My generous readers have given great gifts to WordPlay Cincy, the typingest place in Cincinnati, Ohio.
First, thanks to Nicole for her cash gift to the organization! (You can donate too.)
Thanks to Ton for donating his Jetson-y Olivetti Studio 46! It’s a sturdy and bold typewriter from the ’70s, busily typing away in green here under the skilled fingers of a WordPlay volunteer. (You can also see the Smith-Corona I donated, and if you look closely, the Underwood no. 5 I cleaned up.)
Thanks to Nat of natslaptaps for donating this bright blue Royal Sahara! I may have to get one of these myself — it’s light, smooth, and precise. This young man’s eyes lit up as soon as I brought it in the door, and right away he was taking a look under the hood. (Nat is Australian, but the typewriter did not travel all the way from Australia; she paid for an American-to-American transaction via US eBay.)
Thank you, donors!
Here are three more views of the activity at WordPlay today.
Typewriters and smartphones in symbiosis. We can all get along!
Typewriters are for everyone: here’s a grownup at an Underwood Junior and a not-so-grown-up at an Underwood Noiseless Portable.
Even electronic wedges can get some love:
And here are some pictures I think you’ll enjoy from WordPlay’s Facebook page.
This gets better and better with each new set of pictures. Very thoughtful donations. The kids look like they are having a wonderful time.
Fantastic! :D
I absolutely love the picture of the guy on the tiny seat fiddling with the Underwood Junior.
Thank you so much again Richard!
I love this! This is so awesome. And great to see the guys helping out!
Electronic wedges! XD I love that!!
I spy a very nice Olivetti Studio 46 among the pictures. Very nice machine! The one in my collection is, in more than one sense, responsible for my starting collecting typewriters. I've been typing away on it since 1983 and it's still my favorite typer!
I am really impressed with the initiative; wish there was something like that around here. Then again, the lack of a similar "club" might be an opportunity to try and start something like that… maybe I'll start by placing a couple of typers in my shop and invite passersby to try them…
… silly me; of course I spy a Studio 46; you stated very clearly that Ton donated it. Talk about reading retention and being distracted by the awesome pictures… XD
Those are some wonderful donations. Those children look so energized and their interest in typing is impressive. Thanks for all your posts on Worplay. I hope I can contribute in the future.
Richard, so happy to see the Studio 46 in action at WordPlay! It sure is being put to use in a more purposeful way than just sitting on my shelf awaiting its round among 14 other typewriters. As I told you, I've always imagined it to be a draw for the younger set since it is bold and fun. Thanks to you for opening up this chance for us to participate even in a token way. And many thanks to Libby for her wonderful vision.
Nat, you are awesome to send a machine in the long distance way you did!
I think this is a great program you have there near you. I hope you'll provide updates periodically. I was casting about looking for something similar in my own bailiwick and just moments ago I saw a promo for one near my home. I immediately got on their blog and offered typewriters. We'll see what they say. If they take some I'll blog it.
It's just amazing that typing-technology is so old that now, for this generation, it's become a novelty!! I think in one pic I saw the volunteer caressing her iphone!
I love the little testimonial! Recently, I found the two words "liebe schreibmaschine" in a thrift store typewriter that hadn't seen any love in a couple of weeks or months.
"This is a cool typewritter, it does things like type and be awsome."
:D
Great!
Look at those smiles! What a wonderful place for kids to learn and play. Nice to see the adults among them using he typers too.
There's just something about the sight of children in front of typewriters that warms my heart!
What a great program in the neighborhood! Wonderful post.
Thank you for sharing more of this with us. I really want to make a trip up there sometime and see this place.
How would one go about donating a typewriter to this program? I have one I might like to send over in the future. It'd be a bit as I need to work on it a little but it's a nice light-weight plastic machine.. in like a power blue too. I think it's Starlite, maybe?
Thanks!
Send me an e-mail (polt@xavier.edu) and I can help out by receiving the typewriter and getting it to WordPlay.