continues typesetting for many more years.

September: The fall hire catches John Dufort, John Hofstetter, and Moe Lyons.

October: Not to be outdone, Bill Culp joins us.

December: Rosco Bell hears the call of the west and inexplicably heads to frozen Regina.

1977

January: Charlotte departs but is replaced by the returning Pete Lang and Kerrie Atkinson.

March: Pete and Kerrie depart after wintering at Dumont; Douglas Epps heads west.

April: Gary Robins begins a leave of absence.

September: The fall call for recruits brings in David Arnault, Barb Droese, Kae Elgie, and Lake Sagaris. Gary Robins ends his leave of absence but just cannot ignore the call of the west and heads in that direction.

1978

January: Another busy year begins with the departure of Claire Powers.

February: It continues with the departure of Lake Sagaris.

March: And the departure of Mike Canivet.

May: Then even more with the departures of Linda Lounsberry and John Dufort.

December: The final departure for the year is Ken Epps. A short term replacement arrives in the person of Jim Morton.

1979

January: Short term replacement Jim Morton leaves but Shirley Tillotson takes his place. Alison Stirling returns to the fold, after wandering awhile.

February: Michael Kelley joins the firm.

May: David Arsenault (better known as Jacob) leaves to become the renowned Australian author David Arnault.

June: Eliza Moore is hired. There is no September hiring spree but ...

December: The outflow of staffers continues with Michael Kelley, Jane Harding, John Hofstetter, Eliza Moore, and Michael Rohatynsky all leaving.

1980

January: Catherine Edwards joins us but Kae Elgie departs.

March: Pat Ferrin stays only this one month. Shirley Tillotson also departs, along with Bill Culp, but Barb Marshall bolsters the work force.

April: Diane Ritza is hired.

June: Barb Marshall ends a short three month stay.

August: Joe Szalai joins us along with Larry Caesar.

September: No hiring blitz this year, however Larry says goodbye after his month and Barb Droese ends her three years at Dumont.

1981

June: Ralph Reiner arrives.

July: Becky Kane arrives.

August: Alison Stirling departs for the second time and Karen Luks takes her place. Alison remains as a volunteer and frequent part-timer for several more years. 

September: Mary Spies is the only fall recruit. Ralph Reiner departs after only three months.

1982

January: Eliza Moore begins her second work term.

April: April Fool's Day sees the departure of Karen Luks ...

May: ... but Marie Koebel celebrates May Day in grand style by becoming a Dumonteer.

July: Diane Ritza becomes a part-time worker while Eliza ends her second work term.

1983

January: Bruce Andor rings in the New Year by getting hired.

March: Lisa Willms begins a short stint at Dumont.

July: Larry Caesar begins another period of employment.

September: Lisa's short time ends although she appears later as a part-timer.

December: Mary Spies switches to part-time for the foreseeable future and Larry ends his second go-round.

1984

March: Greg Meadows reverses the trend by starting as a part time worker and switching to full time in November.

July: Paul Hartford decides to spend the hot summer in the shop.

September: Paul leaves as the weather cools and is joined by Diane Ritza. Catherine Edwards hangs up her pica ruler but remains available to be called in whenever needed. This is also the last official month for Steve Izma although he remains a valuable resource and part-time worker until the end. 

October: Joe Szalai ends his full time employment but pops in occasionally afterwards.

1985

January: The paying work seems to be very uneven and unpredictable so people come and go as the work load changes. Mary Spies comes back part time until August and Catherine Edwards comes back, also part time, for January, February, March, and October.

March: Bruce Andor leaves after two years. Lin McInnes and Kathy Zinger sign up for full time work from March to August.

April: Greg Meadows leaves after only one year.

June: Pam Andrews gets part time work until August while both Debbie Connors and Madeleine Clin get to stay until October.

September: Lisa Willms comes back for three months of part time work. Cheryl Hendrickson gets hired full time.

August: Larry Caesar is hired a third time, possibly a record.

1986

The last year of the struggle. Work is intermittent and hard to schedule. By the fall, discussions have begun about winding up operations and disposition of the collective's assets.

Debbie Connors returns for some part time work in April. Annette Beingessner does some work in that month as well.

New part time workers include Leslie Millard (Feb., Mar., and April), Daryl Marquette (Mar., April, and May), and Rebekah Abra (May and June).

As for the remaining full timers, Larry Caesar's third work term ends in April.

