This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
It bears mentioning and thoroughly understanding that even an expert typewriter collector or professional repair person can only tell very little of the condition of a typewriter by photos. Does it look generally clean? Are the decals in tact? Does the segment look clean (a vague proxy for the potential condition of the internals)? Is anything obvious missing (knobs, return lever, keys)? Does it look cared for or has it been neglected in a barn for half a century? If it has a case, how beat up, dirty, and water-stained is it?
Most modern typewriters made after 1930 in unknown condition are worth about $5-25 and they peak at about $500 when purchased from a solid repair shop unless some Herculean additional restoration has taken place, they’ve got a rarer typeface, or are inherently actually rare. Hint: unless it’s a pro repair shop or very high end collector with lots of experience, don’t trust anyone saying that a typewriter is “rare”—run the other direction. Run faster if they say it “works, but just needs a new ribbon” as—even at the most expensive—new ribbon is only $15 and their “rare” $600+ machine should have fresh, wet ribbon. The rule of thumb I use is that almost no one online selling a typewriter knows anything about it, including if it actually works. Worse, they’ve probably priced it at professional repair shop prices because they don’t know that in the secondary typewriter market: condition is king.
The least experienced typist will know far more about the condition of a machine by putting their hands on it and trying it out. Does it generally work? Does the carriage move the full length of its travel? Can you set the margins at the extremes and space reliably from one end to another? Does it skip? Is the inside clean or full of decades of dried oil, dust, correction tape, white-out splatter, and eraser crumbs? Does the margin release work? Does it backspace properly? When typing “HHHhhhHHH” are the letters all printed well and on the same baseline?
Presumably a typewriter at an antique store will meet these minimum conditions (though be aware that many don’t as their proprietors have no idea about typewriters other than that if they wait long enough, some sucker will spend $150 on almost anything). They’ve done the work of finding a machine that (barely) works, housing it, and presenting it to the public for sale. This time and effort is worth something to the beginning typewriter enthusiast, but worth much, much less to the longer term practiced collector.
If everything is present and at least generally limping along, you’ve got yourself a $30 typewriter. Most people can spend a few hours watching YouTube videos and then manage to clean and lubricate a typewriter to get it functioning reasonably. You can always learn to do the adjustments from YouTube videos. (Or just take it to a typewriter repair shop and fork over $200-400 to get things squared.)
If you’re getting into collecting, you’ll make some useful mistakes by overpaying in the beginning and those mistakes will teach you a lot.
Maybe you’re a tinkerer and looking for a project? If so, then find the cheapest machine you can get your hands on (maybe a Royal KMM for $9 at thrift) and work your way through a home study course.
Otherwise, if you’re just buying one or two machines to use—by far—the best value you’ll find is to purchase a cleaned, oiled, and well-adjusted machine from a repair shop. Sure it might cost $350-600, but what you’ll save in time, effort, heartache, searching, repair, etc. will more than outweigh the difference. Additionally you’ll have a range of machines to choose from aesthetically and you can test out their feel to find something that works best for you.
Or, you could buy a reasonable machine like the one typically asked about for $40-70 and find out it needs cleaning, oiling, and adjusting and potentially a few repairs. The repair tab might run you an additional $450. Is it worth it when a repair shop would have sold you the same, a very similar, or an even better machine in excellent condition for $350? It also doesn’t take much work to realize the god-send that a properly packaged and shipped typewriter is worth.
Why Context is QueenRemember in asking about the cost and value/worth of a typewriter, you’re actually attempting to maximize a wide variety of unstated variables including, but not limited to:
The more time you’ve spent learning and doing all of these, the better “deals” you’ll find, but gaining this expertise is going to cost you a few years of life. What is all this “worth” when you just want to type on a machine that actually works as well as it was meant to?
Most of the prognostication you’ll find in online typewriter fora will be generally useless to you because you’re not readily aware of the context and background of the respondents with respect to all of the variables above. Similarly they’re working with no context about you, your situation, where you live, what’s available in your area, your level of typewriter knowledge, your aesthetic, or your budget. You don’t know what you don’t know. At the end of the day, you’re assuredly just as well off to use a bit of your intuition and putting your hands on a machine and trying it out. Then ask: “What is it worth to you?”
If you find yourself asking this question online, but you’re really asking: “Is this $50 typewriter highway robbery?”, the answer is generally: “no”. Alternately if the question is: “Is this $1,000 typewriter really this valuable?”, the vast majority of the time the answer is also probably also “no”.
More resources (and some of my own context) if you need them: https://boffosocko.com/research/typewriter-collection/
Happy typing.
