A week after Boston’s last typewriter shop, Cambridge Typewriter, officially closed, typewriters were still to be heard in the Boston area, tapping and clacking amid conversation and general enjoyment.

Stationery store, The Paper Mouse, in West Newton, Massachusetts, played host, while I provided fourteen typewriters and led the event.

Several storefronts down from their retail shop is the lovely event space, The Paper Mouse Atelier. Here we gathered one rainy Saturday morning in April for analog fun—a typewriter letter-writing workshop.

Join in National Letter Writing Month with dedicated time to write. With a restored vintage typewriter for each participant to use and a goodie bag of stationery to keep, come and enjoy the clatter of these beautiful machines and time to craft letters to loved ones. There will be two brief talks and lots of time for making.

This was a paid event and sold out almost overnight.

It wasn’t the first typewriter event the store had hosted. In 2019, Arthur Grau’s Type Bar was a welcome guest in the Atelier for an evening of writing.

A 2017 letter-writing event led by Arthur Grau at the Gardner Museum prompted me to get my first typewriter. I had, subsequently, connected The Type Bar with my favorite Boston-area stationery store.

Arthur Grau no longer holds events, and I am grateful and humbled to find I can now provide enough machines for such a gathering.

Preparing Typewriters

In the week after Tom Furrier’s retirement party, over several days, I tested and cleaned each machine intended for the letter-writing event. And hoped I wouldn’t need Tom’s typewriter repair help!

I also made sure there was a label for each case and machine. The labels included name, year, and sample of each key. It helps participants choose a machine when they can see the typeface, and also get basic questions answered, such as “What year is this?” or “What’s this typewriter called?”

On the back of each label, I added specifics like the location of the lock or any unusual key or feature. Though if someone hasn’t used a typewriter before, almost everything is an unusual feature.

Labeling the cases makes putting the machines away easier. The slight differences between cases, especially the early ones, make it easy to forget which goes where at the end of a long day.

(Click on any image to see full screen)

The lonely Smith-Corona Silent-Super who wasn’t coming to the party. All the machines ready. Inside that jazzy painted case is the most staid machine of them all: a Royal QDL Drefuss model.

On the Day

All loaded and tucked in. A Suburu Outback easily holds fourteen typewriters.

Setting up. I included a typewriter pad made of kitchen shelf liner in each case, so I didn’t forget them.

While cleaning and prepping machines, I had the idea of arranging them by age. It made an interesting visual down the long, narrow room. 1920s to ’40s down one side; ’50s to ’70s on the other.

“See if you can figure out how the typewriters are arranged,” I suggested as attendees arrived.

Each was labeled with its age, so it wasn’t too hard to figure out, but the initial puzzle helped participants mingle and also get a good look at all the typewriters before picking one to try.

Only a few attendees were frequent typewriter users. Some had never used one, others remembered the machine they learned on as a teen in high school, or that a parent or grandparent had used. Lots of reminiscing and exclamations.

Footage for the Boston University Documentary

The Boston University film student in charge of making a documentary about the closing of Cambridge Typewriter joined us for this event and hopes to include footage in her finished project.

She filmed the talk my teen gave about the importance of letter writing. She captured the general scene and close-ups of people typing, interviewed attendees, and invited everyone there to the documentary’s screening in May.

Filming close-ups of letter-writing and typewriter use. Meanwhile, the youngest attendee was enamored with the oldest typewriter.

A Fun Event!

Jenny Zhang (right)—owner of The Paper Mouse, with her husband, Victor Lee—joined in the fun

The Hunter Red Smith-Corona Galaxie pictured above is this year’s giveaway typewriter

Letter Writing

We were there primarily to type letters.

I provided an ample stack of paper and encouraged participants to play around with their chosen typewriter, to get used to how it worked, and ask questions, before diving into the lovely stationery provided by the store.

What to Write During Letter-Writing Month, a blog post from the team at The Paper Mouse

Participants left with a stack of letters each, ready to send. They had enjoyed using a typewriter and making in community with others, offline.

We plan to hold the event again, hopefully in the fall.

Typewriters Used

It was fun sharing these beautiful and functional machines, and they each worked well.

1929 Duotone Orchid Remington Portable 3
1929 Underwood Standard Portable in green woodgrain finish
1931 black Royal P
1931 Underwood 4-Bank in two-tone green
1935 black Royal O
1949 Royal Quiet DeLuxe Drefuss model
1956 Alpine Blue Smith-Corona Silent-Super with blue-green ribbon
1959 Hunter Red Smith-Corona Galaxie (this year’s giveaway typewriter)
1961 Hermes Rocket
1965 tomato red Royal Safari
1970 Swedish Facit 1620
1972 cursive Olympia SM8.

Backup typewriters:

1952 Smith-Corona Skyriter
Additional Hermes Rocket, 1960 model

Open House

A mom and teen drove quite a distance for the open house hour afterwards, and typewriter collector and friend of Cambridge Typewriter, John Levine, stopped by with his 1948 Hermes Baby and had fun comparing it to the Hermes Rocket I’d brought.

John Levine was very taken with the labels I used and spent some time searching for them online, so I emailed him a photo of the brand I used when back home. (Picture links to product. Affiliate link.)

He said he wanted to be equipped with the team labels!

I didn’t think I’d ever get through a box of one hundred, but they’re going fast.

The Paper Mouse

Celebrating their tenth anniversary, The Paper Mouse store is an official vendor for Traveler’s Notebooks, Sailor pens, Hobonichi products, Esterbrook, Galen leather, and sells favorites such as Diamine inks and more, including their own branded products.

They are an official stop on the Traveler’s Company Stamp Caravan. Leuchtturm1917 holds notebook personalization events around the holidays, a nib meister holds events, and the store’s annual birthday party, each November, is a wonderful time for trying out pens, inks, and different notebooks.

The Paper Mouse also helped found Stationery Store Day with the Hudson, MA, store, Calliope Paperie.

I found The Paper Mouse store when attending the Boston premiere of the documentary, California Typewriter, at the nearby West Newton Cinema. We found parking outside the store. Peering through the late-night Atelier window, I was astonished to see fliers for watercolor, journaling, and hand lettering classes. It was as though someone had designed a space just for me.

I knew I’d be back!

I have been a constant customer ever since, and it was an honor to facilitate this event for them.