How two Sacramento printmakers made TikTok history with vintage newspaper presses
When a Sacramento History Museum employee first asked longtime volunteer docent Howard Hatch to be a part of a TikTok video in fall 2020, he asked, “what’s TikTok?”
Jared Jones, who had pivoted from being a front desk manager to a digital content creator so the museum could stoke interest in its programming while it remained closed to visitors, told the octogenarian volunteer not to look it up. Of course, Hatch looked it up. At the time, the app had been overtaken by the viral “WAP” dance craze, in which participants twerked to the tune of Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s famously vulgar hip-hop song.
“At my age, I’m not doing anything like that,” Hatch said.
The social media account Jones created was slow growing in the early days, until he identified a niche to feature in their content: the print shop exhibit and one of its most beloved stewards, Hatch. The Sacramento History Museum’s print shop is a recreation of an 1850-60s newspaper office similar to that of The Sacramento Bee’s (named The Daily Bee at the time), containing real printing equipment dating back 173 years.
It took a few weeks of convincing, but eventually Jones was able to convince Hatch to talk about a couple of the printing presses in the shop, ending the video with the joke “pressmen like to make a good impression.” The video was viewed 50,000 times within a few days, marking the beginning of the duo’s foray into internet stardom.
Four years later, the videos that “Howard the Printer” starred in have garnered more than one billion views. Together, Jones and Hatch are responsible for the Sacramento History Museum becoming the world’s most followed museum on TikTok with 2.8 million followers.
Things may change as the exceptionally popular video app is slated to be banned Sunday following a Friday Supreme Court decision to uphold a law requiring TikTok’s China-based parent company to sell the app. President-elect Donald Trump was reportedly considering an executive order that would allow the app to continue operating.
Reflecting on TikTok fame and its impending ban
Jones began uploading videos of Hatch and other museum workers daily, often referencing current events or the popular TikTok trends dujour. Hatch emerged as the runaway star, with viewers falling in love with him for the same reason that local museum visitors have for decades past: his sense of humor, wit and clear passion for the tradition of printmaking.
In most of his videos, Hatch demonstrates 19th-century printing, which is a relatively painstaking process compared to how things operate in the current digital world — placing individual type in a wooden frame, rolling ink over the letters, placing the paper on the inked type and using the press to imprint the ink on the page. Older TikTok commenters say that Hatch’s videos remind them of their school print classes in the 1960s while younger viewers marvel at the vintage technology.
“We’re not just demonstrating it, but we’re also using the very medium of which people received their news over 150 years ago … but we’re delivering this the way people receive their news today, which is on their phones,” Jones said.
Amid this success, cards and custom prints from the shop — including T-shirts featuring a caricature of Hatch — have become bestsellers locally and online.
Hatch also offers little bits of history about local newspapers, primarily the Sacramento Bee. In one video Hatch answers where the “Bee” in the Sacramento Bee comes from, reading from the publisher’s original explanation published in 1857.
“Think of ‘as busy as a bee,’” Hatch added.
Their TikTok has brought the museum international notoriety, with Jones saying that their accounts have influenced the way other museums approach social media. Hatch was recently recognized by workers at a small museum in Arkansas when he visited last year.
Hatch said that he has been “gobsmacked” by the success.
“I still don’t look at it as being famous. It’s just, for some reason, people recognize me because they enjoy what Jared and I do,” he said.
While views, being recognized and increased print sales are nice, both Jones and Hatch agree that the most gratifying part of their social media success is the way it has translated into real life enthusiasm for the museum. Jones said that they are commonly told by out-of-state and foreign visitors that they specifically diverted to Sacramento just to see the history museum, its print shop and hopefully the star himself.
Local children that visit the museum on field trips are likely to have seen content from the history museum on TikTok, Instagram or Youtube before their first visit. The most important thing to Hatch has always been educating the kids.
“I’m glad they’re watching something positive online and not the stuff that is not good for kids,” Jones said.
Despite having diversified to other platforms like Instagram and Youtube, the two are dismayed at the impending TikTok ban to go into effect Sunday. After all, TikTok is what allowed them to not just blow up, but to meaningfully interact with their audience thanks to its structure where creators can easily respond to users’ comments and questions. Jones said that the other platforms are not set up well for this yet.
The two will continue making content together, though Jones noted that the loss of TikTok is discouraging.
“I’m already feeling less motivated,” he said.
Hatch said not to get him wound up on the circumstances leading up to the ban.
“It’s mostly politics, one way or another,” Hatch said. “Don’t get me wound up.”
Despite the benefits internet fame brought the museum, the elimination of the platform likely won’t make a significant effect on the museum’s income, Jones said (even considering the $25,000 donation TikTok awarded the museum a few years ago). None of the museum’s accounts are monetized, but Jones noted it is hard to measure how much their TikTok presence contributes to visitorship and sales, especially now that they have diversified to other platforms. Their Youtube channel has actually surpassed the number of subscribers the museum has on TikTok.
But the two have no plans of slowing down, at least for now.
“I’ve done a lot of things in my lifetime. As long as I’m enjoying it and having fun, I keep doing it,” Hatch said. “ I guess someday I’ll get tired of this and walk away from it, but right now it’s still fun.”
This story was originally published January 17, 2025 at 12:58 PM with the headline "How two Sacramento printmakers made TikTok history with vintage newspaper presses."
