Edwin Bliss Hill Papers

Edwin Bliss Hill was born to Alva Thomas and Frances (Bliss) Hill in Michigan on August 17, 1866. He was one of four children, including Hattie Bliss (1863-1863), Louis Clarence (1865-1938), and Edith (1868-1868). By the age of 6, Hill had become interested in what became his life's work: printing. He acquired his first press, a Daisy Printing Press, in 1882.

At the age of eighteen, Hill became a printer's devil at the Michigan Christian Herald. He worked in Detroit newspapers for nineteen years while continuing to learn the printing trade. His greatest passion was the work of Henry David Thoreau, on whom he published an anthology of articles entitled Pertaining to Thoreau. Hill developed a tubercular condition in 1901 and spent seven years living in the Michigan woods to rest and recover.

In 1908 Hill married school teacher Clara Ella Hood and the couple moved to Mesa, Arizona, which offered the dry air believed to alleviate tuberculosis. Hill acquired a job with the U.S. Reclamation Bureau through his brother Louis and continued to operate his printing press. The couple had one daughter, Gertrude Frances (1909-1981), who married Robert Muir in about 1963.

In 1918, the Hill family moved to Ysleta, Texas so that Edwin Hill could continue his work for the Reclamation Bureau as the first gate-tender of the International Dam. Hill printed on a part-time basis until 1945, when he retired from government service. He planned to move back to Arizona, but before his presses could be sent they and many of his books were destroyed by fire. Hill acquired new presses and continued to print in Tempe, Arizona until his death on April 6, 1949. His signature (printer's mark) was a tiny cowboy hat. Hill's press is believed to be the longest running private press in American history.

In addition to his printing work, Edwin B. Hill wrote many biographical sketches and a collection of fictitious stories of the southwest entitled Range Tales. Hill was a member of several literary societies and served as President of the Frank Holme Memorial Group.