Category: Social Stream

Acquired Early 1900s Wooden Woodstock Standard Typewriter Shipping Crate (Woodstock Typewriter Company, Woodstock, ILL, U.S.A.)
I acquired this Woodstock Typewriter crate earlier this month to pair with my 1938 Woodstock No. 5 standard typewriter. 

A black enamel 1938 Woodstock No. 5 sitting on a desk next to a wooden Woodstock Standard Typewriter Crate.

Usually it’s only portable typewriters that come with cases. But often unseen and unsaved are the “cases” that came with the larger standard typewriters. These are usually unseen because they were heavy wooden crates that standard typewriters were originally shipped in, but which the dealer discarded or recycled once a customer bought their typewriter.

The crate has the company logo and some advertising as well as a typewriter stamped/embossed with ink into the larger front and back sides as well as some unpacking instructions and a handle with care admonishment on the top. The two short sides of the crate have “handles” carved into the wood to make it easier to carry. But “easy” is a tough word to use as unloaded, the crate itself weighs in at 15.9 pounds which is roughly what a portable typewriter might weigh by itself. If you add the 34.2 pounds of my Woodstock No. 5 typewriter to it, you’re looking at an overall weight of just over 50 pounds.

Oblique angle on a wooden crate sitting on a glass desktop. Semi-circular cut outs have been made to the slats of wood on the side so as to fabricate a handle.

Of interest, the top of the crate indicates that although it should be shipped “This side up”, to remove the typewriter, one should flip the crate over and remove the 12 wood screws holding the bottom of the crate on. This allows access to four cross braces that are locked into the crate by the bottom. The braces have four large screws in them which would have held the typewriter physically bolted into the case upside down. Presumably, one would have removed the typewriter and the cross braces as a unit and then removed the four bolts to allow the typewriter to be either placed onto or bolted into a desk depending on the desk type.

A view down onto the top of a stained an patina covered Woodstock Typewriter Crate which has a shipping label stained and mostly peeled off.

The inside of the crate featuring four cross braces held firmly into the bottom. The two braces across the long end of the box have two large screws drilled up through them which would have held the typewriter in place.

I’m unsure of the age of the crate and don’t have much in terms of provenance. The typewriter pictured on the case seems to be an early version of the Woodstock No. 5 between 1916 and 1931 when the typewriter had openings on the side of the machine. After 1931 these openings were supplied with covers and after 1936 they had removable hoods which covered the typebasket, a feature that isn’t depicted on this crate. 

My 1938 Woodstock only has two bolt holes on the bottom which presumably would have been used to bolt it into a desk (or in shipping). Looking at earlier models of Woodstock machines might help to narrow down the age range of this crate by finding machines which would have used all four bolts/screws in this crate to dovetail with the bottoms of those machines.

Close up of the front side of a Woodstock typewriter crate. It features the Woodstock stylized name over the words "The Typewriter" sandwiching an image of the typewriter itself.

Condition

The crate isn’t in bad shape given that it’s likely an antique at this point. There is some obvious wear to the wood as well as patina, but the writing and images are fairly clear. The shipping label on the top is nearly worn off and only partially legible. The edges of some of the wood are worn and the top is missing most of its original nails, but this allows one to easily open up the crate and use a portion of the top as a “lid”. Only four of the original wood screws are present to hold the bottom of the crate on and the cross-braces locked into place.

Angle on the top corner of the crate showing some of the wear and patina to the wood. One of the nails holding one plank of the lid on can be seen sticking out about an eighth of an inch.

Close up of one of the extant wood screws on the bottom of the crate. The edges of the wood show some heavy wear.

A close up of the very worn shipping label on the top of the crate. One can make out some words like "REPAID", "... Express Agency", Waybill Label", "5966", "BY SHIPPER" on different parts of the label.

Display in the collection

I’m not yet sure how I’ll use or display this crate with the rest of my typewriter collection. It has been sitting on the floor next to one of my reading chairs and it’s actually tall enough that it functions pretty well as a side table to hold a book, some notes, and the occasional glass of whisky. Once I’ve blown out the dirt and dust inside it and removed the four inconvenient packing screws, I might use the crate to store some books. It could probably also hold two or three 1970s era portable typewriters in their cases too… 

Do you have any crates in your collection? How do you display them? What alternate use cases do you employ them in?

Wooden typewriter crate sitting on a steel table in front of several card index filing cabinets and a bookcase.

RSVPed Attending QWERTY! A Typewriter Festival
Clicky-clack, we are bringing the typewriters back on Saturday, June 27, from 12 pm to 5 pm, in celebration of National Typewriter Day!

