Friday, May 31, 2002

Remember Typewriters? A Professor's Web Site Documents an Obsolete Information Technology By BROCK READ Richard Polt, creator of the Classic Typewriter Page, says that there is poetic justice in his pet project: He uses the Internet to chronicle the history of a machine that computers have made obsolete. Mr. Polt, an assistant professor of philosophy at Xavier University, in Cincinnati, developed the site in an attempt to bring together a community of typewriter aficionados. "I think I'm the only typewriter collector within 200 miles," he says. "The Web is a good place for people with unusual interests to meet each other." So far, it has helped Mr. Polt do just that. Since the Web site's inception, in December 1995, it has attracted more than 240,000 visitors. Mr. Polt estimates that he receives about five e-mail messages a day from visitors to the site. "There are a lot of people out there trying to find information," he says. "I've probably done the most, as far as I know, to bring together that information." The Classic Typewriter Page's extensive resources focus on typewriters produced before 1940, often flamboyant-looking machines with names like Olivetti M1, Kosmopolit, and Blickensderfer No. 9. Mr. Polt's section on typewriter facts includes a short history of the machines, a glossary of their components, and an archive of impressive models that Mr. Polt highlighted each month on the Web site over a three-year period. The site is more than a reference guide, though. Mr. Polt offers links to mailing lists and online sales boards and collects information on repair shops across the United States. He also provides advice on finding and restoring old models and posts his "wish list" of obscure typewriters -- machines "worth an order of magnitude more than your run-of-the-mill Underwood." Some of the information on the Web site was offered by visitors, but Mr. Polt compiled most of it himself, using a handful of books on typewriter history as references. The site's most popular feature, for example, is its guide to Remington Portable typewriters, a compendium of models Mr. Polt created when his own online research on the subject proved fruitless. "His discussion of Remington Portables is authoritative," says Richard Weil, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Delaware. "There's nothing like it anywhere." Mr. Weil, who has his own collection of typewriters, came across Mr. Polt's site about five years ago; he and Mr. Polt have since met. "Richard's site is a way for people who get or inherit typewriters to get involved in all this," he says. For Mr. Polt, the Web project is a labor of love. His fascination with typewriters started at age 12, when his father bought him a 1931 Remington that he used until he entered graduate school. Since then, his collection has ballooned to about 75 machines, which he has amassed through eBay auctions and scouring "junk shops." Although he does not broadcast the site's existence to his colleagues at Xavier, many of them have learned of Mr. Polt's hobby. "They think it's a charming eccentricity," he says. Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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