John McCandless

John C McCandless taught printing for the 1950-1951 school year.

John McCandless was an active Quaker and a prominent small press printer. He graduated from Franklin and Marshall College in 1941 with a degree in English Literature. He worked as a reporter and editor for the Chester (Pa.) Times from 1942-1949 and was a conscientious objector in World War II and opened his own printing press in 1958.

The Hemlock Press printed works by non-professional authors and publications of various organizations, as well as personal stationary and envelopes. The press specialized in publications of a religious, especially Quaker, or literary nature. McCandless also performed editorial work for Quaker Religious Thought, the Publications Committee of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Friends, and Friends General Conference. In addition to publishing and editing, McCandless also wrote a number of books and articles, including Yet Still We Kneel, a book of collected poems. In 1978, he began working as an independent copy-editor for various publishing organizations.

There are collection of McCandless' papers at TriCollege Libraries and Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College, who shared the biography above.

Relationships

Wife: Worked as secretary while at the college, Dorothy McCandless

Asheville Art Museum Collection

Writings about John can be seen in digitized college bulletins on Asheville Art Museum's collection website: collection.ashevilleart.org. They can be found by searching these accession numbers:

2017.40.048 1950-1951 catalog, "JOHN H. McCANDLESS Teacher of Printing - A.B., Franklin and Marshall College. Graduate study at Pendle Hill."

2017.40.049 August 1950 bulletin, "Printing J.H. McCandless Work with the various elements of graphic design, including different papers, type faces, and ink colors or combinations. Fundamentals of hand composition and presswork. Design and printing of work for the college, or the student’s own compositions."