Frederic W. Goudy was born in Bloomington in 1865. Goudy spent his early years in Bloomington where he became interested in the arts, especially when he purchased a pantograph machine, an instrument used for copying pictures, figures, or diagrams. Frederic Goudy started designing printing type and became world renowned. He was responsible for the design of 120 different type designs while most designers only become famous for one or two. Goudy and his wife relocated to New York. She passed in 1935. His studio in Marlboro, New York, along with 75 original designs and matrices of 107 typefaces were destroyed by a fire in 1939. Frederic William Goudy died in 1947 at the age of 82.
The folders contain biographical materials, newspaper articles, magazine articles, and booklets produced in tribute to Frederic W. Goudy. There are a few examples of the type designs developed by Frederic Goudy.