The 501(c)(3) charity has given scholarships to more than 500 students, but lately, “we were having trouble getting people to apply,’’ says Jack Briegel. A forty-nine-year veteran of Ann Arbor’s book manufacturing industry, Briegel served as president of AAGAMF for the last twenty-six years. “The printing industry has changed and downsized so much that we didn’t feel comfortable luring students into the printing community when we were so uncertain as to whether it was going to be there for them.”

AAGAMF founding member Jim Roth says many scholarship recipients have gone into management, sales, and promotion; fewer have pursued hands-on manufacturing; and some have left the industry altogether. All of them, like the industry itself, have adapted to the changing times. | Photo: Mark Bialek

With local roots stretching back to 1893, short-run printing—small numbers of books delivered quickly—was once a major industry in Ann Arbor. In the 1980s, Ann Arbor had seven book manufacturers and a nationwide reputation in the printing community.

“They referred to us as the Ann Arbor Mafia, lovingly,” Briegel says. “We used to borrow supplies back and forth … and there was never any paperwork. You just knew what you owed the guy down the road, and you took it back when yours came in.”

The AAGAMF was the brainchild of book manufacturing entrepreneur Raymond G. Schmidt, who believed in education as a way to develop the local talent pool and ensure the continued success of the industry.

“When Mr. Schmidt died, and his wife died, we were given a certain percentage of their estate,” says AAGAMF founding member Jim Roth. “Thanks to them and their foresight, we were able to carry these dreams.”

The AAGAMF was established in 1981, and its first humble round of disbursements the following year were four $500 scholarships. By 2023, the amount had increased to $4,000, renewable for four years. The foundation’s annual reports tell an optimistic story—each year bringing increased fundraising, more and larger scholarships, and news about past recipients finding employment locally—but also hint at changes in the industry.

“The evolution in printing technology has become a revolution as new equipment and new ways of doing things, has forever changed the face of printing and bookbinding,” reads the 1995 annual report. “Only those who have kept up with the break-neck pace of change will survive.”

In the late 1990s, digital presses and desktop publishing automated many people out of their jobs. A decade later came the one-two punch of the Great Recession and the rise of e-books. Schools and universities were buying fewer textbooks; retail bookstores were going under. Here in Ann Arbor, printers tried to keep up with the times. They gambled on new technology, they tried mergers; some were bought out, others went bankrupt. Today, the only locally owned survivor—still at its original location on 1350 N. Main St.—is Cushing-Malloy, which celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary in 2023.

“We have weathered the storm because we have stayed small,” says Connie Cushing, owner of Cushing-Malloy and granddaughter of its founder. “When things started growing, and everyone went into the web presses and then followed into the digital printing and everything, we just stayed in our niche.”

When asked if any of Cushing-Malloy’s employees got an AAGAMF scholarship, Cushing responds immediately: “We did have one employee that did!” But that person ultimately made a career shift and now works at a boutique pet food shop.

Roth says many recipients have gone into management, sales, and promotion; fewer have pursued hands-on manufacturing; and some, like the former Cushing-
Malloy employee, have left the industry altogether. All of them, like the industry itself, have adapted to the changing times.

AAGAMF’s last disbursement will be to a trio of like-minded organizations that will continue its mission. The biggest gift, $1 million to Ferris State University, will create the Ann Arbor Graphic Arts Memorial Foundation Endowed Scholarship.

“It’s a shame that this industry has shrunk in the way it’s done. But we’re living with the future,” says Roth. “I think there will always be books.”