#Exhibit of the Month

Manufactured in 1902 by AG vorm Siedel & Nauman in Dresden, Germany.

Dimensions: Length - 38 cm, Width - 35 cm, Height - 20 cm. Weight - 16 kg. It entered the museum collection in 1984, transferred from the National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History.

The typewriter features a standard carriage mounted on ball bearings and rollers, along with a keyboard equipped with 42 keys. These contain two complete sets of Latin and Cyrillic alphabets, punctuation marks, numbers, and mathematical symbols, enabling the typing of 126 characters. Beneath the metal casing, the type bars are arranged in a fan-like pattern, holding embossed characters and ink ribbon rollers. When the keys are pressed, the type bars strike the inked ribbon, imprinting characters onto the paper tensioned in the machine's roller system.

The side panels are elegantly decorated with refined cast-iron elements in the Art Nouveau style, displaying the brand name - "Ideal." The Polyglott model, featuring a bilingual keyboard patented in the United Kingdom by Max Klaczko from Riga, Latvia, was produced between 1902 and 1913, marking the first typewriter capable of writing in two languages. The "Ideal Polyglott" typewriter was actively sold in the Russian Empire and gained significant popularity in Poland, Bulgaria, and Serbia.
The typewriter - a mechanical device used for printing text directly onto paper - ranks among the most important inventions of the modern era, as it revolutionized communication. From the late 19th century to the early 21st century, it became an indispensable tool, widely used by writers, in offices, for business correspondence, and in private homes. The peak of typewriter sales occurred in the 1950s when the average annual sales in the United States reached 12 million units. In November 2012, the British Brother factory produced what it claimed to be the last typewriter, which was donated to the Science Museum in London.
The advent of computers, word processing software, printers, and the decreasing cost of these technologies led to the typewriter's disappearance from the mainstream market, turning it into a museum exhibit.
June 23 marks Typewriter Day, commemorating the date when American journalist and inventor Christopher Latham Sholes patented his typewriter. This day celebrates the simple yet revolutionary device that has become history, as well as the remarkable literary achievements it has enabled since 1868.

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Events Archive

Book Release: Sava Eugen, „Settlements from Late Bronze Age in the space between Prut and Dniester Rivers” Chișinău, „Bons Offices”, 2014, 492 p.

September 24, 2015

On September 24th, 2015 at the National Museum of History of Moldova was released the book "Așezări din perioada târzie a epocii bronzului în spațiul pruto-nistrean (Noua-Sabatinovka)" (Settlements from Late Bronze Age in the space between Prut and Dniester Rivers), signed by dr. hab. Eugen Sava, general director of the museum, with the contribution of researchers Mariana Sîrbu and Eugen Mistreanu.

Book Release: Sava Eugen, „Settlements from Late Bronze Age in the space between Prut and Dniester Rivers” Chișinău, „Bons Offices”, 2014, 492 p.

The book has four chapters, divided into sub-chapters, which present: Research history of Noua-Sabatinovka-Coslogeni cultural complex settlements, Catalogue of settlements from the space between Prut and Dniester Rivers, Habitat and material culture, the last chapter focusing on periodization and absolute chronology. The book is remarked by graphical quality and well structured content which addresses all aspects of Noua-Sabatinovka cultural communities' habitat. The volume contains an impressive number of maps and illustrations which perfectly complete the information about the settlements, complexes and archaeological objects approached in the book. This monograph is the result of research conducted by dr. hab. Eugen Sava over more than a decade to elucidate a number of aspects referring to the settlements and lifestyle of Noua-Sabatinovka communities. The volume is certainly part of long-awaited publications in the filed and will surely become a "beside book" for many young scholars working on the Late Bronze Age and beyond. The work was published in an edition of 300 copies and is on sale at the kiosk of the National Museum of History of Moldova.

Monograph release took place in the Blue Room of the National Museum of History of Moldova and was moderated by dr. hab. Elena Ploșnița, scientific secretary of the institution. Dr. hab Elena Ploșnița noted the importance of this work and expressed the respect for Mr. Eugen Sava's work, who „manages to combine perfectly administration of the National Museum of History of Moldova with scientific research".

Further spoke dr. hab. Eugen Sava, who made a brief history of the stages of development of the book, the experience gained in working with young researchers Mariana Sîrbu and Eugen Mistreanu. Credit was given to all those who have contributed to the elaboration of the book.

Official referees of the monograph, dr. hab. Ion Niculiță (Chișinău) and dr. Tudor Soroceanu (Berlin) said the book is well structured and documented, urging other researchers to take it as a good example.

Dr. hab. Oleg Levițki, director of Archaeological Center of the Institute of Cultural Heritage of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, underlined Mr. Sava's personal role in researching the infrastructure of Noua-Sabatinovka settlements, the enormous bibliographical list used in writing the monograph and expressed opinions on the absolute chronology of Noua-Sabatinovka-Coslogeni complex.

The book release event ended with the opening of the exhibition „Settlements from Late Bronze Age in the space between Prut and Dniester Rivers. Achievements and perspectives" organized in collaboration with the National Archaeological Agency.