#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

National Session of Reports - Archaeological research in the Republic of Moldova, Campaign 2023

April 19, 2024

On April 19, 2024, under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and the National Archeology Commission, the National Report Session - Archaeological Research in the Republic of Moldova for the 2023 Campaign took place. The scientific event was organized in collaboration between the National Archeology Agency and the National Museum of History of Moldova, to coincide with the International Day of Monuments and Sites, celebrated on April 18

During the session of archaeological reports, held at the National Museum of History of Moldova, a total of 31 scientific communications were presented. These covered the preventive and/or rescue archaeological research, coordinated by the National Archeology Agency, highlighting Eneolithic sites associated with the Cucuteni-Tripolie culture Vadul lui Vodă I and Glinjeni X, as well as archaeological sites such as the stratified fortified settlement Butuceni I - Cetătuie, the linear fortification Val lui Traian de Sus and mound 16 from Corjeuți. Also, preventive and systematic investigations from Chisinau and Cetatea Sorocii were presented, coordinated by dr.hab. Sergiu Musteață and Dr. Ion Ursu, who had significant results.

Among the communications related to systematic research, those related to the investigations coordinated by Dr. Aurel Zanoci and Dr. Mihai Băț, focused on representative sites in the Saharna microzone, dating from the first and second Iron Age, stood out. Also, a communication of interest raised by Dr. Octavian Munteanu was presented, regarding the excavations and interdisciplinary research carried out by a joint Moldavian-German team in the Poienești-Lucașeuca type settlement (2nd-1st century BC) of at Ivancea-Sub Pădure.

Original results were also presented by Dr. Ghenadie Sîrbu regarding the research in the Eneolithic site at Trinca-La Șant (Edineț district) and the paleobotanical explorations at Caracușenii Vechi (Briceni district), carried out as part of a Moldovan-German project. A particularly valuable discovery was a pottery kiln with reverberation discovered in the late Eneolithic site of Sângerei X I - Chirileni III, through research coordinated by archaeologist Veaceslav Bicbaev last fall, a complex that is to be preserved, transported and exhibited at the Museum of History and Ethnography from Sangerei.

Among the fortuitous archaeological discoveries, a complex with ceramic vessels from the 2nd century AD stands out. from Mereni (Anenii Noi district) and, in particular, a burial tomb from the 10th - 12th centuries from Valea Mare (Ungheni district), which included several pieces of ornament and port, some being unique for the Carpatho-Dniester area. Also, in the previous year, a wooden boat was discovered in Puhăceni (Anenii Noi district), dated by C14 analyzes to the 18th century.

#Exhibit of the Month

"Ideal" Mechanical Typewriter, Model A Polyglott

National Session of Reports - Archaeological research in the Republic of Moldova, Campaign 2023

April 19, 2024

#Exhibit of the Month