Thursday, November 14, 2013

The Dilemma: Should it Stay or Should it Go?

I had a college professor who like to point out that the real meaning of dilemma was a choice between two equally undesirable outcomes. Dilemma connotatively means any problem, but in this situation it is a true dilemma.

The problem centers around this typewriter.



A once proud and mighty grande dame of the office, this Super Speed is now a decaying wreck. I can only assume that it was stored in dampest, dankest, darkest basement ever dug by human hands. The corrosion is impressive.

Needless to say, to restore this typewriter to its original state would take countless hours and probably more than a few q-tips. This typewriter was a gift. It was free from a very kind person and I didn't have the heart to tell him that I would never get around to fixing it.

Other projects came and went.

Time passed.

And now what do I do with this albatross?


I like the Super Speed. It's attractive typewriter. The horizontal banding breaks up the strong vertical look of this machine. It's very Moderne. The new design came at a time when Smith-Corona was looking to update the look of their office machine. I agree with Alan Seaver when he says, "In my mind, this version of the Super-Speed belongs more to the '30s than the '40s..."

As much as this typewriter looked new, under the ribbon cover everything was very much the same. To the end of the product line Smith-Corona Super Speed used the same ball-bearing design to hang the type bars that had been designed and used on all L.C. Smith machines for the previous 50 years. By the 40s no company was using that technology. Slotted type segments were the norm, but Smith-Corona still hung on to the tradition.


Even with such a great past and good looking design, the realities of the modern day still linger. I can't keep the machine (I need space for new ones) and restoring this machine is not going to happen. What does that leave? I think parting it out and recycling the frame is my only option.

I don't like the idea, but I am in the middle of a dilemma. So much of the typewriter collecting field focuses on salvaging typewriters, but should we be so squeamish about getting rid of common and broken typewriters? Is every machine worth saving? 

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Wednesday's Typewriter Lecture

Just a little update... The lecture was great! About 25 folks attended and some really good questions were asked. I gave the in-depth story of Magic Margin, the Typosphere, and my typewriter collection.

GCC North was incredibly kind in hosting me an my collection. If you are in the area the collection of typewriters is on display through the remainer of the semester.



The footnotes have been documented, the slides have been Power Pointed, and I have saved my voice for my big event tonight.

So, if you are in the North Phoenix area, stop by Glendale Community College North to hear me drone on about typewriters. It'll be lecture-tastic!



GCC North
5727 W Happy Valley Rd
Phoenix, AZ 85310

Monday, November 4, 2013

Rob's Book

 

Rob said we should post a picture, but I thought several pictures in quick succession would be better. I call them "seqmopho" (sequential motion photographs). They might catch on.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Monday, October 21, 2013

We're Still Typin'

So, I looked at the date of my last post and it has been a while. Don't beat yourself up. We have both been busy. I have had to prepare for the typewriter exhibit at GCC North and my upcoming lecture.

Halloween decorations have kept me busy.


There is, of course, my "photography."


But, I wanted to show you a few pictures of my 5th period typing. They have been slow to adopt the way of the typewriter, but the revolution is not won in great leaps. It is a slow process that converts adherents with logical argument.





Tuesday, October 8, 2013

The Selectstar

The Rt. Rv. Munk on To Type, Shoot Strait, and Speak the Truth describes his recent purchase of a Selectric at a garage sale. $5 was the price and that seems about fair. Selectrics are everywhere and many in The Typosphere have at least one lying around somewhere. To my eyes the IBM Selectric type element always looks a little suspicious.

Thanks should go to Georg Sommeregger because I used his Selectric
type ball image for this frightening composite.


Monday, September 30, 2013

Desert Sunsets and Plexiglass Cubes

As the sun began to set in the desert and the golden rays of the sun light up the mountains and cacti I made a delivery of typewriters to the Glendale Community College North campus for the exhibit. I was able to snag a few pictures of the campus and the typewriters in the library.














