Discussion: Norman Newell, RIP

A note in the local newspaper about a recent memorial service for Norm Newell brought back many memories from the days when orienteering maps were drafted by hand and printed on large offset printing machines.

I first walked into Hamilton Newell's (the business was named after his dad) in 1976, wondering if they could print a 5-color map I had made of Forest Park in Springfield. My main concern was that the registration had to be perfect. Norm pointed to a piece of abstract art on the wall, said it had been through the press about 50 times. Obviously 5 times was no problem. And so started a relationship that lasted 20+ years, during which time he printed O' maps for clubs all across the country, including those for the World Champs in 1993.

JJ and others can tell some stories about the World Champs maps. When we had the OUSA Convention in Amherst in 1988 there was a well-attended tour of the printing plant, so quite a few folks got to see how the maps were printed. And I spent a lot of time there over the years -- he also printed Ultrarunning magazine. Jobs were always on a tight schedule and they were always done on time. Prices were always reasonable. We had a good personal relationship. He even recruited me to be the guest speaker at one of the Amherst Rotary Club's monthly meetings. The subject was orienteering, of course.

Things change, of course. Everything went digital. But for the better part of 20 years Newell's played a key role in the development of orienteering in the USA. It's nice to be reminded of that.

Wow, yes, a big part of my memories.
His, and his company's reliability was one of he few things we could take for granted, one of the foundation blocks of US orienteering.
Thanks for passing this on, and thanks for the initial contact.

It's not a perfect analogy, but some people belong in the Hall of Fame for unconventional reasons, like Abbott and Costello are in the Baseball Hall of Fame for their "Who's on First?" routine. Norm deserves that kid of remembrance with respect to orienteering. I sent a whole lot of tubes of artwork on mylar out to Amherst on the bus (the best way of shipping in those days) to have maps printed. I met Norm a few times, and he was a very pleasant fellow, and he ran a business that was very well-suited to our needs. We're fortunate that it happened to be located close to PG so that we were able to find it. If you look back at those old maps, mostly printed at 1:15000, you can get nostalgic for the print quality.

Because we had such a good relationship, we were able to get special service for WOC93, including some operations that took place at strange hours -- Norm allowed Pat Dunlavey and me to stay late after the shop closed in order to finish up the crazy forked relay map printing operation, and we got a special time slot for printing the souvenir maps with the winners' routes from the Classic so that they could be on sale the next day.

I found an obituary. My recollection from the 1988 tour was that Norm was asked if he had ever tried orienteering himself, and that got a good laugh. As far as I know, he never did, but as far as I'm concerned he was still one of us.

Even I remember the name Hamilton Newell from some of the early US maps I ran on in the 80-ies.

Nice comment by you, JJ, on his obit page. Certainly "we could not have done it without him" is true.

If you look back at those old maps, mostly printed at 1:15000, you can get nostalgic for the print quality.

Yes, something I was thinking about just a few days ago.

Thanks for the back-story. First time I've heard some of it. I never met the man but I have even higher regard for his work now than I had when he was doing it.

A giant in US o’ mapping circles.

What ever happened to the business and all of that heavy machinery?

Norm retired in the mid-1990s. His print shop had been in a symbiotic relationship with another print shop located next door called Oxbow Press. Hamilton Newell Printing was bought by a guy named Jamie O'Connell, who continued operating it under a new name for many years (I think it was The Paper House), while Oxbow Press relocated to a nearby town. I continued having maps printed by Oxbow for several years until their retirement kind of coincided with the price of color laser printing coming down to where it was the more attractive option (convenience being a big factor there). Jamie now appears to work for a printing company called TigerPress, located elsewhere in western Massachusetts, and if I remember correctly where Hamilton Newell was located, that location is now a supermarket.

Not a supermarket. The bicycle exchange is in the front. I don't know if there is something different in the back.

as a competitor at woc 1993- i remember map and printing quality as being excellent. thanks for sharing this

Oh, I see the right building now, the pizza place next door is still there. The back now appears to be a military recruiting office. (But maybe that doesn't make sense, you don't need much room for recruiting. Maybe hundreds of tanning beds?)

JJ, that might be the a good recruiting tool, but maybe a gym would be better. Might check it out sometime.