Debra Elson is a new full time hire in May while Chris Bechtel works full time as a new hire only in September.

Experienced Kathy Zinger is back for a few months beginning in April and Joe Szalai comes back in August.

Guiding the ship all year long are Cheryl Hendrickson and long time stalwarts Becky Kane and Moe Lyons.

From September 1986 to April 1987 it is unclear whether people were paid for their work. It seems that those months were spent taking care of unfinished business and the income was used to pay operating expenses and back debts.

After April 1987, all work was essentially non-commercial, performed by volunteers without pay, but collecting money to pay for the overhead of the shop. We believe that such work continued until sometime in 1989, when the shop was converted to a photography studio by Steve, Brian Cere, and Paul Hartford. That arrangement continued until around 1996 when the lease was finally given up and all remaining Dumont property was moved out.

Some records of interest:

Steve's longevity, as previously noted.

Moe Lyons has the longest, mostly continuous tenure at Dumont. She began in September, 1976 and was there until the end. 

Annette Beingessner served the shortest amount of paid time at Dumont. On April 14, 1986 she worked 5 hours and made $25. However, the government stepped in and took 61 cents as her UIC dues so she ended up with $24.39 take home.

Jim Campbell owns another dubious record according to UIC. His period of employment as our shipper/receiver began in June 1970 and ended in September, 1979. We can hope he never had to explain exactly what he was shipping during his first year.  

Dumont started working on the Iron Warrior, a publicaiton of the Engineering Society, in 1981. During one memorable typesetting session in 1983, PC gremlins infiltrated the shop and somehow managed to alter references to 'he' and 'his' in an article to 's/he' and 'her/his'. This exercise in correct ideas did not go unnoticed by the editors of Iron Warrior who were not amused.

Staff meetings were a regular, if underappreciated, part of life at Dumont. As the accompanying minutes show, meetings dealt with a wide range of issues not found in more traditional workplaces, including the taking of minutes itself. There was no one person tasked with recording the meetings’ proceedings and the sample shown here was done apparently anonymously. One can only assume the attendees knew who the droll scribe was but he/she has not yet been identified by the website’s editors. Readers with better memories and fewer axes to grind are welcome to reveal their choice of culprit. Hint: it was someone at the meeting.

By 1973, the staff at Dumont felt it was desirable to unionize to show solidarity with the workers whose causes they espoused and supported through their efforts. As a worker-controlled enterprise, however, there were complications in the worker/employer relationship that conflicted with the rules governing traditional union organizing campaigns. 

Thanks to the legal acumen of Brian Iler, it was determined that an employees' association was a more appropriate vehicle to accomplish the staff's goals and on December 17, 1973 the Dumont Press Graphix Employees' Assocation was born.

Shortly thereafter, the staff decided that it was better to be affiliated with an actual union and sought to organize under the auspices of the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CNTU). A union charter was issued on March 24, 1974.

One of the first steps in establishing Dumont was securing the typesetting contracts that would make the enterprise viable. To this end, Dumont started negotiating in the fall of 1970 with The Chevron, WLU's Cord Weekly, U of Guelph's The Ontarion, and Conestoga College's The Spoke. The first issue of The Chevron to be produced at Dumont was on May 12, 1971. The first issue of The Spoke followed on Sept. 18 and the Cord Weekly on Sept. 28.

In the fall of 1968 the Federation of Students, led by president Brian Iler, took issue with the university's plans for a new student residence, Habitat 69, saying it was poorly designed and unliveable for students. A mock up of a typical room in the residence was set up in the campus centre followed by a picket line on the construction site. Nevertheless, the university went ahead with its plans for what is now known as the Ron Eydt Village, named after the then Student Village warden.

Funding for the library became a major issue for the Radical Student Movement in 1969. Despite a surplus in the university's budget, the share of funding for the library had not kept up with other funding priorities and the RSM alleged the administration favoured spending on capital projects at the expense of operations. The RSM ogranized a "study-in" at the library to protest the funding disparities. Despite it being a peaceful protest, Chevron managing editor Bob Verdun was arrested for disturbing the peace by banging on a door. 

In 1968, as opposition to the war in Vietman gathered strength globally, Waterloo's Radical Student Movement staged a symbolic burning of a dog to protest the American military's use of napalm. The demonstration set the authorities' hair on fire until it was revealed that the dog to be sacrificed was a hot dog.

