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Microsoft word is a wonderful tool. With a little care it can be used to create authentic looking documents from the 70’s that were produced using the common IBM Selectrictm office typewriter.

IBM and Remington electric typewriters were the best sellers until in 1961 IBM marketed the IBM Selectrictm. The Selectrictm used a ball with letters on its surface. The type-ball could be readily changed to switch between 10 pitch pica or 12 pitch elite fonts. All Selectrictm typewriters produced mono-spaced characters with each character exactly the same size (width). Interesting background information on type writers and fonts can be found at: http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/typewriter

Consequently our first step in creating near authentic documents is selecting the proper type font from among the hundreds offered for Windows. There is a nice explanation of the differences between mono-spaced and proportional fonts as well as links to sites that have different fonts to download here: http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Typeface

Now that we have selected a mono-spaced elite font for MSWord, we can begin typing. However, we must be careful because some times super scripts were used in a document. MS Word makes superscripting like the “th” in the 24th easy. However, this could not be created in the 70s by typewriter technology of the time. One could type text up half a line on a typewriter, but the font remained the same size mono-spaced characters.

Super script fonts in MS Word are smaller than normal and they are proportionally spaced. This is because a PC can easily make the True Type (TTF) or Open Type fonts any size in MS Word. However, creating super scripts that duplicate 70s typewriter superscripts in MS Word is easy using a mono-spaced type. You just increase the size of the super script characters. If you are using 12 point font, the super script characters need to be about 22 point to duplicate the look of a 70s IBM Selectrictm.

The final step is duplicating a signature. Another document with the actual signature is scanned into the computer. This is a graphics image which can be cleaned up by even the crudest of photo editing programs. If the signature was mixed with background typing, the background type could be removed by blowing up the image and carefully cutting away the typing. Then the image could be converted to a transparent background GIF image. This image would be placed in the proper position on our text document with the image formatted (laid out) to be in front of the text.

Since a signature varies from document to document we would need copies of several signatures to make several different documents. Alternatively, we could stretch or squeeze the signature image to vary its look as well. This is more likely to be detected as a fake, however.

By following these simple rules, you too can create more authentic looking 70s documents than those that duped CBS news. Please remember to always use this information for good and never for evil purposes.