#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.

Virtual Tour

Events Archive

Event dedicated to persons with disabilities „I am important! My rights matter”

19 July 2016

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, in partnership with the World Health Organization and NGO SOMATO, are organizing in the courtyard of the National Museum of History of Moldova an informal dialogue - "I am important! My rights matter" - between groups of people with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities and various national and international actors.

The event was held on July 19, between 11:00 and 14:00 hours, in the courtyard of the National Museum of History of Moldova. This activity was a premiere for Moldova.

Agenda of the event "I am important! My rights matter":
11.00-11.30 Registration of participants
11.30-12.00 Official opening
12.00-12.30 Awarding of trophies for activism, motivation and involvement to seven
groups of persons with special needs
12.30-13.00 Informal communication, poetry recital, exhibition, interactive games
13.30-14.00 Jazz performance and end of event

The event was attended by representatives of seven representing groups of persons with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities from Bălți, Soroca, Ungheni, Orhei, Cimișlia, Cahul and Chișinău; officials from the UN, representatives of embassies accredited in Moldova, Equality Council, ministries.

In the opening ceremony spoke: Viorelia Bătrânac-Moldovan, Senior State Adviser to the Prime Minister on social issues; Dafina Gercheva, Resident Coordinator of the United Nations (UN) and the Permanent Representative of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Moldova; Yan Feldman, Chairman of the Equality Council; dr. hab Eugen Sava, General Director of the National Museum of History of Moldova, who sent messages of encouragement and support for people with special needs.

At the opening, also spoke Ruslan Carlan, representative of the group from Cimișlia, who addressed the issue of social exclusion of this group from the decision-making processes, despite the ratification by Moldova of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The event provided an opportunity for people with special needs to communicate during three hours with representatives of central authorities and civil society, with some UN agencies and diplomatic missions regarding the difficulties they face, the need to ensure equal opportunities, to protect and promote the rights of persons with disabilities.

During the event was open a sale exhibition with works made by disabled people, on the background one could hear poetry and jazz music. An interactive whiteboard was installed, which provided people with special needs the opportunity to learn the non-discriminatory terminology.

Event dedicated to persons with disabilities „I am important! My rights matter”

#Exhibit of the Month

"Ideal" Mechanical Typewriter, Model A Polyglott

Event dedicated to persons with disabilities „I am important! My rights matter”

19 July 2016

#Exhibit of the Month