Although this document and its introduction were pulled from Dumont's 1975 archives folder, The accompanying report from the Contracts Committee was actually written and presented a year earlier. Apparently, based on the strong suggestions from Bob Mason and Steve Izma, you can revisit history and learn from your strengths and challenges.

Although Dumont Press operated as a worker-owned and worker-controlled cooperative, the official operating structure was much more complicated than that. Indeed, the actual working model changed several times over the history of the shop. The documents attached here refer solely to the formal legal authority within the entity known as Dumont Press Graphix Limited. More astute observers will note, however, that Dumont, while always striving to be professional and progressive, was anything but formal.

As the staff at Dumont Press continued to develop as a collective unit, as skilled workers and service providers within a unique environment of shared ownership and shared responsibilities, they attracted a lot of interest and attention.

Managing a cooperative workplace without bosses, offering technical and production support to a number of alternative and community-based publishing projects, working to build solidarity and trust and common values both within the shop and in our own community was a huge agenda. Even when things were going well there were massive challenges. New ideas, extensive dialog, long meetings, passionate debates continuing late into the night (or until Last Call at the Station Hotel). We were, after all, trying to change the World.

Dumont Press was a progressive social/political phenomenon, stumbling sometimes, but for the most part trying to be the change we wanted to see. It was no surprise then that a number of writers, political analysts and historians would be interested in telling the tale, and assessing the achievements. One of the earlier attempts to document and understand the nature and dynamics of the Dumont collective came from a good friend of the shop, Terry Moore in 1975.

Terry never worked at the shop, but his proposal to compile an analytical history of Dumont Press offered a sound and thorough framework of the life and times and debates we were engaged in. Terry felt he was close enough to the shop and the staff to appreciate the problems we were faced with, but "sufficiently removed from the day-to-day struggle to be able to place specific problems within an overall context."

Terry was well-known and highly regarded, staff at Dumont were happy to participate. Although several interviews were conducted over the following year, the overall work (like so many other good ideas in all our lives) was never completed, and unfortunately, has now been lost. The accompanying document here is the initial proposal, which we felt was valuable for what it attempted to accomplish.

As the '70s were drawing to a close, the collective at Dumont Press found itself confronting an increasing number of significant challenges. On a financial level, some major ongoing contracts (most notably, the Chevron) had been lost, undermining economic stability, the new partnership with Between the Lines was unsteady, leading to additional cashflow pressures, and desktop publishing was looming as a new technological challenge.

In addition, staff turnover had led to inequities in both technical and organizational skills, the political landscape was shifting and factionalizing, and all of these things compromised working and interpersonal relationships, and ultimately eroded trust.

On the other hand, nobody ever figured it would be easy. The shop continued to hold a strong level of community support, and Dumont Press was seen as a valuable resource by activists and progressive organizations across the region and the country.

Solidarity may have faltered, and these were indeed difficult personal times for many of the Dumont staff, but a strong effort and extensive discussions to try to address the big issues. This report from a Dumont staff meeting in December 1979, along with related proposals and discussion papers, offers a handy overview of the challenges, and the options to be explored.

This story contains several digitally remastered documents, scanned from the originals in October 2020, and later edited solely for spelling and punctuation, and then reformatted for Web publication. Raw scans of the original documents are available on request from The Archivist.

Many people worked at the shop over the years, some for just a few days, others for several years. This list is compiled from Dumont’s admittedly sketchy payroll records. Our apologies for anyone we missed. If you can provide further information, please add it in the comments.

Although the early days of Dumont Press carried a lot of excitement, there was no shortage of challenges... not ever, really. This letter, written by Winnie Pietrykowski (Lang in those days) in Dumonts first year of operation, attempts to build and broaden the discussion of how to make it all work. It was written around March 1972 and scanned from the original document in January 2021, and then digitally remastered, edited solely for spelling and punctuation and reformatted for Web publication. PDF copies of the original document are available, from the Archivist. 

Throughout Dumont'd history, staff at the shop were engaged in ongoing discussions about how to create a workplace that was equitable, efficient, respectful, engaging, democratic and fulfilling. It didn't aleways work out. Differences in experience, technical skills, commitment, vision, a work ethic and personal situations all brought their own challenges into the collective. It wasn't always pretty, often reminiscent of your basic shared-housework debates, but on a somewhat larger scale.

