[GreenKeys] The Teletype Corp. Museum

[jhhaynes at earthlink.net]

At last we have a definitive report.  Bill Lill gave me a page from some
publication dated May 1986 and titled "The Blickensderfer doesn't live
here anymore"

Says the museum consisted of about 700 pieces, most of which were stored
in crates and about 50 on display in the R&D building.  In the late 70s
when the population outgrew the R&D building the display items were crated
and stored.

First they contacted Smithsonian, which already had extensive Western
Union and Kleinschmidt collections and wanted only about 30 pieces from
Teletype.  The rest were distributed to other museums:
	Chicago Museum of Science and Industry
	Edison Institute, Dearborn, Michigan
	Franklin Institute, Philadelphia
	Antique Wireless Association, Holcomb, NY
	Science Museum, London, England
	U.S. Army Signal Corps Museum, Ft. Gordon, GA
	U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Museum, Ft. Monmouth, NJ
	New England Museum of Telephony, Prides Crossing, MA
	National Museum of Science and Technology, Ottawa, Ontario
	Milwaukee Public Museum

Milwaukee has one of the best collections of typewriters.  One they were
missing was the Blickensderfer Electric, the first electric typewriter,
which was the basis of some early Teletype models.  Also some pieces
went to AT&Ts corporate archives.

There is a paragraph about Ran Slayton's work, says he cataloged the
apparatus in 12 books with photos and descriptions.  He also produced a
video tape and slide show.  The text that goes with the slide show is
on Gil Smith's web site, among other places.  Some people have told me
they have copies of the video and will send me a copy, but so far none
has come through.  The article says the catalogs tell which museums
received which pieces; but I don't know where the catalogs are.

The article also says some machines will remain in Skokie - but of course
the plant is Skokie is long gone.
-- 

jhhaynes at earthlink dot net