Because I am impulsive, a middle child, did not grow up getting presents and swag bags every day of my life just for being a kid, I have these obsessions with acquiring books and typewriters. More than I could reasonably use.
I have the typewriter of my dreams, the Hermes 3000.
Sweet, right? Seriously? I want to eat it. If you scratch and sniff the picture it smells like mint cause it’s that minty fresh.
Then I saw this sweet 95.00 electric brother typewriter. Looked like something my boys would use. Also, looked like a typewriter so thus, a great idea.
so I bought it and brought it home, this is some of what we left behind.
Corona. Works.
Old school, Works, part of Bill’s personal collection.
July 7, 2012, my lovely friend Stacy gave me a present, an Underwood typewriter
For a while, it was enough to look upon it. Then I learned about nearby Mesa Typewriter Exchange and realized I could have it serviced.
I brought the typewriter to the library in the morning and let the students take turns using it. It generated enormous interest and conversation with every grade.
In the afternoon, Brady and I brought my Underwood to Mr. Bill Wahl at the Mesa Typewriter Exchange.
He asked me where I bought my typewriter, how long did I have it and how did it work. I knew very little. He stepped into his office and came back with this paper, turned my typewriter over and said it was made in 1916.
This is what the world was like around the time my typewriter came to be:
1910: Edison shows the 1st talking motion picture
1911: Kettering invents the 1st automotive ignition system
1912: LifeSavers candy introduced
1913: the modern brassiere and crossword puzzle are invented
1914: gas mask invented in time for WWI
1915: Pyrex invented
1916: Model T Ford prices fall to $360 — half the 1911 price
1916: stainless steel invented
1917: modern zipper invented
1918: Armstrong’s core design for super heterodyne radio circuit —
which eventually becomes universal
1919: short-wave radio invented
I was curious and I wanted to stay a while, so every few minutes when a customer came in, I said they could go ahead of us.
we weren’t in a hurry
there was so much to look at
I liked eavesdropping on Mr. Wahl’s conversations with other customers. He seemed to have the same conversation over and over again, while we were there he examined four typewriters for repair and had one picked up.
I started to feel greedy and felt as if I needed to have ten or fifteen typewriters of my own.
That is how I get in bookstores too.
Because of his backlog, my typewriter will be waiting in queue for service. I will update again when I go to pick her up.
I think is the coolest corner of the Valley yet, but don’t take my word for it. Stop by and visit.
One of my students said I had to include this book, I agree.
p.s. Here is a snap of the boys using a typewriter on board the U.S.S. North Carolina
