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#Exhibit of the Month

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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


Publications Journal „Tyragetia"   vol. VIII [XXIII], nr. 2


Taxation of the mazili and ruptași social categories in Bessarabia under the Tsarist domination (1812-1847)
ISSN 1857-0240
E-ISSN 2537-6330

Taxation of the mazili and ruptași social categories in Bessarabia under the Tsarist domination (1812-1847)

Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VIII [XXIII], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie

In the present study, without resorting to a broad historical analysis, we consider two categories of privileged population - the mazili and ruptași and identify the changes in their social status and the fiscal imposition under the Tsarist rule.

Analysis of unpublished archival documents allows us to conclude that mazili represented a social category and ruptași - a fiscal one, both of which were inherited by Bessarabia from the Principality of Moldavia For many years they were forced to make significant efforts to confirm the titles and tax and social status they had before the annexation of the region to the Russian Empire. Although mazili enjoyed certain privileges, imperial administration did not accepted them and did everything possible to suppress this social category, seeing them as a national bourgeois element (national rural bourgeoisie). Tsarism tried to promote the policy begun by Constantine Mavrocordatos, which aimed at limiting the number of privileged social groups, particularly those that did not come from the aristocracy, which, at that time, mazili and ruptași were part. These measures were in line with the Russian imperial policy of liquidation of local peculiarities and of social and administrative unification of the newly annexed province. Eventually the rights of mazili were limited; they were required to perform certain duties and pay taxes along with other categories. This becomes evident in the tax censuses, during which mazili and ruptași were required to present documents confirming their social and fiscal status. Despite this, the tsarist government used the services of mazili. Due to the special personal qualities - honesty, skills, knowledge, impeccable behavior and ability to cope with any situation, mazili were attracted to different services they were proud of, considering it their privilege. They enjoyed prestige among the local population, and in the case of riots they at the request of the authorities were able to eliminate them without bloodshed.

Archival documents show that Russian imperial administration has taken concrete steps to limit the rights and privileges of mazili and ruptași in Bessarabia, placing them at the lower levels of the hierarchy - first in the category of odnodvortsy (single homesteaders) and later - in the category of free peasants. As a result, some of them due to lack of documents or because of any violations committed by them were transferred to the category of peasants, while others collapsed and were included in the other categories, related with the peasantry. Nevertheless, mazili continued to retain their distinctive social and spiritual features, even after their transfer to the category of odnodvortsy in 1847.

Valentin Tomuleț, Victoria Bivol
The elites of Bessarabian bourgeoisie: Armenian and Greek wholesale merchants (1812-1868)
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VI [XXI], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Valentin Tomuleț
Jewish component in the ethnical structure of the commercial bourgeoisie in Bessarabia (1812-1868)
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. I [XVI], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie Chișinău, 2007
Валентин Томулец, Сергей Сычёв
The political parties and significant personalities of the Bessarabian Zemstvo (1869-1917)
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. XI [XXVI], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Valentin Tomuleț, Alexandru Bordian
Priority directions in trade and customs policy of tsarism in Bessarabia in the first third of the 19th century
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. IV [XIX], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Valentin Tomuleț
Jewish colonies in Bessarabia in the 19th century
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. V [XX], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie



 

 

Independent Moldova
Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic
Bessarabia and MASSR between the Two World Wars
Bessarabia and Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in the Period between the Two World Wars
Revival of National Movement
Time of Reforms and their Consequences
Abolition of Autonomy. Bessarabia – a New Tsarist Colony
Period of Relative Autonomy of Bessarabia within the Russian Empire
Phanariot Regime
Golden Age of the Romanian Culture
Struggle for Maintaining of Independence of Moldova
Formation of Independent Medieval State of Moldova
Era of the
Great Nomad Migrations
Early Middle Ages
Iron Age and Antiquity
Bronze Age
Aeneolithic Age
Neolithic Age
Palaeolithic Age
  
  

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#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...

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The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
©2006-2025 National Museum of History of Moldova
Visit museum 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
Phones:
Secretariat: +373 (22) 24-43-25
Department of Public Relations and Museum Education: +373 (22) 24-04-26
Fax: +373 (22) 24-43-69
E-mail: office@nationalmuseum.md
Technical Support: info@nationalmuseum.md
Web site administration and maintenance: Andrei EMILCIUC

 



The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
©2006-2025 National Museum of History of Moldova
Visit museum 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
Phones:
Secretariat: +373 (22) 24-43-25
Department of Public Relations and Museum Education: +373 (22) 24-04-26
Fax: +373 (22) 24-43-69
E-mail: office@nationalmuseum.md
Technical Support: info@nationalmuseum.md
Web site administration and maintenance: Andrei EMILCIUC

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The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
©2006-2025 National Museum of History of Moldova
Visit museum 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
Phones:
Secretariat: +373 (22) 24-43-25
Department of Public Relations and Museum Education: +373 (22) 24-04-26
Fax: +373 (22) 24-43-69
E-mail: office@nationalmuseum.md
Technical Support: info@nationalmuseum.md
Web site administration and maintenance: Andrei EMILCIUC