Jonathan Swanberg spends his weekdays in Lawrence as a KU math major before heading home for the weekends to Leawood, where he runs a typewriter repair business that’s in high demand throughout the Kansas City metro area.

Swanberg, 21, is a junior studying to teach high school math. He also aims to keep typewriters accessible to people for decades to come, and to introduce typewriters into the ever-growing art scenes of Lawrence and Kansas City.

He opened his business at the end of 2023, influenced by the owner of Typewriter Chicago, Lucas Dul, who’s only a few years older than Swanberg. Dul went from fixing typewriters in his parents’ basement to having his own storefront in Chicago.

“I thought, ‘Well, I could do that,’” Swanberg said. “And so it started with a Craigslist ad.”

Swanberg said he initially found a steady stream of clients through his ads and, subsequently, his website. Clients who need typewriters repaired are put on a first-come, first-served waitlist.

Swanberg said he first found himself interested in typewriters at age 5 when his mom brought home two Royal Portable typewriters from an estate sale with the intention of cutting off the keys to make necklaces and bracelets with them.

“Me and my siblings, my older brother and sister, we got our hands on the typewriter first before she tore it apart so we could play with it,” Swanberg said. “I was just so hooked. We convinced her not to cut the keys off the typewriter, and I still have the better of the two original Royals that she got that day.”

These days, Swanberg said his wait list is around 50 names long and will keep him busy through the end of this year.

Swanberg said that his clients understand that wait times will be longer while classes are in session. However, he said he plans to continue the business long after graduation.

“Classes are my priority,” Swanberg said. “I’m not going to compromise on that. But I think eventually it’ll be like a teacher-by-day, typewriters-by-night sort of situation.” 

Swanberg said he’s also hoping his shop will introduce the creatives of Kansas City and Lawrence to the passion of the typewriter community.

“I think that Lawrence and Kansas City have this energy that typewriters kind of harmonize with,” Swanberg said.

An example of this blend is Swanberg’s own creative goal: to merge his creative writing with his love for typewriters.

“I want to write a short collection of poetry, pairing one little poem with each typewriter because every single one has a little bit of a different personality, and the typefaces are often different,” he said.

Swanberg said he has always been a collector, starting with old Apple computers and video games before he turned to typewriters in high school. Now, Swanberg has a collection of 120 to 130 typewriters of his own, with about three dozen waiting to be sold via his website.

Mike McDonald, 69, is the former public works director of Leavenworth. McDonald said Swanberg has repaired seven old typewriters for him since he found Swanberg via the internet.

Swanberg used his connections in the typewriter community to obtain an Underwood Model 3 typewriter for McDonald, which he also repaired, cleaned and partially restored.

“My grandmother was one of about 305 women US Marines in WWI,” McDonald said via email. “This would have been the age and style typewriter she used. It was a bit of a journey to get it working properly and is a treasure on my desk.”

Swanberg said that the typewriter community is a tight-knit, supportive group. He emphasized that those in the community across the U.S. all share knowledge and resources with each other to ensure that typewriters are working and available for future generations.

“I feel like I’m kind of receiving the torch in a way,” Swanberg said. “These well-trained technicians from the 20th century are still around, but every day, they’re closing their doors. So, it’s important that if typewriter repair isn’t something (where) you can go to a shop and bring your typewriter, there’s at least people that know what to do that have the resources.”

Logan Pierson (he/him), reporting intern with The Lawrence Times since December 2025, is a senior journalism and photography student at the University of Kansas. He previously contributed to the University Daily Kansan as a senior reporter and beat reporter.

Read his work for the Times here.

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