Typewriters of the 1950s
Typewriter production expanded rapidly during the 1950s. European factories rebuilt after the war, while American manufacturers refined the portable machines they had developed during the previous decades.
Portable typewriters became familiar tools in offices, schools and homes. Manufacturers combined durable metal mechanisms with more compact cases, softer body shapes and a growing range of colors. Machines from Olympia, Royal, Voss, Triumph, Groma and Olivetti reflect the variety of the decade.
From the My Cup of Retro Archive
My Cup of Retro previously restored and sold vintage typewriters to customers around the world. This digital museum preserves the photographs and information recorded from the 1950s machines that passed through the former shop.
The archive includes substantial working portables, lightweight travel machines and distinctive European designs from the postwar typewriter boom.
Explore the 1950s Collection
Triumph Durabel Typewriter, 1954
A solid German portable with a brown body, QWERTZ keyboard and practical carrying case.
The Durabel was Triumph’s straightforward portable model, designed to provide dependable everyday typing with fewer additional controls than the company’s more elaborate machines.
Groma Modell T Typewriter, 1957
A green East German portable with a QWERTZ keyboard, working tabulator and original carrying case.
Produced during the final year of the Modell T series, this machine reflects Groma’s postwar modernization of a design first developed during the late 1930s.
Olympia SM3 Typewriter with Maths Keys, 1955
A crinkle-green West German portable with a QWERTZ keyboard and an unusual collection of additional mathematical symbols.
Its specialized keyboard makes this a distinctive surviving example of Olympia’s popular postwar SM3.
Alpina SK24 Typewriter, 1957
A classic green West German typewriter with a QWERTZ keyboard, tabulator and original faux-alligator carrying case.
Its rounded body combines distinctive mid-century styling with the stability of a small office machine.