Experience the timeless beauty of typewriters as you test your speed and precision in a typewriter contest, hear from typewriter experts, join in the collaborative process of writing “never-ending tales” on vintage typewriters, look for hidden gems in our scavenger hunt, and much more.

Local vendors and makers are offering typo-o-grams, original poetry, themed merch, retro treasures, hand-crafted greeting cards, and even fully working typewriters for sale. Guests can bring their own typewriter to show, share, use, or get an estimate for repair.

There’s something uniquely inspiring about the sound and feel of these classic machines! Special thanks to Typewriter Connection, our event co-host.

Tickets are $15 for adults, or $12 for students/seniors.
Last year’s event was fantastic, so I’m looking forward to all the things on “tap, tap, tap” for this year. Come and celebrate National Typewriter Day in Southern California.
Acquired 1977 Olympia Report de Luxe Electric Portable Typewriter (SKE Model) (Olympia-Werke AG)
Serial Number: 46-0171787
Olympia Pica No. 12 typeface, 10 pitch, 2.6m/m, 6 lines/inch, keyset tabulator, half-space spacing, vertical spacing, portable, bichrome, segment shift, American keyboard, 44 keys, 88 characters, white and gray plastic body with grey hood and gray plastic keys with white characters
Manufactured in Wilhelmshaven, Germany
Along with Ron Rosenbaum, Steven Levy, Patricia Highsmith, and the fictional Frank Navasky of You’ve Got Mail fame, I have joined the Quiet Cult of the Olympia Report de Luxe Electric Typewriter.

I acquired this at thrift for $21.95 on 2026-05-10 for Mother’s Day in immaculate condition! It’s as if someone used it to type up a few essays then put it in the case for 49 years. Other than some minor wear, this may be the singularly cleanest typewriter I’ve ever purchased. As my first typebar electric Olympia, I was so looking forward to taking it apart and giving it a full clean, oil, and adjust, but beyond wiping off some exterior dust, this machine really needs no work. I’m both disappointed and elated at the same time. 

A frontal view of 1977 Olympia Report de Luxe typewriter sitting on an oak library card catalog next to a bowl of pink decorative balls

Typesample of a frontal view of 1977 Olympia Report de Luxe typewriter on a yellow manilla tag

Close up view of the keyboard of a Olympia Report de Luxe typewriter. Several of the keys like the x, -, and / are in red to indicate that they auto-repeat.

View down onto the carriage of a Olympia Report de Luxe typewriter

Close up of a sales and service sticker on the hood of a Olympia Report de Luxe typewriter. In gray with gold lettering it reads "J&H Office Equipment, 119 E. Main | PH 587-7104 | Bozeman

Oblique view from the left side of a Olympia Report de Luxe typewriter. In the front left corner of the keyboard is a switch for setting and clearing tabs.

“Now listen to this. 
The gentle and soothing lullaby of a piece of machinery so perfect –”
—Frank Navasky, YOU’VE GOT MAIL (Warner Bros., 1998)

Close up of the line selector mechanism on a Olympia Report de Luxe typewriter

Silver paper support with a gray plastic extender sticking up out of the back of an Olympia Report de Luxe typewriter

Angle view from the front right corner of a Olympia Report de Luxe typewriter

View of the right side of a Olympia Report de Luxe typewriter at table height.

Close up of a model sticker on the lower right side of a Olympia Report de Luxe typewriter next to it's power cord. We see that it's listed as "typewriter model SKE" and that it uses 115V, 60Hz, 50 Watt power and is UL listed.

Plastic gearing in the ribbon cup area of a Olympia Report de Luxe typewriter

Rear view of a Olympia Report de Luxe typewriter with the words Olympia International imprinted on the white part of the main body.

View from the rear of a Olympia Report de Luxe typewriter toward the keyboard, of which we can only see two rows of keys

View down onto the typebasket of a Olympia Report de Luxe typewriter with the hood removed.

Close up of 9 of the gleaming slugs on a Olympia Report de Luxe typewriter with the foundry marks "12" | "66" in their middles.

Bottom of a Olympia Report de Luxe typewriter featuring a small window with the serial number, the typewriter's rubber feet, and a small sticker indicating the importer.

A small window in the bottom of the Olympia Report de Luxe typewriter shows the serial number stamped on the metal chassis beneath the plastic cover.

