The Haunting of the Spirit Duplicator
Daily, archivists who deal with Twentieth Century collections come into contact with the remains of duplicating processes past: carbon copies, thermofax, early xeriographic copies, and a personal favorite of our director, the mimeograph, or “Ditto.”
People of a certain age will remember the delicious smell of the copy room at their school that came courtesy of the Ditto machine (a distinct combination of methanol and isopropanol). The Ditto, unlike the carbon copy - typed document, could quickly transmit hand-drawings onto worksheets and school flyers. A fabulous example of this process was found in the records of the Principal of Schools for the Fort Apache Indian Agency, George E. Eubank. His portrait was drawn and mimeographed by a representative of the Ditto Company, presumably at the 1932 National Education Association (NEA) conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Three years later, he was encouraging one of the teachers who worked for him to take a look. “If you should go to Phoenix this week-end and have any spare time, you would probably be interested in seeing a demonstration of the DITTO machines,” he encouraged Miss Anne Raymond, “so that when we can afford to buy a duplicating machine we will all be familiar with [them].” Who wouldn’t want to travel 225 miles to explore the mysteries of mimeograph?
For those of you who are not of a certain age, or would like to wax poetic about a foregone era, the Internet Archive has a great informational film from 1960s shared by the Periscope Film archive showing how the mimeograph or “Spirit Duplicator.” works. Enjoy!
Series: Correspondence of the Principal of Schools (unprocessed). Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1793-1989.
