#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 volume "Bessarabian personalities - part of the national cultural-historical heritage (19th century - first half of the 20th century)"

February 12, 2024

On February 12, 2024, the collection of studies and articles "Bessarabian personalities - part of the national cultural-historical heritage (19th century - first half of the 20th century)" was launched at the National Museum of History of Moldova. The volume includes the materials of the national scientific conference with international participation on September 19, 2023, organized within the project "Museum heritage and historical memory: research, interpretation, presentation" (number 20.80009.0807.43), financed by the State Program (2020-2023 ). The work was published in the prestigious series Biblioteca "Tyragetia" XLI (2023). The event was organized as part of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, celebrated annually on February 11.

The event brought together over 60 historians, museographers, journalists, specialists in various fields - religion, education, architecture, medicine, administration, culture. The event was moderated by Mrs. dr.hab. Lilia ZABOLOTNAIA, editor of the collection. With a word of greeting came dr. hab. Eugen SAVA, general director of the National Museum of History of Moldova, coordinator of the "Tyragetia" series, who emphasized the importance of such a work for Romanian historiography. The program continued with the presentations of the reviewers of the volume, Mrs. Tamara NESTEROV (Institute of Cultural Heritage, Ministry of Culture) and Mr. Petru CIOBANU (Catholic Church of Moldova), who referred to the content and quality of the articles. Some authors of the study also spoke about the role of this volume - dr.hab. Anatol PETRENCU (State University of Moldova / "Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu" State University from Cahul) and dr.hab. Victor ȚVIRCUN (State Pedagogical University "Ion Creangă" from Chisinau).

Dr. Serghei PILIPEȚCHI, the solist of the Academy of Music, Theater and Fine Arts, came with a unique surprise, he donated to the museum an album with the photos of Maria Cebotari with the signature of the soprano. The event culminated with a classical music recital from the repertoire of Maria Cebotari, the soloist Serghei PILIPEȚCHI, accompanied on the piano by Olga Iuhno, master of art, performed sequences from the operas G. Torelli "Tu lo sai...", V. Bellini "Vaga moon...", "Fenesta che lucive...", F.P. Tosti "Serenata", R.Falvo "Dicitencello vuje", Gh. Dendrino "Poor violinist..." and the operetta "Let me sing".

We sincerely thank both the authors, who contributed to the editing of this volume, and all those present at the event, wishing them continued beautiful scientific and editorial achievements.