The Virtual Typewriter Museum!

There is actually a Virtual Typewriter Museum for manual typewriters from the late 1800s to early 1900s!  I stumbled across it while searching for the manufacturer of the antique typewriter (probably from the 1960s or 70s) here in my office at work.  It is an "Adler"--a company I had never heard of from "West Germany."

Typewriters found in old slide collections in Art Departments Everywhere had really tiny type ("pika 7" or something like that).  They were specifically made for typing on tiny labels for filing things (like 35mm slides that professors used in classes).

The on-line exhibition format for the Virtual Typewriter Museum is pretty neat, too (not as cool as the Computer History Museum, but...).  I like the way you can type on faux typewriter keys in the "brands" area.

History of Computers

The Computer History Museum website is a must-visit!  In addition to really great information, the virtual exhibition on the home page is fantastic.

When you click on the exhibition title "R | Evolution, View online," you can explore the images of historic computers.


A series of dots (which you also see on the home page image illustrated here) moves you through the exhibit; each dot takes you to a new topic and a new series of images on that topic.


For example, on Aleem Bawany's blog on the History of Computers he discusses the use of a modified version of Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine in the US Census.  The R | Evolution exhibition shows a picture of that early census punch-card computer.

There is a fabulous video about the Antikythera Mechanism on the timeline, too.  And don't miss the Drumitar in the section about computers and music!