An Ancient Blickensderfer
One of the very first electric typewriters
I'm excited about my own family history, but I wasn't sure if it was interesting to anyone else until today. My grandfather invented the electric typewriter, and now that Dad is moving to our house, we had to find a place for his 20 antique typewriters. I found a great website online that bought antique typewriters for lots of money, but Dad would have none of it. So I Googled "typewriter museum" and got a list. They were all over the U.S., but one was in Ventura!!! So I called the Ventura County Historical Museum, and they came out today to look at our collection. Before she came, I had no idea how she would react. What if she said "Well, we're really not interested." What if our treasure was treated like items being picked over at a garage sale? I needn't have worried. The woman oohed and aaahed and almost jumped up and down. She made all the appropriate responses that made my heart sing. We have the original patent from the patent office, and old pictures, pay stubs, and ads that turns out are valuable by themselves. She was a little unsure how to tie it all to Ventura County, even though I was a resident. After all, I've only lived here 20 years, and my grandfather never lived here. Then when I mentioned I was a Pinkerton, (a long-time Ventura County ranching family), it was as if she had struck gold. "Oh, we know
your family's history backwards and forwards. " So, I think they're going to take all the beautiful machines and take good care of them. Very rarely do I get a chance to make someone happy by checking something off
my list, so I'm thrilled.
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