After the deaths of Marian Graham Jarvis and J. Arthur Graham in the early 1990s, the New Century Printing Company was completely closed for a time.

A number of people suggested that the equipment, going all the way back to 1900, would make a wonderful printing museum. The family became interested in the idea of creating a museum. The amazing equipment took up about 4,000 square feet, including the very large printing presses.

As a practical matter, however, the building's utilities needed to be paid, and there was a danger of freezing damage to the plumbing.

A man who represented himself as a printer approached the family, and proposed that he lease and operate the printing shop. He said he would take good care of the building and the equipment, keeping the business open and producing income until the family decided how to organize the museum.

This interim arrangement became the subject of an agreement. However, about eight months into the lease, the leasee failed to make his monthly payment. When the family entered the printing shop to find out why, they found only bare walls and an empty floor.

The so-called printer had used the time granted to him by the lease to methodically steal all of the contents of the building, including irreplaceable museum quality equipment.

The Provo City Police investigated, and determined it would have taken at least ten days to disassemble all of the machines and load everything into large trucks. Not one thing had been left behind!

Police suggested that the thief probably placed the equipment in a warehouse, where he could sell everything one piece at a time. Then he continued to pay rent for a time while he covered his tracks.

The thief has never been found. The family was upset beyond words. However, the greatest loss was to the public, because a century of printing equipment, ranging from antique to increasingly modern, was no longer available to be preserved and viewed in a printing museum.