Typewriter Museum Peter Mitterhofer

Typewriter Museum Partschins

The typewriter museum Peter Mitterhofer in Partschins ( South Tyrol ) shows the development history of the typewriter from its beginnings to the 1980s with around 2000 exhibits . Peter Mitterhofer was a pioneer in typewriter development.

history

The computer scientist Kurt Ryba, who was born in Merano , left his extensive collection of typewriters to the municipality of Partschins. Together with the estate of Peter Mitterhofer, this formed the basis of today's museum. In 1993 the provisional museum was opened in the former elementary school, and in 1997 it moved to the newly built "Teisenhaus" in the center of the village.

Permanent exhibition

The museum has 460 m² of exhibition space on four levels. Around 400 machines are shown, and the archive contains a further 1,600 exhibits.

On the ground floor there are works by Peter Mitterhofer, including a replica of his first so-called “writing apparatus” from 1864 (the original is in the possession of the Technisches Museum Wien ). The "TU Dresden" device from 1865 can be viewed on loan from the Technical University of Dresden . This device was previously thought to be a replica, in 2006, among other things, dendrological investigations proved that this machine was made from South Tyrolean wood.

There are two pieces by Sholes & Glidden , as well as Remingtons from the 19th century and specimens by Mignon and Blickensderfer . Cipher machines are exhibited on the first floor , an Enigma I , a Nema and a Hagelin M-209 are on display. On the 2nd floor are booking engines , the first electric typewriters, z. B. Mercedes Electra, and minicomputers as well as the Olivetti P203 will be presented.

A highlight of the collection is a writing ball of Malling-Hansen from 1867, a very rare, mass-produced typewriter. 200 children's typewriters round off the collection.