THE TYPEWRITER PROJECT

Calling all kids!

Join us on the second day of THE ROUGH NOTES FESTIVAL for The Typewriter Project, which celebrates literacy, creativity, and civic engagement while honoring the legacy of one Kinderhook writer whose curiosity and initiative helped document a community.

Over the course of a single morning, participants will report, write, edit, and type out their stories while learning about local history, journalism, collaboration, and the written word. The finished newspaper will be later copied and distributed to local businesses, creating a tangible record of the children’s work and a living connection between Kinderhook’s past and present.

ABOUT THE TYPEWRITER PROJECT

Beginning in 1951, twelve-year-old Lamont Thomas launched The Bugle, a newspaper he produced entirely on his portable Remington Letter-Riter typewriter in the Village of Kinderhook. A dedicated newshound, Lamont chronicled the life of his community—reporting who had traveled where, who was under the weather, local happenings, sports scores, jokes, and more. He sold each issue for five cents and even secured advertisers, carefully typing them into the paper’s two-column layout. For four years, until he folded the paper in 1955, Lamont faithfully published The Bugle from his home on Hudson Street.

Lamont’s family donated both the original newspapers and Lamont’s typewriter to Kinderhook Books. Inspired by his remarkable project, The Rough Notes Fund for Rural Literary Education will recreate the experience for a new generation at The Bank, formerly Kinderhook Bank, where Lamont’s father served as President for 50 years. Using seven vintage typewriters, local children will work together to produce their own community newspaper, with each typewriter dedicated to a different section—news, sports, humor, announcements, advertisements, and more.

ABOUT THE ROUGH NOTES FESTIVAL

Presented by Kinderhook Books, the three-day event is, at its core, a literary festival—but it also celebrates the craft of writing in all its forms: songwriting, stand-up comedy, screenwriting, art, design, and more.