Typewriters are so personal to many writers that they still write on them, even when they have to hire someone to retype their manuscripts before submitting them to a publisher. This site is for those who remember and love typewriters. It includes many photographs of writers using typewriters in the locations in which they wrote, whether in their study’s or a grass hut out in the field.
One of the things I love about the Internet is that it allows people to post the most arcane information and find an audience. Without the Internet, if you were to look around to find someone who loved typewriters, how long would you have to look? Forever, I would guess. Even in a big city. And where else could you find an Australian Typewriter Museum?
ozTypewriter
oz.Typewriter: The World of Typewriters 1714-2014 is a blog by Robert Messenger that is worth an evening of reading and looking — wonderful pictures and wry humor. And sentimental commentary as well. Because he has researched his topic so well, it is an international archive of information about the world of writing and attitudes toward design in the 20th century.
You will find fabulous vintage photos of typewriters (of course) but also portraits of inventors and artists, their homes and villages. That include: The first Australian Type-In. A grass home with a leaky roof in Kenya where a writer is working on a typewriter in parallel to snakes and a mole rat in her wall of bookshelves. Also in Kenya, another is working on a Remington portable amidst her laundry hung up to dry in her study on ropes draped in her hut from one pole and fixture to another.
Magazine and newspaper clips extolling the virtues of primitive machines that are all but forgotten such as Prussian Maximillian Soblik’s Pneumatic Typewriter from 1917 that looks a bit tortuous. Soblik’s Pneumatic Typewriter
Many links to other blogs about on typewriters. It must be complete—how many can there be?
About Robert Messenger
Messenger is an Australian Typewriter collector and owns the Australian Typewriter Museum in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. He is a former newspaper columnist who worked in journalism for 47 years, in New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, and England.
I could go on but its 4:00 and I’m still fact checking without having accomplished one paragraph of book writing today. Do check it out. It’s lovely.
Categories: Pass the Olives: Opinions
Tags: industrial design, Australian Typewriter Museum, ozTypwriter, Robert Messenger, Typewriters
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