The Typewriter: An Innovation in Writing

Pantone 871 C Metallic + Black

City and County of San Francisco Edwin M. Lee, Mayor Airpor t Commission Ivar C. Satero, Airpor t Director www.flysfo.com

This publication is presented in conjunction with the SFO Museum exhibition The Typewriter: An Innovation in Writing, held in Terminal 2 of the San Francisco International Airport from May 13, 2017 to January 28, 2018. Š2017 by San Francisco Airport Commission. All rights reserved.

GENTLEMEN: PLEASE DO NOT USE MY NAME IN ANY WAY. PLEASE DO NOT EVEN DIVULGE THE FACT THAT I OWN A MACHINE. I HAVE ENTIRELY STOPPED USING THE TYPE-WRITER, FOR THE REASON THAT I NEVER COULD WRITE A LETTER WITH IT TO ANYBODY WITHOUT RECEIVING A REQUEST BY RETURN MAIL THAT I WOULD NOT ONLY DESCRIBE THE MACHINE, BUT STATE WHAT PROGRESS I HAD MADE IN THE USE OF IT, ETC., ETC. I DON’T LIKE TO WRITE LETTERS, AND SO I DON’T WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW I OWN THIS CURIOSITY-BREEDING LITTLE JOKER. YOURS TRULY,

SAML. L. CLEMENS [MARK TWAIN]

The typewriter is one of the great inventions of the modern world. A marvel of industrial engineering and ingenuity, it revolutionized communication and was an essential tool for countless writers. To comprehend the typewriter’s impact, consider a world where typing did not exist and handwriting was the main form of non-verbal communication. Until refillable fountain pens were introduced in 1884, handwriting was a cumbersome process accomplished with pens dipped in ink. The ease and speed of communication on paper increased dramatically when typewriters became available in the late 1800s. Typewriting was efficient, created clear and legible documents, and easily produced multiple copies using carbon paper.

In today’s information-driven society, digital devices such as the computer, smart phone, and tablet have largely replaced the typewriter. Although it has fallen out of widespread use, typewriter technology remains foundational. Modern typing is translated directly from typewriting, with the keyboard layout of most digital devices rooted in typewriter development. Nicknamed “QWERTY” for the first six letters at the top-left of the keyboard, this layout was not developed to promote efficient typing or for ergonomic reasons. In 1873, QWERTY was introduced to alleviate clashing and jamming of type-bars on the Type Writer, the first commercially produced writing machine with a four-row keyboard.

A host of experimental typewriter designs preceded Christopher Latham Sholes (1819–90) and his revolutionary Type Writer. The first recorded patent for a mechanical writing machine was awarded in 1714 to British engineer Henry Mill (c. 1683–1771), while the earliest physical product dates from an 1808 invention

by Italian nobleman Pellegrino Turri (active early 19th century). Built for his blind friend the Countess Carolina Fantoni, Turri’s mechanical writer has vanished and survives only in the letters of correspondence it produced.

The first commercially manufactured writing machine was patented in 1870 by Danish inventor Rasmus Malling-Hansen (1835–90). Appropriately named Skrivekugle, or Writing Ball, this precision instrument was made in limited numbers and typed via keys that stemmed from a spherical top.

Portrait of Prof. C.W. Roush, principal of the Broken Bow Business College, and his stenographer, Miss Mable Holcomb 1903 Solomon D. Butcher Collection of Nebraska State Historical Society RG2608.PH:000000-002815 R2017.0617.001

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By the turn of the twentieth century, the typewriter was a commercial success. More than 2,600 patents recorded mechanisms that printed from swinging sectors, type-bars, and type-wheels in a multitude of configurations. Almost any well-funded inventor with an innovative idea had a winning chance at producing a new machine. However, after the Underwood company introduced their front-strike No. 1 in 1896, L.C. Smith, Remington, Royal, and other manufacturers countered with similar models. Double-keyboard, up-strike, and type-sleeve designs disappeared from the market, and as layouts standardized, production numbered into the millions.

Offices staffed by typists, bookkeepers, and clerks made the desktop typewriter indispensable during the early 1900s. Inventions such as the telephone, telegraph, and railroad allowed business and manufacturing to grow exponentially, and extensive office organization was required to keep pace. Countless agencies worldwide created professional offices based on principles of scientific management. Daily tasks were clearly defined for each employee, and working structures mirrored arrangements between foremen and workers on factory floors, with office personnel organized by hierarchies and job specialization.

