Typewriters highlight museum exhibit

June 22, 2019June 22, 2019 L.T. Hanlon4 Comments

Photo of several people using some of the eight typewriters available for visitors to try out at the American Writers Museum in Chicago. — **Test driving typewriters is a big attraction at Chicago’s American Writers Museum, which just opened its “Tools of the Trade” exhibit.**

Oops! Never mind my comment below about the birthyear of Gwendolyn Brooks’ Hermes Rocket. I totally misread that as “1954.” It actually is from 1964 — and I wish I were of a similar vintage!

Museum display shows Gwendolyn Brooks' Hermes Rocket typewriter. The typewriter is streamlined and graceful, just like Brooks' writing.

Museum display shows Jack London's 1902 Bar-Lock typewriter. This machine bears little resemblence to later typewriters and has separate keys for uppercase and lowercase letters, as well as keys for numbers seemingly scattered at random. It could pass for a spy coding and decoding device.