#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

Historian's Day 2017

June 18, 2017

On June 18, 2017, the servants of Goddess Clio from the Republic of Moldova celebrated the seventh edition of the professional day of the historian. The establishment of this professional holiday in 2011 was an act of recognition by the state of the contribution made by the community of historians to the complex process the rehabilitation of the scientific truth, an appreciation of the effort made for the spiritual rebirth of our people, whose civic conscience and national identity has been deeply affected by the communist regime. Also, this holiday, which celebrates the historical guild, is a gesture of encouragement for those who do not spare their efforts to return to the national values and of support of those who truly promote democratic and general human values.

On this beautiful occasion, the National Museum of History of Moldova hosted a Festive Meeting, organized with the effort and support of the Association of Historians of the Republic of Moldova, the Institute of History of the ASM, the History and Philosophy Department of USM, the State Pedagogical University "Ion Creangă", the History and International Relations Department of ULIM, the Center for Culture and Military History, and the National Museum of History of Moldova.

The Blue Room of the National Museum of History of Moldova gathered scholars and history teachers from universities and schools, museographers, archivists, and students passionate about history. There were many speakers at the event: assoc. prof. Gheorghe NEGRU, interim president of the Association of Historians of the Republic of Moldova, prof. dr. hab. Gheorghe COJOCARU, director of the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, Ion NEGREI, vice-president of the Association of Historians of the Republic of Moldova, Viorica NEGREI, deputy head of Education, Youth and Sport General Department, Chișinău Municipality, assoc.prof. Vitalie CIOBANU, director of the Center for Culture and Military History of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Moldova, Petru VICOL, director of the National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History of the Republic of Moldova. At the event were also awarded diplomas with appreciation of the efforts of the most distinguished historians. The meeting was embellished with a show performed by the students of the Republican Music Lyceum "Ciprian Porumbescu" from Chișinău, with a recital of lyrics and songs of deep national and artistic significance.

#Exhibit of the Month

"Ideal" Mechanical Typewriter, Model A Polyglott

Historian's Day 2017

June 18, 2017

#Exhibit of the Month