Distributor sticker on the bottom of a Olympia Report de Luxe typewriter indicating that it's "Distributed by Olympia USA, Inc., Box 22, Sommerville, NJ

Acquired 1938 Woodstock No. 5 Standard typewriter (Woodstock)
Serial Number: 8-12-512178E
Elite (12 CPI), 6 lines/inch, bichrome, keyset tabulator, typebar hood, 12" carriage, carriage shift, American keyboard, 42 keys, 84 characters, foundry marks: alpha: backwards "2 slash", numeric: "8", in black enamel with glass keys, manufactured in the U.S.A.
My first ever Woodstock. Acquired via thrift for $50 on 2026-05-08. Possibly a bit more expensive than it might have otherwise been, but the key rings are in stunning shape, and the work to polish them is easily worth several hundred in labor! The decals are also in exceptional condition. Aside from some cosmetic damage to the typebar hood, this machine is in exceptionally great cosmetic condition and will be even more so following a full polish of the body and the brights.

Quick initial work

  • Naturally it needs a new ribbon, but it’s got enough ink left for a quick typesample.
  • A fast dusting and a preliminary scrub of the carriage rails and a few other parts with isopropyl alcohol and it’s ready for some basic work. Primarily the return lever and the margin sets were very gummy, while the keylevers had some pretty good action without any attention. (Someone really loved this machine.)
  • The carriage return lever needed some forming so that it no longer scrapes on the typebar hood.
  • A quick cleaning of the slugs which were in reasonable shape. List of work to be done:
  • The tabulator needs some adjustment to work properly as the tab mechanism is sitting a bit high and causes the carriage to scrape.
  • It’s going to need a ring and cylinder adjustment so that it’s not damaging the platen anymore, though the platen is so hard that it needs replacement anyway.
  • The rubber feet are usable, but need replacement.
  • The space key also may need some timing attention, but perhaps the slow symptoms will disappear with a full cleaning?
  • The rulers (5!) are slightly out of adjustment.
  • Full clean, oil, and adjust A day’s worth of cleaning and some modest adjustments and this should be a fantastic little machine.

Interesting features

  • I love the fact that this has some interesting paper fingers. They don’t seem to be well-suited to index card work however.
  • The unique ribbon reverse mechanism (a small metal button) is adjustable on either side.
  • It doesn’t have an individual tab clear button, but, in lieu, has a clear all tabs lever.
  • I love the design of the ribbon color selector which requires pulling a spring-loaded button out to switch colors—no accidental color changes here.
  • Rather than a traditional “margin release” button it has a “line lock release”, but like the Olympia SG series, it only locks when typing characters, but will blow past the margins if using the spacebar.
  • Rather than a more common line space selector, this has a knurled knob that needs to be pulled out and set with a pin-type mechanism. This also means that the selector can’t accidentally change its setting for any reason.
  • The Woodstock No. 5 is an early carriage shift standard
  • The typebar hood is made of some sort of early plastic and slides onto the top of the machine. While it’s borne the brunt of most of the machine’s cosmetic damage, it is easy to remove for typing “naked”. It goes on quickly to help protect the internals from ambient dust.

According to the TWdB page for the Woodstock, the 8-12 prefix on the serial number indicates a 12″ carriage (the width of the rubber portion of the platen). There isn’t any extant detail to indicate what the suffix “E” in the serial number means, though one might presume the elite or 12 pitch typeface?

Historic Users of the Woodstock

Users of Woodstock typewriters included:

  • Robert Bloch
  • Howard Fast
  • Alger Hiss (1929 standard )
  • Sir Patrick Moore
  • J.C. Oldfield (editor of the Associated Press’s London bureau, 1930s)
  • Gordon Parks (“Can you dig it?”)

Woodstock manuals

Richard Polt has manuals for the Woodstock available on his site at: 

A frontal view of a Woodstock standard typewriter in black enamel sits on a black wooden bar next to an old fashioned glass and the several bottles of liquor.

An angle on the keyboard of a Woodstock typewriter keyboard. The silver keyrings and glass top keys gleam without any tarnish.

Type sample of a Woodstock No. 5 typewriter showing off it's standard elite-sized type in upper and lower case.

Acquired 1947 Underwood SS Rhythm Touch Standard Typewriter (Underwood Corporation)
Serial Number: 11-6139621
Underwood Pica typeface, 10 pitch, 6 lines/inch; bichrome, segment shift, American keyboard, 42 keys, 84 characters
in black crinkle paint with black plastic keys and Art Deco chrome trim
Manufactured in the U.S.A.
Acquired at Goodwill Southern California for $20.28 including tax on 2026-05-06. Needs a full clean, oil, and adjust, but not in generally bad shape. Two or three mechanical issues to sort out, but it’s got some new ink and a quick wipe down/dusting has helped immensely. 

I’m in love with the Art Deco chrome styling. This was manufactured sometime between January and June 1947.

Typewritten sample of a 1947 Underwood SS standard typewriter with layouts of the upper and lower case slugs as well as the machine details and the pangram "the quick red fox jumps over the lazy dog."