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
While doing some research about Luhmann’s numbering system’s antecedents, I recently came across a “one pager” (typescript) written by Luhmann himself in the form of some lecture notes from 1968 that folks may appreciate.
Luhmann, Niklas. 1968-01-13. “Ms. 2906: Technik des Zettelkastens.” Münster, Germany. Lecture Notes. Niklas Luhmann Archiv, https://niklas-luhmann-archiv.de/bestand/manuskripte/manuskript/MS_2906_0001.
Seemingly everyone with a blog that ran across the idea of Zettelkasten in the last decade or so wrote up their own description of what it is. If you know of other blog posts about zettelkasten, let me know for my collection.
Of special note to those who are still under the misapprehension that Luhmann “invented the zettelkasten”, in the closing section of his 1968 notes he writes “In conclusion: from personal experience, others work differently” by which one understands that he’s aware of others who use similar systems and admits that they’re all idiosyncratic to their individual users. I would suspect that he gave this lecture while at Sozialforschungsstelle an der Universität Münster (Social Research Centre of the University of Münster) to students about how to arrange and do their own sociology research work.
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
4 x 6 inch index cards Product Sheet width
Generally, Exacompta cards are the closest in price per square foot to the nicer notebooks while most 4 x 6 inch index cards are comparatively much cheaper (even if you’re only writing on one side).
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
I’ve got word in for specific details about end dates for manufacturing and the last sales on some of these products. Apparently the last purchase of charging trays was someone wiping out their stock of 50 remaining units in the last two weeks.
This news comes a decade on the heels of the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) announcing that it printed its last batch of library card catalog cards on October 1, 2015.
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
A conversation with their customer service team seems to indicate there aren’t plans for discontinuing their other cards (blue, green, ivory, white, and buff), but: caveat emptor as they no longer list their card catalog furniture or their charging trays on their website, their Dewey Decimal tabbed cards are now gone, and Demco recently quit carrying their buff/red-lined Library of Congress cards this past year.
Incidentally, they’re doing a 20% discount on their index cards (and related circulation supplies) for the holidays right now, so stock up if you need them.
In honor of Melvil Dewey’s 174th birthday yesterday, I’ve just purchased 6,000 cards in an attempt to get them to continue stocking them all and to have a happier 2026.
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
His courses are thorough and rigorous, but geared toward lifelong learners and beginners in abstract mathematics to allow people better entry points into higher level mathematics. His classes are interesting and relatively informal, and most students who take one usually stay on for future courses. The vast majority of students in the class (from 16-90+ years old) take his classes for fun and regular exposure to mathematical thought, though there is an option to take it for a grade if you like. There are generally no prerequisites for his classes, and he makes an effort to meet the students at their current level of sophistication. Some background in calculus and linear algebra will be useful going into this particular topic.
If you’re in the Los Angeles area (there are regular commuters joining from as far out as Irvine, Ventura County and even Riverside) and interested in joining a group of dedicated hobbyist and professional mathematicians, engineers, physicists, and others from all walks of life (I’ve seen actors, directors, doctors, artists, poets, retirees, and even house-husbands in his classes), his class starts on January 6th at UCLA on Tuesday nights from 7-10PM.
If you’re unsure of what you’re getting into, I recommend visiting on the first class to consider joining us for the Winter quarter. Sadly, this is an in-person course. There isn’t an option to take this remotely or via streaming, and he doesn’t typically record his lectures. I hope to see all the Southern California math fans next month!
Course DescriptionA survey of those systems of numbers that can be constructed by adding “imaginary units” to the real numbers. The simplest and most familiar example is the two-dimensional system of complex numbers. Much less familiar, but equally fascinating, are the systems of quaternions and Cayley numbers, of dimensions four and eight, respectively. These “algebras” still enable meaningful notions of addition, multiplication, and division, but only at a price: the loss of commutativity and (in the case of Cayley numbers) associativity. Things get even more bizarre when sedenions (dimension 16) and trigintaduonions (dimension 32) are brought into play. The latter part of the course is devoted to the theorems of Hurwitz and Frobenius on the existence of suitably behaved division algebras over the real numbers.
The course should appeal to those seeking a better understanding of the arithmetical underpinnings of our number system.
Prerequisites: advanced calculus and linear algebra
January 6 – March 17
Tuesday 7:00PM – 10:00PM PT
REG# 407060
Fee: $450.00
Recommended textbook: TBD
Register here: https://www.uclaextension.edu/sciences-math/math-statistics/course/fundamentals-hypercomplex-numbers-math-900
If you’ve never joined the class before (Dr. Miller has been teaching these for 53 years and some of us have been with him for nearly that long; I’m starting into my 20th year personally), I’ve written up some tips and hints.