Happily, Dumont's staffing complement included a number of innovative and energetic young activists hoping to put theory into practice in a worker-contolled environment, good people with a vision (or several, actually) who wanterd to build a strong community within a better world. This position paper, written by Mary Holmes in 1975, proses a process for crafting and building that greater vision.

This recently-unearthed document from the Dumont archives takes a look at the ongoing struggle (discussion, conflict, conundrum, concern?) between the needs of the individual and the needs of the collective. Yes, there were so many levels to our worklives together.

Written in 1975, it offers a fairly valuable and timely reflection on what we were trying to achieve together:

"I see no reason to despair of the shop. All of the people working here are good people trying to build something important to them. Of course we have plenty of problems, plenty of areas needing improvements, but then we're (so rumour has it) human. And we often forget that we are supportive of one another even if we aren't patting one another on the back. There is some way to go before we develop the trust where we can offer criticism without fear of hurting but it's not so impossible for the future. Since I began at the shop my life has never been so 'full', and despite the confusion, hopeful for the future. I don't see why that, at least, should change."

Never ones to lose sight of a great idea, the planning committee for Dumont's sixth anniversary celebrations came up with a unique and allegedly easy-to-organize proposal: "Last year's party was such a blast! Let's do it all over again!"

And so, the plan for a new series of annual festve frolics was announced, and soon consummated. Memories are hazy and the records are spotted as to how many years these recurring, time-insensitive Fifth Anniversary gatherings actually took place (perhaps there are t-shirts out there that might reveal the truth), but we do know that by 1981, common sense had again prevailed, and that year's anniversary gatherings were duly and correctly acknowledged as The Dumont Tenth.

Any excuse to get together for music, great food, sofyball and political struggle!...

When Dumont Press was first getting established, the criteria for employment was fairly broad and general. Working in a non-hierarchical environment was pretty new to all of us, we had lots to learn and figure out. This relatively unknown document emerged from the Dumont Archives recently, apparently written in early 1974 by the noted Lennonist scholar and paste-up specialist Anon. This is a digitally remastered document, scanned from the original in December 2020, edited solely for spelling and punctuation, and then reformatted for Web publication.

Commitment:  a process, a sometimes elusive goal, a way of working and being, an important component to any collective process. Process was a big deal to the staff at Dumont Press. This document was part of an ongoing discussion.

By Ken Epps

What better way to launch the first official history of Dumont Press Graphix than by handing it out as party favours at the big fifth anniversary celebration in June 1976. Five years was once a long time (when we were younger), and it seemed like an appropriate and opportune chunk of time to acknowledge and commemorate with a good kick-ass part and a bit of serious reflection. This documant covers the latter.

Written by a young, once-promising math scholar, lured astray by a band of rowdy, fun-loving socialist typesetters, this volume, Dumont – The First Five Years, was a critical success, establishing the author, a Mr. Kenneth Epps of Waterloo, as a promising historian and a fairly decent proofreader. This is a good read.

Recently unearthed from the dusty bins of the Dumont Press archives, these ancient docket sheets provide provide essential clues as to how the newly-formed collective tracked commercial clients and production workflow. It was all learn-as-you-go, but it mostly seemed to work.

In an organization as complex as Dumont Press, consistency in standards and production techniques was essential. This recently-unearthed rare first edition procedures manual introduces the new Dumont worker to the finer points of typography and page design and establishes a set of technical and moral standards for effective workflow within a co-operative environment, along with a passion for excellence in the creation of a printed page.

After four months of set-up and initial operation, the workers at Dumont Press prepared to move into the next stage of production with an expanded publishing workload. This of course would require additional staff and a set of guidelines for anyone interested. Not quite a Help Wanted ad, but much more than your regular job description, Dumont's very first hiring criteria was published in August of 1971.

Note:  This is currently a work in progress...

One of the early treasures of the current People's History project, this half-forgotten and mostly unknown document was discovered in the Dumont Archives just a few months ago. It was written around March 1971 and scanned from the original document in August 2020, and then digitally remastered, edited solely for spelling and punctuation and reformatted for Web publication in October 2020. The Need to Print is a foundational document outlining the process and the vision which guided the establishment of Dumont Press Graphix that same year, and many more after that. The writing of the document was probably a collaborative effort. Gary Robins was one of the co-authors, but beyond that we are just not sure. What we do have here, however, are the roots to the whole Dumont Press adventure.