Stencil
Stencil refers to two typefaces released within months of each other in 1937. The face created by R. Hunter Middleton for Ludlow was advertised in June, while Gerry Powell's version for American Type Founders appeared one month later. Both fonts consist of only capital letters with rounded edges and thick main strokes, much like a Clarendon typeface, except with breaks in the face to give it the appearance of the stenciled alphabets used on boxes and crates.
Stencil
- Name
- Stencil
- Field
- display typeface.
- Period
- 1937.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Stencil refers to two typefaces released within months of each other in 1937. The face created by R. Hunter Middleton for Ludlow was advertised in June, while Gerry Powell's version for American Type Founders appeared one month later. Both fonts consist of only capital letters with rounded edges and thick main strokes, much like a Clarendon typeface, except with breaks in the face to give it the appearance of the stenciled alphabets used on boxes and crates.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Stencil. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q2046244
In this article
Overview
Overview
Powell's exploration of Stencil became very popular over time and is still used today.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Stencil • Style — Serif • Classifications — Display • Creator — R. Hunter Middleton, Gerry Powell • Foundry — Ludlow Typograph, American Type Founders • Releasedate — 1937 • Based On — Clarendon • Illustration — "Happy 1984" - Stencil graffiti found on the Berlin Wall in 2005. The object depicted is a DualShock video game controller.
Later versions
Later versions
Digital versions of Gerry Powell's design for ATF have been published by many digital foundries, including Elsner+Flake, Adobe, and URW Type Foundry. Mecanorma also provided a version as dry transfer lettering. In 1997, Alexei Chekulaev made a Cyrillic version of Stencil Bold, called Stencil Cyrillic Regular. In Rookledge's Classic International Typefinder, the entry Stencil Bold shows the existence of a lowercase letters in the font that are unavailable from either actual type foundries or the producers of digital type.
Usage
Usage
(Proto-) punk/rock bands have used traditional military stencil fonts since circa 1966. Stencil is a common font for (typically American) army-themed displays, including The A-Team, Private Benjamin and M*A*S*H television series. It is also used with warehouse aesthetic. It is also used for the credits on card labels on the crates of the Woodland Animations for the BBC Children's TV programme Bertha. It is also used as the logotype for Disney's TV show, Recess. The typeface was also used for Real Madrid shirt name and number font in the 2001 and 2002 seasons. The typeface was used to render the names of the characters in the Incredible Crash Dummies action figure line. Stencil is also used in the logo for The Home Depot and Réno-Dépôt. It is also used in the logo for the talk show, Jerry Springer. This typeface is also used in the logo for the reality television series Cops. The Stencil typeface also used for some logos of the Japanese mecha media franchise Gundam, like Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket OVA series and Gundam Side Story 0079: Rise from the Ashes video game. The Hip Hop group Public Enemy uses Stencil in their official logo.
Chronology
Dated record
Chronology
The full dated record · 2 entries
1937
Stencil first recorded.
1937
Stencil is recorded from 1937.
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
38,960 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Stella RotenbergAuthor
- Stella SierraAuthor
- Stelvio MestrovichAuthor
- Sten SelanderAuthor
- StendhalAuthor
- Stenio VincentAuthor
- Stepan NechayevAuthor
- Stepan ProtsiukAuthor
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own an object connected with Stencil?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.