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I recently started to collect typewriters and I want to host and put together a type in for my local area at my coffee shop.
1. What is the best way to go about this?
2. What do you usually do at a type in, yeah I know, type.. but contests or ??
any help would be great.
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Show & Tell. Speed-contests. Demonstrations. Letting others use your machine/s...just a few suggestions.
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Good that gets me started
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Where do you live?
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Millersburg Ohio
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Supply paper and envelopes, maybe even stamps, and invite visitors to write and post letters to their friends and relatives.
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so then you would open it up to the public... I think I'll leave my Oliver No 9 Typeprint at home.. but I would take my Hermes Rocket, SC Sterling and my Underwood 319
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If it were my machines, I'd leave the Rocket at home too. The Sterling and 319 will handle whatever punishment a public demonstration will throw their way.
I would try to attract other typewriter collectors to the type-in, because for an event like this, the more machines that are made available for use, the more options you will have.
For example, you could dedicate a machine to each event of the type-in, one for guest book entries, another for free typing, a machine could also be dedicated to a fiction story that each typer has to add to, and maybe one just for short poems.
I also like Mr. Höhne's suggestion a lot. I think those unfamiliar with typewriters will find it an interesting experience to hammer out a page to someone they know.
Good luck!
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good to know..
I think the next step is to get permission to make some flyers and get permission from my local coffee shop just to find out if anyone else collects typewriters in the area. If I'm the only one.. well.. then it was a nice idea.. I live in a small town.. very small so... it will be interesting to see who responds.
what about drinks.. I mean I want the coffee shop to sell a lot of coffee but I'd feel a little nervous with someone sitting by one of my typewriters with a cup of hot coffee.. do type-ins have a no drink by the typewriter rule?
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Personally, I wouldn't worry about coffee near a typewriter - if I did I'd never get any typing done - because spilling coffee on a machine wouldn't hurt it. You would of course have to clean it afterwards, but that's a small price to pay and it's highly unlikely that it would happen in the first place. Besides, I'm sure the owner of the coffee shop would appreciate if the people using his space were also paying customers.
Is there a larger city near your smaller town? If so, I'd be sure to spread the word far and wide; most enthusiasts wouldn't mind driving a bit to meet other people interested in typers. Even if you only get a few people to participate, you might just end up turning someone else on to using typewriters, and at the same time instantly double the number of collectors in your town.