Every week, the AWM is excited to bring you stories written by our visitors in our Story of the Day exhibit, which features typewriters that visitors can interact with directly. Check back weekly for new stories, and visit the Museum to try out our typewriters and possibly be featured here! Today is also National Book Lovers Day! These stories were all chosen because you can just tell they come from people who love great books. 📚
The Importance of Children’s Literature
This visitor is so right! Love of great stories (and great books) starts early. There’s a lot to see and love for kids no matter where they are in the Museum.
How I wish your Children’s room was bigger. All stories begin when we are children. Love of stories is ingrained early on and they never end.
MJP
Typing Like the Greats
This visitor enjoyed typing on the same model as many great writers. You can too at our Story of the Day exhibit, which features several replicas of those featured in our Tools of the Trade temporary exhibit.
This typewriter is similar to those used by Evan S. Connell and Tennessee Williams, who owned many different makes and models of writing machines in his long career. WOW
Great American Novels
This visitor is amazed that so many great books were written on typewriters. And so are we! Come start the next great American novel today.
Many times when you see a typewriter, there is an accompanying sign telling you in no uncertain terms that you are not to touch it. But perhaps we should touch them to connect with our history, to experience what came before, to gain perspective on the challenges that came before us. It is amazing that some of our great American novels were written this way. I have already made so many typos because I have not typed the keys hard enough or didn’t take the ding seriously and ran out of room. Or simply misclicked. Every typo would require a new draft or whiteout. Thank goodness I live in the era of computers!