#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

Launch of the book „History, truth and myths”

June 16th, 2015

On June 16th, The National Museum of History of Moldova hosted the book launch „History, truth and myths", Editura Enciclopedică, București, 2014, 400 p., signed by academician univ. prof. dr. Ioan-Aurel Pop, rector of University „Babeș-Bolyai" from Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

The event, which was organized by the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, was attended by over 100 persons - academicians, historians, university professors, students of History Department - among whom: vice-president of ASM acad. Ion Tighineanu, vice-president of ASM associate Ion Guceac, acad. Andrei Eșanu, univ. prof. dr. hab. Alexandru Moșanu; director of the Romanian Cultural Institute „Mihai Eminescu" from Chișinău Valeriu Matei, H.E. Ambassador of Romania in the Republic of Moldova Marius Lazurcă, vice-rector of University „Babeș-Bolyai" from Cluj univ. prof. dr. Ioan Bolovan, univ. prof. dr. Sorin Șipoș from the University of Oradea ș.a.

The book „History, truth and myths" is an analysis of Lucian Boia's work „History and myth in Romanian consciousness", it is a scientific answer to the attempts of falsifying the history of Romanians.

The need for these reading notes on "demystification" of Romanian history, as stated by the author himself "... raises from professional solidarity, as Mr. Boia and those who follow him, create the belief that historical research has no sense, is false, misleading and full of myths". Another reason for the publication of an "over-sized" review is the spread of Mr. Boia's ideas abroad where we are presented in a distorted way with damaging propaganda results.
About the notorious historian from Cluj and the scientific value of his book spoke the director of the Institute of History dr. hab. Gheorghe Cojocaru, associate of ASM univ. prof. dr. hab. Demir Dragnev, univ. prof. dr. hab. Alexandru Moșanu, univ. prof. dr. hab. Anatol Petrencu, historian dr. Marius Tărâță, director of the Romanian Cultural Institute „Mihai Eminescu" Valeriu Matei, chief editor of weekly „Literatura și Arta" associate of ASM Nicolae Dabija, univ. prof. dr. Ioan Bolovan, univ. prof. dr. Sorin Șipoș.

On the occasion of his arrival in Chișinău, Ioan Aurel Pop was conferred the title of Honorary Member of ASM.
Professor Ioan-Aurel Pop is author of over 50 books, publications of historic resources, university treaties and textbooks and collective works and over 300 studies, articles, reviews, reports, chronicles, prefaces etc. in separate volumes and special journals and cultural publications.

Ioan-Aurel Pop is rector of the University Babeș-Bolyai, member of the Romanian Academy, director of the center of Transilvanian Studies of the Romanian Academy, being specialized in medieval history, medieval institutions and Latin paleography.

Before becoming rector of the University Babeș-Bolyai in Cluj, Ioan-Aurel Pop was director of the Romanian Cultural Center in New York (1994-1995) and director of the Romanian Cultural and Humanistic Research Institute in Venice (2003-2007).

From 1989, Ioan-Aurel Pop is a PhD in history with the thesis „Princely meetings in Transilvania in the 14th-16th centuries", he became the youngest associate of the Romanian Academy and from 2010 is member of the Romanian Academy.

Launch of the book: Ioan-Aurel Pop, „History, truth and myths” , București, Editura Enciclopedică, 2014. 402 p.

#Exhibit of the Month

"Ideal" Mechanical Typewriter, Model A Polyglott

Launch of the book „History, truth and myths”

June 16th, 2015

#Exhibit of the Month