The Typewriter and Phonographic World (New York, NY), March 1903 –
* This was written “Fraternity” in the original, but ye editor happened to think of Mr. David Wolfe Brown and of next month’s WORLD and (luckily? ) made the change in time.
© 2026, Mark Adams. All rights reserved.
The Palmyra Spectator (Palmyra, Missouri), October 22, 1913 –
© 2026, Mark Adams. All rights reserved.
From an otherwise generic article on touch typing (link):
“We blindfold our pupils after they have used the machine a month and during a recent ten minute test we obtained an average speed of 36 1/2 words a minute correctly written. We dictate directly to the pupil and also use the phonograph for dictation with excellent results.”
– The Typewriter and Phonographic World (New York, NY), February 1903
© 2026, Mark Adams. All rights reserved.
The assembly floor.
The Salesman, a California magazine, offered a wonderful series of photographs of the L.C. Smith & Bros. typewriter factory in 1910. The article, which can be found here, is mostly fluff, though.
Machinery for making typewriter bearings.
Automatic screw cutting machines.
© 2026, Mark Adams. All rights reserved.
The Houston Typewriter Exchange was founded in 1906, and operated through at least the 1980s.1 Of course, by the 1980s the company was selling electric typewriters and calculators with memory chips and word processing capabilities.
From The Houston Dispatch (link), December 16, 1923:
Houston Has Only Typewriter Rebuilding Plant In South
© 2026, Mark Adams. All rights reserved.
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