From local repair shops to international corporations, offices of all sizes employed typists trained in touchtyping techniques based on keyboard memorization. The largest typing pools, staffed by legions of women entering the workforce for the first time, offered low wages for monotonous work in expansive, factory-like rooms. Over time, businesses reorganized into smaller, specialized departments, and typing environments improved. Secretaries played an instrumental role in this modern office system. Often trained as entry-level typists, they were promoted through the ranks to draft letters, take dictation, and work in liaison with managers and staff.

Typewriting department, National Cash Register, Dayton, Ohio c. 1902 William Henry Jackson (1843–1942) Collection of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division; Washington, D.C. LC-D4-42930 R2017.0618.001

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Initially reserved for the office and considered too expensive for personal use, typewriters became more affordable as technology and production methods were refined. Prized for their speed and accuracy, lightweight, portable typewriters were a favorite of writers, scholars, and students. In 1912, the Corona 3 unleashed a wave of portable typewriter design with its front-strike, full-keyboard layout and hard-shell carrying case. American giants of industry including Remington, Royal, and Underwood introduced their own front-strike portables during the 1920s, and European manufacturers such as Torpedo and Olympia followed with similar models.

In recent years, a renewed interest in typewriting has brought many of these classic machines back into focus. While some writers never left their trusty Royal desktops and Olympia portables, other enthusiasts have discovered the typewriter as a creative outlet in an era defined by endless streams of information.

Unlike computers, typewriters translate ideas directly onto paper through an audible rhythm of keys and swinging type-bars. There is no delete function to shroud errors, and a well-edited typescript illustrates a creative process through handwritten notations and corrections typed over in ink. Today, collectors and writers all over the world value the timeless aesthetics and utility of the typewriter. This exhibition traces a history of typewriter technology and innovation through more than a century of design, from early writing machines to modern portables and Asian typewriters with thousands of characters.

Woman at desk with typewriter 1892 John Edwin Phillips Collection of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division; Washington, D.C. LC-USZ62-9974 R2017.0618.002

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The Type Writer The Sholes & Glidden Type Writer ushered in a new era of communication technology. Invented by Christopher Latham Sholes (1819–90) with assistance from Samuel Soulé (1830–75) and Carlos Glidden (1834–77) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, it was the first commercially produced typewriter with hinged type-bars and a four-row keyboard. Limited to upper-case characters, its steel type-bars were arranged in a basketconfiguration and swung upwards onto a sheet of paper. A cylindrical platen served as the printing surface and rolled to provide line spacing. Letter spacing was by movement of the carriage, which held the platen and slid horizontally for each letter typed.

In 1873, the Type Writer introduced “QWERTY,” a keyboard layout named for the first six letters at the top-left row of letter keys. Organized to prevent type-bars from clashing and jamming prototype machines, QWERTY was mechanically suited to the Sholes & Glidden and not necessarily designed for efficient typing. After a manufacturing contract with E. Remington & Sons of Ilion, New York, was secured, Remington mechanics extensively refined the machine for functionality and assembly-line production.

The Type Writer was the basis for all Remington models until their front-stroke Standard was introduced in 1908. Contemporary computers, tablets, and smart phones share the QWERTY keyboard layout. “ O ur invention relates to that class of machines designed to write with types instead of a pen.”

– C. Latham Sholes, Carlos Glidden, and Samuel W. Soulé; July 14, 1868.

Sholes & Glidden Type Writer 1875 E. Remington & Sons Ilion, New York anonymous lender L2017.0607.001

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Pan American Airways Martin M-130 China Clipper model aircraft 1970s Cleveland Model and Supply Company scale: 1:16 model maker: Edwin Packer polychrome balsa wood, aluminum, fabric SFO Museum Gift of the Pan American Historical Foundation

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2002.061.001 L2010.2201.168

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Remington Standard No. 12 1927 Remington Typewriter Company Ilion, New York Type-O-Meter conversion c. 1938 General Coin Automatic Co. San Francisco Collection of Joe Welch American Antique Museum L2017.0608.001

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Royal Standard Model 1 1909 Royal Typewriter Company New York Collection of History San JosĂŠ 1997-1x-782 L2017.0601.001

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Type-shuttles and Type-sleeves During the 1880s, a multitude of patents for new typewriter designs were introduced. One of these was invented by James B. Hammond (1839–1913), a Civil War correspondent who became frustrated as news press staff misinterpreted and incorrectly printed his handwritten reports. While too late for wartime use, Hammond’s typewriter was one of the most enduring non-type-bar designs. Patented in 1880, it featured a curved, piano-style keyboard and printed via a type-shuttle. On a Hammond, when a key is pressed the type mechanism rotates into place and is struck by a hammer, making the impression between paper and ink ribbon.

