Type-Writer.org

All those odd marks, indecipherable to the ordinary person, meant so much to the stenographer. But when those notes got transferred by the typist, the outcome was, well, —

The Boston Daily Globe (Boston, Massachusetts), December 31, 1905 –

© 2023, Mark Adams. All rights reserved.

He did not invent the first typewriter, but John Pratt did invent one of the first practical typewriters. His designs inspired the Christopher Latham Sholes and Carlos Glidden who introduced the first “Type Writer” in 1874. Pratt died this day in 1905.

Chattanooga Daily Times (Chattanooga, Tennessee), June 25, 1905 —

© 2023, Mark Adams. All rights reserved.

A. M. Stone riding a lumber train. He worked for the L. And M. Alexander and Company in San Francisco as an agent for Smith Premier.¹ Click image to view larger.

The Typewriter and Phonographic World (New York), August 1900 –

[continue reading…]

© 2023, Mark Adams. All rights reserved.

1. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Sonora/D8jzdPSQAzcC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=a%20m%20stone%20typewriter&pg=PA53&printsec=frontcover [↩]

Typed letters were still a novelty in the early 20th century, and recipients were sometimes offended by these seemingly impersonal notes. Such was the case when the Duchess of Marlborough sent out correspondence from her typewriter. “How horrid! How American!” was the feeling of some. Of course the Duchess was American: Consuelo Vanderbilt married the 9th Duke in 1895. But, as noted below, she was not the only aristocrat to adopt the typewriter.

The Typewriter and Phonographic World (New York), March 1901 –

Read about the Duchess here.

© 2023, Mark Adams. All rights reserved.