This listing is by no means exhaustive, and is limited by the time I have to review and upload files; so it's bound to grow over time. Depending on the subject, some dissertations stand perfectly on their own; others are more meaningful in the context of specific projects.
I am giving priority to texts that I think new students will benefit most from having access to.
design and process
Tim Ahrens: Size-specific adjustments to type designs (2007)
Published by Mark Batty Publisher (book page)
Eduardo Berliner: Problems relating to the translation of a drawn letterform to a digital typeface (2003)
Jose Scaglione: Test procedures: Problems related to the use of laser printers for typeface design (2005)
(Large file ~ 25MB)
Malou Verlomme: Technological shifts in type design and production (2005)
context and history
Veronika Burian Oldrich Menhart: calligrapher, type designer, and craftsman (2003)
Wolfgang Homola Type design in the age of the machine: the ‘Breite Grotesk’ by J. G. Schelter & Giesecke (2004)
Mitja Miklavčič Neo-grotesque sans serifs of the 1950s and 1960s (2006)
Dan Rhatigan Three typefaces for mathematics (on TypeCulture) (2007)
Alice Savoie French type foundries in the twentieth century (2007)
Juliet Shen Searching for Morris Fuller Benton (on TypeCulture) (2006)
Sandra Winter Anna Simons: scribe, lettering artist, and teacher (2006)
world script matters
Jo De Baerdemaeker (forthcoming)
David Březina (forthcoming)
Victor Gaultney Problems of diacritic design for Latin script text faces (2002)
Patrick Giasson (should be online already…)
Tom Grace: Considerations for the design of foreign-script typefaces (2003)
Fernando Mello: Evolution of Tamil type design (2007)
Titus Nemeth: The current state of Arabic newspaper type and typography (2006)
Emma Williams: A study of the development of the Gurmukhi script (2008)