A defining advantage of the rotating type mechanism was its adaptability. In contrast to the array of hinged type-bars found on more conventional machines, a type-shuttle or type-sleeve could be changed to convert from one language to another. Hundreds of options were available, from foreign languages to scientific applications. Patented in 1879, the Crandall was the first production typewriter that printed via a type-sleeve.

Ornately decorated with mother-of-pearl inlays, it featured six rings of type molded around a cylinder that rotated into place and swung directly onto the paper. Much like the IBM Selectric of the 1960s, type-sleeves for the Crandall were available in a variety of fonts.

Hammond 1b c. 1890 The Hammond Typewriter Company New York anonymous lender L2017.0607.005a

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Pan American Airways Martin M-130 China Clipper model aircraft 1970s Cleveland Model and Supply Company scale: 1:16 model maker: Edwin Packer polychrome balsa wood, aluminum, fabric SFO Museum Gift of the Pan American Historical Foundation

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2002.061.001 L2010.2201.168

Crandall New Model c. 1890 Crandall Machine Company Groton, New York Courtesy of Steve Soboroff L2017.0606.001

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Commercial Visible Typewriter No. 6 c. 1890 Commercial Visible Typewriter Company New York anonymous lender L2017.0607.003.01

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Bowl 2002 James Lovera (b. 1920) porcelain, pale green lava flow glaze over black slip L2013.2601.001

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Chicago No. 2 1905 Chicago Writing Machine Co. Chicago Collection of The Museum of American Heritage 6I.045 L2017.0602.003

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Industry and Down-strikes Advertised as a time-saving alternative to writing with pen and ink, the typewriter easily produced multiple, legible copies of paperwork. Advances in industry and business made the typewriter both possible and indispensable. Early typewriter factories combined recently developed processes such as steel stamping and zinc plating with aluminum, cast iron, vulcanite, and other new materials into their assembly lines. At the same time, typewriters created massive amounts of paperwork to support increased organization and communication in manufacturing and business.

The Oliver typewriter is one of the iconic designs of this early industrial period. A lateral-down-strike machine patented in 1894, its type-bars, mounted under brightly plated covers high and to the sides, swung down against the paper to print. Typewriter design during the late nineteenth century was far from standardized and innovative ideas abounded. The Franklin of 1891 was a down-strike machine with a unique, gearedtype-bar mechanism, while the 1892 Williams utilized two opposing segments of hinged type-bars that hopped like grasshoppers from ink pads onto the printing surface.

Oliver No. 5 1913 The Oliver Typewriter Company Chicago Collection of History San JosĂŠ 2005-78-59 L2017.0601.003a

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Williams No. 1 1895 The Williams Typewriter Company New York anonymous lender L2017.0607.004

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Franklin No. 7 1902 Franklin Typewriter Company New York Collection of History San JosĂŠ 2005-78-42 L2017.0601.002a

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Double Keyboards Modern typewriters use a shift-key mechanism to select upper- and lower-case characters. Many models introduced during early typewriter production utilized a double-keyboard arrangement with two banks of keys organized by upper and lower cases. Initially, makers of double-keyboard machines promoted their potential speed and efficiency. The Smith Premier was the best-selling typewriter of this group and advertised “a key for every character.” Like the Sholes & Glidden Type Writer and early Remington models, the Smith Premier was an upstroke machine and did not print within the user’s view—its carriage had to be lifted to reveal the paper and printed text.

Patented in 1889, the Bar-Lock was a popular, double-keyboard typewriter that offered partially visible print.

With type-bars mounted vertically behind a distinctive, metal shield decorated in swirling, Art Nouveau styling, the Bar-Lock proudly advertised “writing in sight.” These machines may look cumbersome given modern standards. However, typing by keyboard memorization, commonly referred to as touch typing, was quite revolutionary. Double-keyboard machines were produced for more than two decades before they were phased out in favor of simpler and faster, single-keyboard designs. “ The weary process of learning penmanship in the schools will be reduced to the acquirement of writing one’s own signature and ‘playing on the literary piano’.” —Scientific American; July 6, 1867

Smith Premier No. 2 1902 Smith Premier Typewriter Company Syracuse, New York Collection of The Museum of American Heritage 6I.068 L2017.0602.002

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Bar-Lock No. 6 1895 Columbia Typewriter Company New York anonymous lender L2017.0607.002

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Index Typewriters In the 1890s, the cost of a new, full-size typewriter was more than the average American earned in one month. Index typewriters were a simpler and more affordable alternative. Available at a fraction of the price and manufactured in a variety of configurations, they were the earliest portable writing machines.

