Typewriters from Tom Hanks' Collection Are on View in Sag Harbor

Continuing their ongoing exploration of industrial design, “material culture” and things, The Church in Sag Harbor has put together a compelling array of typewriters from Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks’ personal collection, and it’s been installed by former Barney’s New York creative director Simon Doonan.

Opening with a reception this Saturday, January 11 from 6–7:30 p.m. and continuing through March 10, Some of Tom’s Typewriters features 35 of Hanks’ prized but now obsolete machines from a collection that includes about 300 pieces.

Doonan spoke with Dan’s about the show, sharing what brought him to the project and how he approached this no-longer modern marvel.

“These machines — strange, complex but also ridiculously simple — have so much to teach us about history and culture. This is why I leapt at the chance to design this installation. My goal is to spotlight the charm, engineering majesty and social/historical aspects of these fascinating artifacts. After all, the soundtrack of the 20th century is the magical clacking and pinging of a typewriter. Clack, clack, clack…ping!” he says in the show’s announcement.

Speaking to Dan’s, the accomplished author and Shelter Island resident offered a bit more, explaining how he is in a tai chi class with The Church founder Eric Fischl who asked him to install the typewriters for this exhibition. From there, Doonan had to decide how to approach the subject.

“I looked at the typewriters that Tom had selected for the exhibit, and I took my inspiration from them, and really I realized there was such a diversity of styles and eras that the best thing to do would be to focus on getting people to see the sort of magnificent complexity of the design and the engineering,” Doonan says. “Because, maybe not so much anymore, but people have often taken for granted a typewriter, you know, all the keys and all the detailed workmanship that goes into creating this object that’s simultaneously very simple and very complicated.”

He called the typewriter a “miraculous piece of engineering that dates back from the Industrial Revolution,” and became emblematic of much of the 20th century, following its invention in 1868 and it being fully replaced by word processors and computers by the 1990s.

Like past material exhibitions at The Church, including GE Smith’s guitar collection and bicycles from The Bicycle Museum of America, Doonan says the gallery space gives the objects a certain reverence and allows people to see these treasures Hanks purchased in junk and pawn shops in a new context. “Obviously you’re ahead of the game if you’re exhibiting typewriters in a gallery like The Church — already, people are sort of prepped to look at it in a more objective fashion.”

To further understand his subject for the installation, Doonan said he had a chance to talk to Hanks about it. “We did a Zoom call with Tom, and he told us a story of how he got his passion for this. He met with this extraordinary guy who, by chance, repaired typewriters and knew all about them, and gave him a lot of very instinctive input based on experience. … So, yeah, we did a Zoom call with him, and his passion about it is very infectious. He uses typewriters from his collection on a regular basis and rotates them. You know, he just loves it. He said part of it is his handwriting is terrible, so even to do a shopping list, he’s better off banging it out on a typewriter.”

As for what’s on display specifically, “There’s an incredible range. You know, there’s some really old ones that are barely recognized as typewriters, but then you suddenly see it. There’s an Underwood Remington Woodstock. There are these French ones that are really cute, and they look like they’re from the late 19th century, early 20th century, called Mignon, Olivetti. You know, there’s an incredible range, and it’s actually very hard to describe them. You have to see them, and they’re objects of fascination, and they’re very evocative. You know, you think, Oh God, imagine all the love letters, all the all the sort of irate memos, all the threats, you know, suicide notes, all the stuff that’s been banged out on these old typewriters. The’re sort of strangely evocative,” Doonan says, “They speak for themselves.” And the impression I got immediately was that Tom had just selected the most interesting cocktail of typewriters from his collection with wonderful contrasts, some, you know, late, early, black, funny colors. He did a great job of presenting it. So it’s sort of visually entertaining, because they’re so different from one another and from different eras.”

Running concurrently with Some of Tom’s Typewriters, The Church is displaying paintings and prints of typewriters by Sam Messer, along with never-before-exhibited typed and handwritten notes by authors Paul Auster and Denis Johnson, as well as a type-set print by poet Sharon Olds created in dialogue with Messer.

Doonan is participating in a “Sunday with Simon” talk at The Church in Sag Harbor (48 Madison Street) where he will discuss the exhibition and more from noon–2 p.m. this Sunday, January 12.

Reserve tickets and learn more at thechurchsagharbor.org.