Barnegat Library Showcases Lacey Man’s Vintage Typewriter Collection

BARNEGAT, NJ — People around the world have seen Ian McAndrew’s typewriters on social media. Now locals have a chance to see them up close in Barnegat.

McAndrew is an artist and mechanic who repairs typewriters from his home workshop in Lacey and sells them to people around the world through his online store and Etsy.

Since he launched Iron Fox Typewriters in 2019, McAndrew has serviced as many as 200 machines and attracted business from people across the United States, South America, Europe and Australia.

Read more: Lacey Mechanic Revives Vintage Typewriters From His Home

Before starting his own business, McAndrew had cultivated his own personal collection of typewriters, some of which are now included in a two-month display at the Barnegat Library.

“I chose various different types and sizes of machines that were manufactured over a span of a hundred-ish years to showcase the evolution of the technology and change in style and culture,” McAndrew told Patch.

All nine machines in the display are fully functioning, according to McAndrew.

Three of the typewriters also have significant historical value, including one that was owned by a famous sports journalist, and another whose owner ranked high in military command and was stationed in New Jersey at the end of World War II.

A 1963 Olympia SF De Luxe used as a daily travel machine by American foreign correspondent Jay Axelbank is also among the typewriters on display.

Axelbank was stationed in Moscow during the Cold War and was a constant victim of harassment and intimidation by the KGB.

“One of Axelbanks' crowning achievements in foreign journalism came while he was employed by Newsweek. Mr. Axelbank was the only western journalist to have ever been granted an interview with Russian physicist and Nobel laureate Andrei Sakharov,” McAndrew said.

He has titled the display “Ghost in the Shell: Creative Essence in Mechanical Anachronism,” as a nod to the bits of computer code that are leftover after deletion.

“The one thing most typewriter appreciators can agree on is that there is a certain amount of romance and mystery that fills the air when you sit in front of a machine that is new to you,” McAndrew said. “That this machine on the workspace in front of you has already had a lifetime, possibly two before making its way to you is really something remarkable.”

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