Introduced in 1889, the innovative wheel-index Victor Type Writer printed from type attached to the ends of strips arranged in a daisy-wheel pattern, much like the IBM Wheelwriter a century later. With even fewer moving parts, linear-index typewriters proved more successful. Patented in 1885, the Sun Type-Writer featured a single row of type affixed under a linear-index. It operated by sliding a selector and then pressing down on the index to type. The Odell was a strikingly similar, linear-index device that added upper- and lower-case printing through a sliding index coupled to shift and selector keys.

Victor Type Writer 1889–92 Tilton Manufacturing Company Boston anonymous lender L2017.0607.015

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Sun Type-Writer c. 1885 Sun Type-Writer Company New York Collection of History San JosĂŠ O 2005-78-129 L2017.0601.004

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Odell Type Writer No. 4 c. 1900 Farquhar & Albrecht Chicago anonymous lender L2017.0607.014

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Boeing 314 hull and wing and a Lockheed C-69 Constellation at San Francisco Airport c. 1946 photograph SFO Museum Gift of John E. Krupnick 2008.056.1085 R2010.2201.148

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The Underwood In 1896, Franz Xaver Wagner (1837–1907) introduced a machine that provided the blueprint for modern typewriters used in offices throughout the world. Manufactured first as the Underwood No. 1, it featured a four-row keyboard with single-shift, and most importantly, an ingenious front-strike type-bar mechanism that wrote quickly and visibly with ease. Over the next decade, Royal, Remington, L.C. Smith, and other manufacturers followed suit with their own front-strike typewriters. The Underwood was such a success that by 1939, over five million examples had been produced with only minimal improvement to the original design. Almost every manual typewriter made after 1920 incorporated its slotted-segment, front-strike type-bar layout.

Underwood No. 2 1900 Wagner Typewriter Company New York anonymous lender L2017.0607.018

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Early Portables George C. Blickensderfer (1850–1917) introduced the first portable typewriter with a full keyboard in 1893.

Designed around an easily changeable type-wheel that rotated and struck the platen to print, the Blickensderfer was quite popular and could accommodate over one-hundred foreign language and scientific applications through a variety of type-wheels. The next revolutionary portable was the Corona 3, first patented as the Standard Folding Typewriter in 1904. This front-strike machine featured a three-row, double-shift keyboard with a carriage that folded forward for maximum portability. In the mid-1930s, L.C. Smith & Corona offered an “Animal Keyboard” option on their portable typewriters. Marketed to teach children to type, these rare, Depression-era machines included a set of finger rings that corresponded with illustrated animals on the keys.

Blickensderfer No. 5 1902 Blickensderfer Manufacturing Company Stamford, Connecticut Collection of The Museum of American Heritage 6I.076 L2017.0602.005.01

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Bowl 1990s Kay Sekimachi (b. 1926) leaf skeletons from bigleaf maple tree, Kozo paper, watercolor, Krylon coated L2013.2601.064

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Women with Corona typewriter in shower 1922

Corona No. 3 XC 1924

Collection of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division; Washington, D.C.

Corona Typewriter Company Groton, New York Collection of History San JosĂŠ

LC-H27-A-4617 R2017.0618.006

2008-127-152 L2017.0601.005.01

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Corona No. 3 XC 1924 Corona Typewriter Company Groton, New York Collection of History San JosĂŠ 2008-127-152 L2017.0601.005.01

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Corona No. 3 Special 1929 L.C. Smith & Corona Typewriters, Inc. Groton, New York Collection of History San JosĂŠ O 2005-78-25 L2017.0601.006.01

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Corona Standard with Animal Keyboard 1936 L.C. Smith & Corona Typewriters, Inc. Groton, New York anonymous lender L2017.0607.017a

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Remington Noiseless 8 1937 Remington Rand, Inc. New York Collection of The Museum of American Heritage 6I.038 L2017.0602.006.01

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“ I would stand and look out over the roofs of Paris and think, ‘Do not worry.

You have always written before and you will write now’.”

—Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) was a master of American literature. Celebrated for his refined, vivid prose, Hemingway wrote with passion and from experience. He published A Farewell to Arms after he sustained severe wounds in Italy serving with the American Red Cross during the First World War. For Whom the Bell Tolls followed his assignment as a Spanish Civil War journalist. Hemingway’s great interest in bullfighting reenergized the sport after Death in the Afternoon, and his equally famous love of fishing inspired The Old Man and the Sea. While living outside of Havana, Cuba, with his wife Mary at Finca Vigia, their “Lookout Farm,” Hemingway was awarded a Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Prize in literature. The Royal Model P typewriter featured in this catalog dates from the writer’s later years in Cuba, gifted to a friend who had come to fish aboard Hemingway’s prized fishing boat, Pilar.

