A private typewriter museum is located in Krasnogorsk. The exhibition is based on Maxim Suravegin's personal collection, which includes over a thousand working exhibits. It is the largest collection in Russia, ranked among the world's top 10 museums; it contains unique examples of typing devices and includes the most extensive typewriter library.
The exhibition features a variety of common and rare typewriters. Here you can see popular Underwood machines, produced in a mass run of five million units; the Oliver with its 'bat-wing' design; Mercedes machines; the Lambert with its original telephone-dial–like construction; machines for printing astrological forecasts; Keaton music typewriters; typewriters with hieroglyphs; typewriters with Braille for visually impaired people; and much more. All exhibits are organized by manufacturer and have a rich history.
The exhibition includes a Sholes and Glidden machine, thanks to which the world learned about the famous 'QWERTY' layout. The first version of its origin claims that the layout was created to separate frequently used letters and prevent the type bars from jamming during fast typing. The second origin story is no less interesting: the top row of the layout contains all the letters needed to spell 'TYPE WRITER' (English — 'typewriter'). Thanks to this layout, sailors, who were the first salesmen of typewriters, could demonstrate to potential buyers the convenience and speed of typing.
The museum's collection is a vivid history of the development of typing devices and contains the most popular and unique typewriter models. In addition, the exhibition includes tools, ribbon spools, themed magazines and literature about typewriters. You can visit the museum's collection as part of a guided group tour personally conducted by Maxim Suravegin, or at an off-site exhibition.
