Mama Kat Thursday: Typewriter Memories!

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I graduated high school in 1975. I took typing class I & II over 2 semesters when I was in 11th grade. 
At that time, being able to type and type well was a critical employment skill. For women, a majority of jobs between World War 2 and advent of Personal Computers replacing typewriters ---typing was a required job skill. You were required not only to type fast, but accurately. 
Even in the 60's and 70's when computers were beginning to be installed in
business offices, they were monstrous contraptions with huge keyboards, so typing remained a high demand skill.  (check this Pinterest picture of the lady with a beehive hair-do at a trendy desk computer!) 


The typing technique we were taught was called, "Touch Typing," and you had to keep your eyes on the paper document you were typing while your fingers flew over the keys, each finger knowing which letters to strike.
Your typing skill level was evaluated by a timed speed test where you typed for so many minutes then subtracted  the number of mistakes you made to arrive at a words-per-minute score average.
In the working world at the time, an executive secretary needed to be able to type 60 to 70 words per minute.
I never made it that high. The bare minimum requirement to pass typing was 35 words-per-minute and I managed that.
Still, it's a skill I use every day even now on my computer keyboard.

The interesting thing about typewriters is they're making a comeback. Apparently Millennial's love them and the market for used typewriters is big.
Typewriter repair, for those still in the business, has also become a booming business again.
Others enjoy collecting them. Actor, Tom Hanks, is one such collector and has shelves of different kinds in his home.
But you don't have to buy used. Brand new manual types are still being made. Staples sells them. Royal brand typewriters, made in America. Apparently the Royal company has a long history, including being owned by an Italian company from 1986 until 2004, when it once again became a private American company.
I personally am not interested in going back to a typewriter---I need the feather-light keys of my computer keyboard. The striking motions required on an old-fashioned manual typewriter would  just be too much on my finger joints at this point in time.

  What got me started on this topic was looking for a picture of the kind of IBM typewriters I used to see being used when I was in the Air Force in the mid-70's. (Tan one in top picture is such a typewriter). The ones the Air Foruce had were all bright blue.They were electric IBM Selectic II's with a "type ball" instead of individual type arms.
I always these typewriters fascinating to watch whenever I had to get official paperwork done, seeing that type ball back and forth across the paper as the Air Force admin girl typed 70 words per minute.



Comments

John Holton said…
I went to a Jesuit high school for my freshman year, and one class they had us all take typing. The Jesuits knew what teen boys' handwriting was like and had no desire to try and figure out what we had written, so they required all papers be typewritten from then on. I went to a public high school my last three years, and I was surprised that more kids didn't take typing. Whether you were going to college or to work after high school, it seemed like an essential skill. It certainly helped me when I took computer classes and had to keypunch my programs.
Jan 31, 2020, 1:39:00 PM

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