Ernest Hemingway at a typewriter; Sun Valley, Idaho 1939 Lloyd R. Arnold (1907–70) R2017.0613.013

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Royal Model P 1932 previously owned by Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) Royal Typewriter Co., Inc. New York Courtesy of Steve Soboroff L2017.0606.003

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“ W hen I write, everything is visual, as brilliantly as if it were on a lit stage. And I talk out the lines as I write. When I was in Rome, my landlady thought I was demented. She told Frank [Merlo], ‘Oh, Mr. Williams has lost his mind! He stalks about the room talking out loud!’ Frank said, ‘Oh, he’s just writing.’ She didn’t understand that.”

—Tennessee Williams

Born Thomas Lanier Williams III in Columbus, Mississippi, Tennessee Williams (1911–83) was one of America’s greatest playwrights. An intensely emotional and personal writer, Williams cast his characters from the heart, often drawing on family and life experiences for inspiration. The writer’s mother was the source for the character Amanda Wingfield in his first successful play, The Glass Menagerie, which opened on Broadway in 1945 and brought him overnight fame. Two years later, A Streetcar Named Desire premiered with Marlon Brando in the lead, winning Williams his first of two Pulitzer Prizes for drama. In all, he wrote more than two-dozen full-length plays, all of them produced on and off Broadway, in addition to a selection of short stories, poetry, and two novels. The 1936 Corona Junior on the following pages was purchased by Tennessee Williams while attending Washington University in St. Louis.

Tennessee Williams at a typewriter, New York 1942 Courtesy of Steve Soboroff R2017.0606.007

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Corona Junior 1936 previously owned by Tennessee Williams (1911–83) L.C. Smith & Corona Typewriters, Inc. Groton, New York Courtesy of Steve Soboroff L2017.0606.004

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“ I want to give the audience a hint of a scene. No more than that. Give them too much and they won’t contribute anything themselves. Give them just a suggestion and you get them working with you.”

—Orson Welles

On October 30, 1938, radio listeners across America were driven into a state of panic. That night, the Mercury Theater of the Air presented “War of the Worlds,” a radio show by theater actor Orson Welles (1915–85). An adaptation of the science fiction novel by H.G. Wells (1866–1946), it detailed scenes of a Martian invasion that thousands of listeners mistook for the real thing. Seven years before the broadcast, Welles, at age sixteen, had travelled to Europe and found work at the Gate Theater in Dublin, Ireland, after convincing the theater manager he was a vacationing member of the Theater Guild. Welles returned to the States for a stint on Broadway, and worked for supplemental income in radio as the voice of “The Shadow.” His most famous project was Citizen Kane, a controversial, yet critically acclaimed motion picture based loosely on the life of newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst (1863–1951).

Orson Welles recording at CBS studios c. 1938 Collection of Lilly Library, Indiana University; Bloomington, Indiana Courtesy of The Estate of Orson Welles / Reeder Brand Management R2017.0626.001

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Underwood Standard Portable Typewriter with hand-lettered case 1926 previously owned by Orson Welles (1915–85) Underwood Typewriter Company New York Courtesy of Steve Soboroff L2017.0606.002.01–.02

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“ My role in society, or any artist’s or poet’s role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all.”

—John Lennon

John Lennon (1940–80) was one of the twentieth century’s iconic singer-songwriters. Born in Liverpool, England, while a German air raid unfolded overhead, Lennon was raised by his mother’s sister, Mimi Smith.

At age sixteen, Lennon met Paul McCartney and the two struck up a friendship that evolved into one of the greatest pairings in popular music history. Preferring the acoustics of a small, glass-enclosed porch at the front of his Aunt Mimi’s home, Lennon and McCartney practiced songs by Elvis Presley and other American rock and roll recording artists. In 1958 they performed as The Quarrymen with new bandmate George Harrison and recorded their first song, a cover of “That’ll Be The Day” by Buddy Holly. Renamed The Beatles, the group unleashed a second wave of rock and roll—the British Invasion— just a few years later. “ I used to go ‘round to Aunt Mimi’s house and John would be at the typewriter, which was fairly unusual in Liverpool. None of my mates even knew what a typewriter was. Well, they knew what one was, but they didn’t have one. Nobody had a typewriter…Then we’d go up to John’s room and we’d sit on the bed and play records, Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry. It’s a wonderful memory.” — Paul McCartney

John Lennon with Gibson J-160E on the set of “A Hard Day’s Night” 1964 Max Scheler (1928–2003) © Max Scheler / Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo R2017.0627.001

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The Good Companion Model T 1951 previously owned by John Lennon (1940–80) The Imperial Typewriter Co., Ltd. Leicester, England Courtesy of Steve Soboroff L2017.0606.005

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“ Science fiction is the fiction of ideas. Ideas excite me, and as soon as I get excited, the adrenaline gets going and the next thing I know I’m borrowing energy from the ideas themselves.”

—Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury (1920–2012) wrote science fiction as a critique of the present. A “writer of moral fables,” Bradbury is best known for Fahrenheit 451, a ground-breaking novel that, like so many of his other works, was a cautionary tale set in a futuristic society. Bradbury relied on years spent in libraries as the foundation for his writing, with some of his early work, such as Fahrenheit 451, completed on coin-operated typewriters in a university library typing room. Many of his stories began as prose poetry—flowing, descriptive pensées that explored his inspiration in free-form literature. With more than fifty books to his credit, Ray Bradbury also worked in television and film, writing for The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and authoring the screenplay for the 1956 motion picture adaptation of Moby Dick.

Ray Bradbury c. 1950 Courtesy of Facsimile Dust Jackets LLC R2017.0613.015

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Royal KMM 1948 previously owned by Ray Bradbury (1920–2012) Royal Typewriter Co., Inc. New York Courtesy of Steve Soboroff L2017.0606.006

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Modern Portables After the Second World War, typewriter manufacturers that had converted to arms production returned to the typewriter business. Riding the wave of post-war American prosperity, companies such as SmithCorona and Royal marketed affordable, portable typewriters with advertisements aimed at everyone from traveling executives to students, housewives, and writers. Much like the automobile industry, most “new” models were mechanically similar, and at times identical, to pre-war machines—re-introduced with catchy names in updated bodies, colors, and trim packages.

One of the most compact was the Smith-Corona Skyriter, developed in 1949 from their pre-war Zephyr portable. Its low-profile, lightweight design with snap-on case cover was promoted for ease of typing while traveling. Based on their first portable of 1926, post-war Royals added trademark features from standard Royal desktop machines such as “Touch Control” to adjust key sensitivity, and “Magic Margin” to automatically control page margins. With a restyled body by industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss (1904–72), the Quiet De Luxe was offered in an array of bright, mid-century colors, including a custom-order, gold-plated option also given as a prize for student writing contests.

European typewriter companies also ramped up production in the late 1940s. Some of the finest machines were made in West Germany by Olympia, who first manufactured four-bank portables in the 1930s. With the partition of Germany after the Second World War, Olympia relocated from Erfurt in Soviet-controlled, East Germany to Wilhelmshaven in the Western Zone and introduced the SM series of portables. Another major manufacturer and one of the earliest European typewriter companies was Torpedo-Werke of Rödelheim, Germany, founded in 1904. Purchased by American typewriter giant Remington in 1931, Torpedo marketed portable typewriters under their own name, and as the Blue Bird for export to American and British markets. In the 1950s, Torpedo introduced the popular Model 18, a portable known for its sharp and snappy typing action.

Smith-Corona Skyriter 1954 Smith-Corona, Inc. Syracuse, New York Courtesy of Timothy S. Mundorff L2017.0611.001a

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Fortuny Bowl (#829) 1981 June Schwarcz (b. 1918) spun and hammered copper with electroformed design, light purple enamel interior, red and orange enamel exterior L2013.2601.037

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5th grade students with Royal portables 1959

Royal Quiet De Luxe with carrying case 1949

Courtesy of Janine Vangool The Typewriter: A Graphic History of the Beloved Machine

Royal Typewriter Co., Inc. Hartford, Connecticut Courtesy of California Typewriter

R2017.0619.008

L2017.0604.001.01–.02

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Voss De Luxe 1956 Wuppertaler Schreibmaschinenfabrik Voss & Co. Wuppertal, West Germany anonymous lender L2017.0607.019.01

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Aztec 600 1961 VEB BĂźromaschinenwerk Rheinmetall SĂśmmerda, East Germany Collection of The Museum of American Heritage 6I.151 L2017.0602.010.01

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Everest Jolson K.2 1956 Serio SpA Macchine per Scrivere e da Calcolo Milan, Italy Courtesy of Nick Tauriainen L2017.0612.001.01

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Olympia SM7 1962 Olympia Werke AG Wilhelmshaven, West Germany Courtesy of Nick Tauriainen L2017.0612.004.01

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Blue Bird 18b 1959 Torpedo Büromaschinen Werke AG Rödelheim, West Germany Courtesy of Nick Tauriainen L2017.0612.002.01

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IBM Selectric Advances in communication and technology during the first half of the twentieth century gave rise to the modern office and made the typewriter essential. As new layers of office organization restructured manufacturing, banking, and other forms of business, countless reams of paperwork were generated by bookkeepers, clerks, secretaries, and typists. In 1961, the IBM Selectric revolutionized the office world with its speed and efficiency. Housed in a distinctively curved, die-cast body designed by mid-century industrial designer Eliot Noyes (1910–77), the Selectric was electrically operated, and printed via an interchangeable “golf ball” typing element controlled by an analog “whiffle tree” switch.

