Alan Marshall (historian)

Alan Marshall (b April 30, 1949, Kilmarnock, Scotland) is a British historian who works in France.

He specialised in the history of printing, in particular that of phototypesetting.

After studying maths and physics at Glasgow University, he became a founder member of Aberdeen People's Press (APP), which published a fortnightly alternative newspaper from 1973 until 1976.

The press also provided a printing service to political organisations, activist groups, trade unions and charities in Scotland.

Beginning in 1976, it began to published books and pamphlets on workers' and alternative movements.

APP became a workers' coop in 1979.

Marshall moved to France in 1981, and in 1989 began working with the Musée de l'imprimerie in Lyons, cataloguing its documentation and research library.

He also worked with the Association pour un conservatoire de l'informatique et de la télématique (Aconit), making contributions to two exhibitions: La lettre et l'ordinateur and Histoires de mémoires.

In 1991, he obtained a PhD in history from Pierre Mendès-France University (Grenoble) for a study of the invention and commercialisation of the first second-generation phototypesetting machine, the Lumitype-Photon.

He was historical advisor to the Musée de l'imprimerie from 1992 until 2002 when he was appointed as its director.

He curated or co-curated several exhibitions for the Musée de l’imprimerie (Impressions de Marius Audin. Un imprimeur-érudit de l’entre-deux-guerres, 1995; Ephemera: les imprimés de tous les jours, 2001; Imprimer sur tissu et sur papier au fil des siècles, 2005; Transatlantiques. L'épopée graphique des paquebots de légende, 2013 ), as well as for the Museum of the French Revolution (L'affiche en révolution ).

From 1997 until 2011 he contributed to the Dictionnaire encyclopédique du livre, for which he was also in charge of the English terminology.

From 1999 until 2002 he worked for the École nationale supérieure des sciences de l'information et des bibliothèques (Enssib) on setting up the Institut d'histoire du livre.

During his time as director, the Musée acquired the status of Musée de France (2005).

He was in charge of the Book History Workshop (École de l’Institut d’histoire du livre) until 2009 and remained a member of its board until 2015.

Marshall has published numerous articles and several books on the history of printing and graphic communication.

In 2011, he was made chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres

He has been chair of the Association of European Printing Museums since 2012.

He directed the Musée until his retirement in 2015.

During his time as director, he supervised the restructuring of the Musée in order to improve the use of the building and more fully exploit its rich collections, as reflected in the new identity: Musée de l'imprimerie et de la communication graphique.