Wednesday, September 25, 2013

The List

So here is the list of machines I came up with for the GCC North exhibition. I have had to make some tough editorial decisions, but I would love to hear  from you. How complete or incomplete is this list? I have tried to represent a century of typewriter evolution. Does this collection pull that off?

1909 Corona 3
1921 Underwood Standard Portable
1926 Remington 12
1935 Remington Model 7
1937 Corona Standard
1942 Royal Arrow Navy Radio Mill
1954 Royal HH
1959 Olympia SG-1
1959 Olympia SM3
1961 Brother Valiant
1961 IBM Selectric
1985 IBM Wheelwriter 5

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Magic Margin Display at GCC North

A few weeks ago I got a call from one of the administrators at the local community college down the street. Glendale Community College's satellite campus in the North Valley has a beautiful library filled with display cases that are sitting empty. I was asked if I would be willing to put together 12 typewriters to display in the library for the rest of the semester. I jumped at the chance to get my collection out of my home Typetorium. 

We've got the ball rolling and it looks like there also might be a reception and lecture by a certain typewriter-collecting English teacher.

I've been going through my collection looking at what I might want to include in this broad collection. I think I have put together an interesting history of typewriters.

Things are in the planning stages and I'll make sure to keep everyone updated, but I am pleased as punch to be sharing our hobby with a whole new group of people.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

A Blickensderfer in the Pines of Prescott


This is a picture of Sharlot Hall sitting at what appears to be a Blickensderfer 7 at her family home at Orchard Ranch 20 miles south of Prescott. Who was Sharlot Hall?

Sharlot M. Hall (1870-1943), who became well known as a poet, activist, politician, and Arizona’s first territorial historian. Sharlot Hall was one of the West’s most remarkable women. As early as 1907, Ms. Hall saw the need to save Arizona's history and planned to develop a museum. She began to collect both Native American and pioneer material. In 1927, she began restoring the first Territorial Governor’s residence and offices and moved her extensive collection of artifacts and documents opening it as a museum in 1928.
This great treasure of Arizona sits at a Blickensderfer 7 at Orchard Ranch 20 miles south of Prescott. Sharlot was very concerned with protecting Arizona's new history and filled an inhereted home (which was the territorial governor's mansion at one time) with artifacts and objects from Arizona's early years.

For Sharlot Hall, Prescott was far more rugged than the hip boutiques would suggest today. The simple and reliable Blick would have been invaluable to those living in these rugged wildernesses.

Monday, August 26, 2013

True Blue

This post has been in draft for a long while. I kept thinking that I would find something interesting to share about this charming little typewriter, but I keep coming up blank. So, I'll just write a little here and see if the muse inspires me.


True Blue Deux is what this color should be called as there is a decided harmony between the two colors. Both are on the blue-green spectrum and when it was new I am sure the paint had a luster I cannot recapture.


It was $28. There was a problem with the carriage advancing and the seller was upfront about the problem. A small voice quietly urged me to buy it. My stomach led me to believe that it was actually fixable and the truth was not far off. Beneath the carriage was a space advance mechanism. A small adjustment brought the spacing back to normal.


The carriage return lever has lost its spring and wiggles. It advanced the line well enough, but there is some way to either reattach or replace the spring. The feet needed replacing and the process was the same as when I replaced the feet in my other Remington portable (follow this link).

School's back in session and I am looking at replacing the ribbons for the whole classroom collection. I have about 20 typewriters on the shelves and it seems like this is the perfect number. I have Seniors this year and they are well into the school year. They are a bit flintier when it comes to the lure of the typewriter, but I have seen more and more of them start to eye the few old-hands who have used them before. Twitches of intrigue. Eye-wide and shy and eager. We'll see how many I can persuade into using the typewriters this week.

More good news came this last week with some typewriter happenings at a local community college. I cannot say more right now, but I will keep everyone posted with more crumbs soon.