IBM Selectric 72 1964 International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation New York anonymous lender L2017.0613.001

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Woman at desk with IBM Selectric c. 1965 Courtesy of IBM Archives R2017.0622.001

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Olivetti Design Founded in 1908 by Camillo Olivetti (1868–1943) and succeeded by his son Adriano Olivetti (1901–60) thirty years later, Ing. C. Olivetti & Co. is associated with design more than any other typewriter company. Within a framework termed the “Olivetti style,” good design was central to all levels of production and advertising, and even extended to the factory floor and lifestyle of its workers. Located in the ancient Roman town of Ivrea in Northern Italy, Olivetti constructed a factory complex and “town within a town” that included modern, low-cost housing along with clinics, nurseries, schools, and recreational facilities. Even the factory’s architecture was carefully considered, with large spans of glass that provided natural light and panoramic views of the Italian countryside.

Olivetti released one of their best-selling portable typewriters in 1950. Housed in a low-profile body designed by Marcello Nizzoli (1887–1969) that concealed its flush-top carriage, the Lettera 22 was a favorite of traveling writers. The Valentine is perhaps the most iconic Olivetti typewriter, envisioned by architect and designer Ettore Sottsass (1917–2007) as an inexpensive and simple-yet-stylish portable. Based mechanically on the mid-1960s Lettera 32, the Valentine came in bright, pop-art colors and included an ABS plastic case that doubled as a waste paper bin. Sottsass’ 1969 Praxis 48 was a completely different type of machine. One of the first compact electrics, its space-age layout included switches that rotated into the body and distinctive, cupped keys topped in bright green.

(detail) Olivetti Lettera 22 poster 1954 Giovanni Pintori (1912–99) © Giovanni Pintori / Olivetti SpA Photograph: Don Ross Collection of San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Accessions Committee Fund purchase 2008.175.7 R2017.0623.003

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Advertisement for Olivetti Valentine c. 1969

Olivetti Valentine with carrying case 1969

Courtesy of Janine Vangool The Typewriter: A Graphic History of the Beloved Machine

Ing. C. Olivetti & Co., SpA Barcelona, Spain Collection of Computer History Museum

R2017.0619.010

102628789 L2017.0603.001a,b

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Olivetti Praxis 48 1969 Olivetti-Underwood Corporation Ing. C. Olivetti & Co., SpA Ivrea, Italy Collection of The Museum of American Heritage 6I.066 L2017.0602.019

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Olivetti Lettera 22 1956 Ing. C. Olivetti & Co., SpA Ivrea, Italy Collection of The Museum of American Heritage 6I.071 L2017.0602.018.01

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Foreign Language Typewriters Typewriters have been manufactured or modified to write in more than 145 languages. Early foreign language typewriters were type-wheel or type-sleeve designs available with interchangeable elements in a multitude of languages. The more conventional type-bar machine is not as adaptable and presents a challenge to foreign applications, as type-bars are fixed in place and not easily changed. Many companies offered conventional typewriters in various languages from the factory, with those most similar to English, such as German, Swedish, Italian, and French, easily adapted with just a few modifications. Languages that are not Germanic or Romance-based require more extensive work, and typewriters have been made to write in Russian, Greek, Hindi, and many other dialects. Some present different technical hurdles—Arabic and Hebrew language typewriters must be configured to type from right to left.

Torpedo 15a, German configuration 1939 Torpedo-Werke AG Frankfurt, Germany Collection of History San JosĂŠ O 2005-78-130 L2017.0601.007

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Royal Model P, Russian configuration 1931 Royal Typewriter Co., Inc. New York Collection of History San JosĂŠ O 2005-78-114 L2017.0601.008.01

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Hermes 305, Arabic configuration c. 1978 Hermes Precisa International SA Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland manufactured by Nakajima All Precision Co., Ltd. Nagano, Japan Courtesy of California Typewriter L2017.0604.002.01

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Moskva 4 1956 Moskva [Moscow] Plant of Portable Typewriting Machines Moscow, Soviet Union Courtesy of Nick Tauriainen L2017.0612.007

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Japanese Typewriters Chinese and Japanese script are logographic and utilize characters that represent elements of words or meanings. Chinese is one of the most ancient forms of active writing, with over 80,000 characters identified throughout different eras and regions of China. Modern Chinese is simplified. Around 3,500 characters are defined in the List of Frequently Used Characters in Chinese, with approximately 2,500 in Common-use Character lists published by the Chinese government. Kanji, or Japanese character writing, is based on Chinese script and shares many meanings and definitions. Officially published in the Jōyō Kanji, around 2,000 Chinese-based characters are listed for use in conjunction with a distinct, Japanese kana alphabet.

