A Typer’s Dozen: Richard Polt

There are celebrities among all walks of life — that includes the typewriter community of course. While Tom Hanks happens to be a very well known celebrity who loves typewriters, I view Richard Polt as a bonafide “typewriter celebrity”. Richard wrote what many have come to view as the seminal book on how so many of us use, relate to and care for typewriters in this day and age, “The Typewriter Revolution: A Typist’s Companion for the 21st Century”. In addition to his highly regarded book, Richard maintains a couple of websites that every typewriter enthusiast and collector should have bookmarked.

The first is The Classic Typewriter Page, which is an amazing resource for anyone who loves typewriters. Among other things, The Classic Typewriter Page contains an amazing collection of typewriter owners manuals that have been collected and scanned over many years’ time covering a truly dizzying array of various makes and models. While the second site, appropriately titled The Typewriter Revolution, contains information about Richard’s book and hosts Richard’s blog featuring his own personal typecasting efforts. Not surprisingly, here you will also find the Typosphere Blog Roll appearing on the home page. This monitors the most recent activity across the entire typosphere (made up of sites such as this one that are focused predominantly on typecasting).

For most people, the above would represent enough typewriter-related activity to more than get their fill. Yet that still doesn’t cover the full extent of Richard’s involvement in the world of typewriters. From 2006-2012 and again from 2015-2019, he served as the editor of ETCetera magazine. In addition, Richard carries out typewriter repair on the side as a way to raise money for a local nonprofit, more on that below. It’s safe to say that if there is anyone whose name is synonymous with typewriters at this point in time, it is Richard Polt.

Speaking from personal experience, I’ve come to learn that Richard’s passion for typewriters is matched by his enthusiasm for and support of the typewriter community itself. In my case this support came via encouragement for this blog which he actually takes time to read now and again. Others have reported that Richard went so far as to stay in touch regarding individual typewriter purchases as they themselves were finding their footing in the world of typewriter collecting. How Richard finds the time do all of these things is beyond me. Especially when you consider that he still finds a way to manage his day job as an associate dean for the College of Arts and Sciences, while also serving as a professor of philosophy at Xavier University. With that in mind, I must give special thanks to Richard for taking the time to participate in A Typer’s Dozen. This series would have felt incomplete without his inclusion.

Q: How many years have you been a typewriter enthusiast/collector, and how many typewriters would you estimate that have you owned in total over this time, including those machines that you’ve sold, loaned out or given away to others?

A: I’ve always enjoyed typewriters, but became fanatical in 1994. I’ve owned maybe 500 typewriters since then. At https://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/tw-collection.html I list about 200 machines currently in my collection and 200 that I’ve sold or given away. But there are some in my collection that I haven’t gotten around to listing there, and there are many more that I’ve owned temporarily and resold to raise money for a local nonprofit, WordPlay Cincy, or that are parts machines.

Q: What was your first typewriter and how did you end up with it?

A: When I was about 12 and around the time I was taking typing class in junior high, my dad bought me a Remington Noiseless no. 7 at a garage sale.

Q: If you could only keep just one typewriter out of those that you own, which one would it be and why?

A: That Remington! It’s not a rare model, but it’s my sentimental favorite, and I still use it. I wrote 80 pages of fiction with it in December 2020. It’s satisfying to keep a thing with you for most of your lifetime.

Q: Out of all the typewriters that have passed through your hands over the years, is there a particular typewriter that you wish you could have back?

A: I’ve been trying to slim down my collection, and since I do love every machine in it for one reason or another, there are often moments when I think fondly of a typewriter and then remember, a bit wistfully, that I sold it to someone else. For instance, a beautiful Adler 32 or Aztec 600 or early Gossen Tippa. But then I think of my friends who are now enjoying these typewriters, and I feel much better.

Q: Which typewriter took the most time and/or effort for you to obtain?

A: I’m not sure, but I think of my ergonomic Rheinmetall portable with Thai keyboard. When I found out it was on display in a Bangkok hotel, I wrote to the hotel saying that I’d be interested. I heard nothing until the hotel owner wrote to me a year later saying it was available. Then we had to settle on a price, and it had to be shipped from Southeast Asia. 

Q: Would you say that you’ve spent more time working on typewriters or typing with them?

A: Typing. But for the last 15 years or so, I have been doing repairs, and now that is a regular part of my hobby (I do it to raise money for WordPlay).

Q: What single development stands out to you for having the most positive impact on yourself as a typewriter enthusiast/collector?

A: Starting a blog in 2010 connected me to a community of typewriter users (not just collectors) and eventually inspired me to write The Typewriter Revolution.

Q: What one piece of advice would you give to those who are just getting started with typewriters?

A: Appreciate the common machines—they were successful for a reason—and don’t be shy about taking them apart to understand how they work. 

Q: What are all of the uses have you’ve found for your typewriters (be it correspondence, writing books, typecasting, etc.) and which one of those would you say has consumed the most of your “typing time”?

A: I use them for writing letters, commenting on my students’ work, brainstorming, typecasting, and writing poetry and fiction. Probably my most common use has been typecasting for my blog.

Q: If you could modify a movie, TV show, or a song from the past to include a typewriter in some way, what would your choice be and how would you involve the typewriter?

A: Forrest Gump should come up with the idea for the Selectric.

Q: What other things in life do you enjoy besides typewriters?

A: Cycling, swimming, playing the piano, and collecting the works of eccentric mystery writer Harry Stephen Keeler.

Q: What one question do you wish someone would ask you about typewriters or typewriting that you haven’t been asked thus far (and how would you answer that question)?

A: I don’t think anyone has ever asked me what my favorite color is for typewriters. I have a special fondness for a certain blue-green that I never see on machines. I brought the panels of my Olympia SG1 to an auto body shop which painted them that color for me. It looks great!