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
Of course, by itself, it may not make much sense, so for those interested in older indexing and filing systems, take a peek at Remington Rand’s textbook Progressive Indexing and Filing (1950) which provides lots of images, examples, and full descriptions by many of the bigger manufacturers.
Perhaps these, which are all fairly similar, may help someone in designing their indexing system for a zettelkasten or commonplace book practices.
The rest of the articles in the magazine also have some fascinating history.
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
And if you’re going to give out an award, it should involve a trophy of some sort, right?!? So naturally I went out and picked up a “4 x 6 inch index card” made out of India Black Granite that I plan on engraving with the Note of the Year. At 3/8ths of an inch thick, it is by a large stretch the thickest index card I have in my zettelkasten.
As it may be an interesting end-of-year review practice, I thought I would open up the “competition” to others who’d like to participate. Are there other categories one should enter cards for consideration?
What is your “Best Note of the Year”?
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
Even better, Tantek has already suggested a session on card catalogs that’s right up my alley: https://indieweb.org/2025/SD#Session_ideas.
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
Interestingly, I’ve recently come across versions of this same sort of tickler file recommended in mid-20th century textbooks for filing and indexing in business contexts:
Cadwallader, Laura Hanes, and Sarah Ada Rice. 1932. Principles of Indexing and Filing. Baltimore; Chicago: H.M. Rowe Company. page 134: https://archive.org/details/principlesofinde0000laur/page/134/mode/2up
Kahn, Gilbert, Theo Yerian, and Jeffrey R. Stewart, Jr. 1962. Progressive Filing and Records Management. 1st ed. New York: Gregg Publishing Division, McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc. page 190: https://archive.org/details/progressivefilin0000gilb/page/190/mode/2up
The careful observer will notice that both of the photos in texts by different authors nearly 30 years apart are the same! I would suspect that they’re from a manufacturer’s catalog (Remington Rand) earlier in the century. It’s even more interesting that one can still quickly create such a set up with commercially available analog office supplies now.
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
“Like a jam session for people who like typewriters. You had unions do sit-ins and hippies do be-ins, so I thought, ‘We’ll do a type-in.’”
—Michael McGettigan, 56, bike shop owner who coined the phrase
With attendees from 8 months old to over 80, our Spring type-in was so successful, we’re hosting another one before the end of the year. Bringing your own typewriter(s) and related ephemera is definitely encouraged, but is entirely optional.
Date
Saturday, November 29th, 2025
Time
1:00 – 4:00 PM
Location
Vroman’s Bookstore
695 E Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91101
2 blocks West of Lake Avenue, which has both East and Westbound exits off of the 210 Freeway.
We’ll be meeting upstairs on the second floor. Parking available behind the bookstore as well as on surrounding streets. There is a handicapped accessible ramp (from the parking lot in rear) and entrance(s) with an elevator to the second floor as well. (Hint: this is also available for those bringing their collections of standard typewriters.)
What is a Type-in?Type-ins are community-based, family friendly events at which typewriter enthusiasts share their love for the analog art of putting ink onto paper with mechanical marvels of the late 19th through 20th centuries. To do this they bring one or more manual typewriters and their knowledge and love of the machines to share with the community. New friends share stories, history, repair tips, working methods, and other typewriterly ephemera. Typists of all ages and levels of ability are welcome.
Typewriters optional
We definitely encourage those without their own machines to attend. With some luck and the kindness of new friends, you should be able to try out a variety of machines which are present in an effort to decide what styles and feel you might consider for purchasing one of your own one day (or for the upcoming holidays). Please kindly ask the owners’ permission before trying a machine out. If you’ve got multiple typewriters, feel free to bring an extra for a friend or two. Our current record for the attendee bringing the most typewriters is 6.
Below is a list of activities we might try based on the interests of the attendees:
View this post on InstagramVroman’s Bookstore
Vroman’s Bookstore is a Pasadena institution and SoCal’s oldest indie bookstore since 1894 (almost as old as the invention of the typewriter itself!) While you’re visiting, be sure to check out not only their book selection, but their gifts and cards; the wide array of notebooks, stationery items and their fantastic fountain pen counter; and their children’s section. Downstairs stop by their excellent wine bar or Tepito Coffee Shop which will be open for snacks and beverages throughout the day.
Looking for typewriter-related books as holiday gifts and stocking stuffers while you’re there? Ask for some of the following:
Our meeting space, which is frequently used for author talks and book signings, should be adequate, but please RSVP (with your expected number of typewriters) so we can plan for the appropriate amount of tables and chairs.
Questions? Media queries? Contact: ChrisAldrich@jhu.edu
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
A real writer’s typewriter is free and clear so that the carriage can move its full length.
This post was originally published on Chris Aldrich