In 1915, Japanese printer and inventor Kyota Sugimoto (1882–1972) patented a typewriter that printed in both Chinese and Japanese. Manufactured by the Nippon Typewriter Company, the machine featured a large, sliding tray with room for 2,450 individual type-slugs. A carriage assembly mounted over the tray contained the selector and typing mechanism. To operate, the typist moved the tray and carriage along an x–y axis to select a type-slug, and then depressed a button to retrieve, ink, and print. During the mid-1930s, Toshiba introduced a completely different type of Japanese typewriter. Designed around common-use characters, it featured more than 1,100 Japanese kanji type-slugs organized by row in a drum configuration.

To type, the drum was rotated to the appropriate row, and a lever moved into place for selection of the desired character.

Japanese Typewriter 1940 Nippon Typewriter Co., Ltd. Tokyo & Osaka, Japan Courtesy of Thomas S. Mullaney L2017.0605.001.01

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Bowl 1981 Bob Stocksdale (1913–2003) lignum vitae (Mexico) L2013.2601.081

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Man operating a Japanese typewriter 1923 Collection of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division; Washington, D.C. LC-H234-A-7505 R2017.0618.010

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Matsuda Japanese typewriter 1951 Tokyo Shibaura Denki Kabushiki Kaisha [Toshiba] Tokyo, Japan Courtesy of Thomas S. Mullaney L2017.0605.002

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The Chinese Typewriter Typing in Chinese or Japanese on a flatbed typewriter is a complex procedure. Operators of these machines must familiarize themselves with the location of more than 2,000 type-slugs, and most early typists averaged twenty to thirty characters per minute. Typing speed substantially increased with the arrangement of type-beds by operators to suit their individual needs. In the early 1950s, the New Typing Method introduced “radiating compound” organization to Chinese typists. Depending on subject matter, associated characters were arranged around central, primary characters in radiating patterns. Typists were responsible for their own layouts, and organization differed dramatically. For instance, a layout for a government office would be quite different than for a factory, with names of officials likely substituted for company names and technical terms.

Through the 1950s, most Chinese language typewriters were manufactured in Japan. The Chinese government restructured typewriter production under the communist regime, and in 1964, the Shanghai Chinese Typewriter Manufacturers Association introduced a flatbed typewriter. Based on the Japanese typewriter produced by Nippon Typewriter Co. in Tokyo, the revitalized machine was branded the Double Pigeon DHY and made by Shanghai Calculator & Typewriter. Available with either ribbon- or roller-inking mechanisms, the DHY was the iconic typewriting machine of the People’s Republic of China and was manufactured until 1992.

Double Pigeon DHY Chinese typewriter 1991 Shanghai Calculator & Typewriter Factory Shanghai, China Courtesy of Thomas S. Mullaney L2017.0605.003

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Tessie Veloso operating a Chinese typewriter, Far East Broadcasting Company (FEBC), Manila 1965 Courtesy FEBC International, Photo and Document Archives R2017.0624.001

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Thank you to the following lenders for making this exhibition possible: California Typewriter, Computer History Museum, History San JosĂŠ, Joe Welch American Antique Museum, Mickey McGowan, Thomas S. Mullaney, Timothy S. Mundorff, Museum of American Heritage, Peter Smith, Steve Soboroff, Nick Tauriainen, and Janine Vangool.

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Bibliography Adler, Michael H. The Writing Machine. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1973.

Beeching, Wilfred A. Century of the Typewriter. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1974.

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Updegraff, Joe M. “The History and Development of the Typewriter.” Master’s thesis, University of Southern California, 1951.

Vangool, Janine. The Typewriter: A Graphic History of the Beloved Machine. Calgary: UPPERCASE Publishing, 2015.

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inside front cover

Richard Bonelli typing on Corona typewriter c. 1920 Collection of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division; Washington, D.C. LC-B2-5606-14 R2017.0618.005

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Women in classroom with typewriters c. 1915 Collection of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division; Washington, D.C. LC-F82-10053 R2017.0618.004

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