the.com/mimeograph
the smell of every pop quiz before 1985, powered by purple ink and a hand crank.
means a low-cost duplicating machine that pushes ink through a stencil to print copies, one cranked sheet at a time.
from patented in the 1880s with edison holding the stencil patent and a.b. dick licensing it into schools and offices, the name borrowed from greek mimos, meaning imitator.
edison connectionthomas edison patented the stencil process in 1876
purple smellcaused by volatile alcohols in the aniline dye
kids got highstudents would huff fresh mimeographed pages for the buzz
underground presszines and samizdat relied on it to dodge printers
for instance
soviet samizdat — dissidents mimeographed banned texts through the 1960s-80s
school worksheets — american classrooms ran on purple-ink handouts through the 1970s-80s
punk zines — 1970s diy publishers like sniffin glue used mimeo runs