Arduino Typewriter Interface - some basic questions

Suggest you start by measuring the voltage on both terminals of each of those switches in the matrix. This will tell you what logic level they're using and also give you a chance to figure out how the matrix is read. One way to read that sort of matrix is to pulse each column output and see which row input(s) receive the pulse. In that case, you will need to be much smarter about how you replace those switches.