Friday, August 23, 2013

Elmore Leonard: 1925-2013


I have been the victim of a cold and haven't been reading the news. I remember an interview from Time magazine in 2010 that made me proud to be a fan of the analog. This is the answer to a question about his writing style:

"By hand. Every word is written by hand. Then I'll type it on my electric typewriter. It took me 20 years to buy an electric typewriter, because I was afraid it would be too sensitive. I like to bang the keys. I'm doing action stories, so that's the way I like to do it. I don't have [a computer]. I don't have e-mail or anything like that. I have a fax machine."

Friday, August 16, 2013

Old Friends

Remington typewriters are pretty common.


If you work in an institution that had a significant amount of post-war growth (i.e. every school in the Phoenix Area) you probably have seen (or used) Remington Rand Library Bureau Division furniture.



Work/school is crawling with the stuff. Desks, tables, and dictionary stands. It's nice to bring old friends together again.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Wrapping Electrons: Prices

In the comments for my last post several folks had some questions about the cost of turning your blog into a book. There are several full-service options available out there. Blurb being one of the more famous, but their prices are quite high. That's why I went with the BlogBooker and Lulu method.


Digital? Does that have something to do with losing all your fingers
in a Heidelberg? Done!

I was able to get the 74 page 2010 post book (the one I featured previously ) for $4.60 + shipping. The next volume (2011) is a little larger at 292 pages with 184 posts. The price for me is $10.10. So, pretty reasonable.Lulu lets you design your own cover with either their wizard or your software.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Wrapping Electrons

It was a few days ago and my son and I were sitting on the floor playing cars. We were having a great time. As the the little Mini Cooper crashed into the red truck a thought crossed my mind; these times are fleeting. My son won't be little forever. Remembering these times is important.

We take pictures and tell stories to save these memories for our future. The archiving of our personal libraries is something I worry about. The world is information-rich, but how much of the information is being stored in a permanent way? This is especially true when so much depends on the digital. Our society has started to believe in the permanence of the digital world. In time I think that this will create a digital oubliette where things you thought were permanent prove to be very temporary.

After being frightened by this possibility, I started thinking about Magic Margin. This blog has been a work of several years. In that time I have created over four-hundred posts, took thousands of pictures, and devoted nearly a thousand hours of work. In short, Magic Margin means something to me.

So, I wanted to back it up. I wanted to save my work. Blogger lets you download an XML file of your site and all the corresponding comments. This is a good feature if you want to save it to a hard drive, but I wanted a more permanent solution that didn't offer just another digital file. I dug around the Internet and I found many web sites offering to turn your blog into a printed book. In mind this would be the perfect solution. Prices and options were all over the map, but I came away with the impression that the full-service sites it would be too expensive for a large blog like this. Then, I found BlogBooker.



BlogBooker is a free-to-use blog to PDF converter based on LaTEX and a few other open-source text formatting tools. The process is pretty easy. You upload your site backup XML file, set the date range you would like to archive, pick an output size, and let BlogBooker do its business.

The process is relatively fast. I opted to make my "book" into year volumes with 2010 being the first. It was a short blogging year because it worked out to only be 74 pages. Subsequent years I must have been wordier because 2011 worked out to 290 pages. 

The output file is a PDF paginated correctly. This PDF is suitable for uploading to a print-on-demand service like Lulu. It was Lulu that I picked to print volume I of my opus.


The product turned out nicely. I like the size and feel of a trade paperback and it was fortuitous that I was able to select that. The product looks professional and a gloss full-color cover is standard. The paper feels professional, but the failings of my book is the BlogBooker rendering engine.




All the text is there, but frequently spacing is odd. Also, paragraphs on this blog are separated by a carriage return. BlogBooker strips those out. As the output format is PDF I didn't have a means to edit the content directly. The warts and odd formatting must stay. Since I have Adobe Acrobat Professional, I was able to replace the BlogBooker standard title page with something more to my liking.


I would like to continue with this project, but I need a better way to control the output. I think that I might have to manually go through and set images and text if I want to achieve a higher-quality product. Regardless of the odd hiccoughs, BlogBooker does all the heavy-lifting. I have already completed the second volume. 

In the end I am happy that I have been able to take my digital work and turn it into an analog memory.