Typewriters – Page 2

My IBM Selectric III

Tom FasanoTypewritersNovember 26, 2022 29

This is a photo of Frank Sensenbrenner, an American politician who represented Wisconsin’s 5th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1979 to 2021. He loves his IBM Selectric.

My Hermes 3000 Typewriter

Tom FasanoTypewritersAugust 22, 2022 13

It’s a safe bet most of my former students never typed on a word processor like this one. This Hermes 3000 is one of the finest typewriters ever manufactured. The Swiss engineers who designed this machine reached a level of perfection.

Robert Caro’s Smith Corona Electra 210 Typewriter

Tom Fasano Typewriters, WritersMay 8, 2022 11

Robert Caro shows off his typewriter and also gives a succient explanation of his writing process and how to avoid “thinking with your fingers.” Watch as Caro himself explores some of the key objects in the exhibition. In this episode, he describes one of his trusty Smith Corona Electra 210 typewriters, a brand that he’s worked on for decades and that has become an essential part of his writing process.

New-York Historical’s exhibition “Turn Every Page”: Inside the Robert A. Caro Archive showcases never-before-seen highlights from life and career of Robert Caro, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author behind such masterful biographies as The Power Broker and the multi-volume series The Years of Lyndon Johnson.

Typing a Long Poem

Tom Fasano TypewritersJanuary 3, 2022 34

I’m typing a book-length poem on a roll of adding-machine paper. I’m using a manual typewriter, an Underwood.

Music by Scott Buckley – www.scottbuckley.com.au

Swintec Typewriters Keep Clacking

Tom FasanoTechnology, TypewritersJanuary 13, 2021 20

The Wall Street Journal a few years ago ran an article about Swintec, one of the last surviving typewriter companies in the U.S. (Please see the WSJ article for more information.)

Edward Michael, who started the company in 1985, is quoted in the article as saying, “We’re typewriters. This is our specialty. This is what we know.”

Down to about 10 employees now from about 85 during the boom years, Swintec continues to sell typewriters at a click-clackety pace: between 3,000 to 5,000 units a year, mostly to universities, senior centers, and prisons. Yes, typewriters are quite popular behind bars — especially now that Swintec came upon the novel idea of a clear typewriter designed to prevent the smuggling of contraband.

From our point of view, typewriters aren’t going anywhere. After all, the vacuum cleaner, as Mr. Michael points out in the above video, failed to replace the broom. Nor did the typewriter replace pens and pencils.