On Thu, 18 Apr 2002, Met History wrote:

> I collected - still collect - "inspected by" slips and tags; Dick Tracy
> "Crimestoppers" tips (with mock two hole punch for tiny, imaginery looseleaf
> binder); loose pieces of paper with script (e.g. 13th birthday shopping list
> on paper plate); other things.

My web site has enabled my neurotic habit of collecting state legislative
manuals, of any/all states, which in theory I can use to expand my
database.  I now have hundreds of them.  The Ebay page referenced below is
part of my strategy for capturing them at minimal cost.

I once had an Oliver No. 5 typewriter -- one of the first practical
typewriters, with U-shaped type bars that swing down from above, and three
rows of keys with three characters each (i.e., the top row had both QWERTY
and the numbers).  I flirted with the concept of collecting the whole
series of Olivers through the gradual development from No. 1 through No.
11 (1890s through 1920s).  Some day, I hope to visit the Milwaukee
Typewriter Museum, if it still exists.  I fear I am too late.

Some years ago, the city of Ann Arbor, itself a museum of archaic
political institutions, finally gave up the old mechanical voting machines
(with the curtains, the little levers for each candidate, the big lever
for "I'm done").  They had hundreds of them, of course, and offered to
sell them for $50 each.  Boy, did I want one of those.  But we lived in a
small apartment at the time, and the prospect of housing a half-ton marvel
of old-time electoral gadgetry was daunting even for me.  In the end, I
think they sold only one or two; all the rest went for scrap.  Surviving
ones are said to be very prized today.

After reading about Charles Brannock, and waxing nostalgic about his
famous invention, I bought a "vintage Brannock Device" through Ebay.
Naturally, I was the only bidder; it didn't cost much.  It hangs on a nail
in our basement, a kind of eccentric wall decoration.  But not unique,
given the following quote I found just a moment ago:

      "...it looks pretty good on a wall, too."  -Brannock web site

My wife wonders why I didn't at least get the little girl version, so that
our daughter could use it, but utility was the farthest thing from my mind
at the time.  Actually, the concept of going online to purchase a used
Brannock Device for one's offspring strikes me as a little over the top,
something out of "Cheaper By The Dozen".

                                    Larry

---
Lawrence Kestenbaum, [log in to unmask]
Washtenaw County Commissioner, 4th District
The Political Graveyard, http://politicalgraveyard.com
Ebay Page, http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/potifos/
Mailing address: P.O. Box 2563, Ann Arbor MI 48106

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