Typewriter memories from my readers
Barbara of Idaho: Thank you for your typewriter memories. Sparked the following memories! I had a small Royal typewriter (portable) that was given to me by my Uncle Ralph – he’d used it when he attended MIT – and later on, didn’t need it, especially as a surgeon when he had his pen, notepad, and attending staff members ‘at the ready’ to take down his comments, prescribed medications, and post-op remarks. That Royal typewriter accompanied me to Wellesley – stayed on my various dormitory desks for four years, then went to Johns Hopkins with me – experiencing the agonies of writer’s block upon occasion – especially when I had poetry readings which were created so we, in The Writing Seminars, could introduce new works! My graduate school thesis, Noetic Flow, was typed up on that small Royal.
The Royal lasted through a few years of my teaching English (even had the strength to type clearly my tests and assignments on the layered sheets of mimeograph paper) until I graduated to a Smith-Corona (from the 1970’s), a wonderful color called Corsair Blue Aqua, which was a creative accomplice to all my mental musings for another 5 years — until I migrated from an educational setting to a corporate one as a Training and Development Manager for The Gap, using their Selectric IBM typewriter (the one with the golf-ball cartridge) for memos. By the time I returned to work, after a few years at home with my two sons, the world had met the computer – and I was provided with a computer in the schools where I worked – the beige IBM personal computers adorned all of our office desks, and I quickly learned how to navigate a world of screens and a different kind of keyboard, requiring a different energy from my fingers.
I’m typing this note to you on my personal computer’s (Dell Inspiron) keyboard, looking at my large desktop screen (Acer) as my words fly up onto it – and my eyes follow along, confirming that my fingers have typed the message correctly.
Diana of Boston: It’s fun to read your newsletters. I remember those balls with different fonts. As a legal secretary, we had to type all the pages of an incorporation or wills, etc., so I got really good and really fast on my Selectric II. I was overjoyed when they bought me a Selectric III that corrected errors!! No more white correction tape. And, I advanced to 130 words per minute with no errors!
Funnier, at the same law firm, the other legal secretary introduced me to their CPT Rotary III computer. My task was to input all the forms so all we had to do was insert names, etc., and print, and voila, an incorporation. Well, she showed me the keyboard, the ‘computer’ whatever it was called, and I got to work. About 6 months in, something broke and we had the repair folks in. He asked why I didn’t have my monitor on. ‘My what?’ I asked.
He then proceeded with 20 questions – How do you type? I use the keyboard. How do you know if you made mistakes? I print it out. How do you make corrections? I call up the document, count down the lines and over the number of letters and make the change. He almost fell to the floor laughing so hard. He wanted to surprise me with something. He turned on the monitor and my life was forever changed!!
A couple of years later, at a larger law firm where I worked a good bit of overtime in the second floor offices as I didn’t have a pot to piss in, another secretary who also worked long hours on the third floor let out a blood curdling scream. I ran up the backstairs and she was gasping, tears running down her face. She didn’t know to Save as she went along and with a power surge lost 150 pages. Christ! There you have it. My typewriter and computer stories!
Garry of Chicago: I still have my grandfather’s manual typewriter. When Alex was about 8 I hauled it out, managed to find an old store that still had a ribbon, and put in paper and set it up for her. She was fascinated hitting keys, watching the thin metal arms fly up, hit the ribbon, and see letters appear on the paper. Then she hit the backspace key and announced it was broke. When you backspace, isn’t the letter supposed to disappear?
Glory of Sacramento: In my typing class, the typewriter keys were blank. There was a huge poster of a typewriter with letters and symbols on the front wall. I typed over 90 words per minute. A girl at our school won the fastest typing award. She was born with one arm. Teachers were raving about our fastest typist but I think classmates, me included, didn’t get it. She was very smart and very kind. I think we took her talents for granted. School dances were hard for her. A few brave boys asked her to dance. I talked with her at our 50 th reunion. Just as pleasant, married, one son, and “lucky to be able to stay home and raise our son. And, to be able to be involved in his school activities, the library and almost every committee”. Contented.
Ian of Mill Valley: I remember taking a typing class in summer school once: we were using manual typewriters, too. For awhile, I typed on my mom’s old Royal, and I remember being amazed when I got my first Mac and StyleWriter printer. Somewhere between those two things, I had a Brother electric, and I also recall using the machine in my mom’s office in SF, which was one of those ones with the ball, rather than separate keys, like you mention. So I guess the word processor revolution must not have been all that long ago! Most of my typing skills are long forgotten, and aren’t much use on the iPhone anyway.
Jane of Dallas: I, too, did a typing course with a bitchy old woman and her pitiful sidekick. They didn’t teach touch-typing which has been my handicap all the way through. The Olivetti 22 which your writer probably had, served me well till the computer-age. And.yes, my ‘e’ stuck and is taped onto the machine.
Judy of Sacramento: I took typing in high school too. It didn’t really fit with my pre college advanced placement schedule but it turned out to be very practical. I remember three of us from school went to a regional typing contest in SF. I thought I was fast but when the timer started there were several people whose keys sounded like a blur they were typing so fast – over 100 on manual typewriters. So much for my competitive typing skills. My high school graduation present was a portable typewriter I took to college. I did use my typing skills continuously after graduating for various tasks and then when we switched to word processors and eventually computers it was a breeze to already know the “querty” layout.
Kathryn of Sacramento: I loved reading this! Remember those little slices of paper that when you made a mistake, you had to slip in and then backspace and then hit the letter again? Plus, I had to order extra keys for mine to get all the French accents I needed. What a pain! I wonder where my typewriter is now?
Nina of Belmont: I had a roommate my sophomore year, financially strapped due to alcoholic parents, who was a brilliant English major. Her comma stopped working and to cope she wrote very short sentences for the rest of the semester – ala Hemingway, I guess. I don’t know HOW you even attempted to avoid the most common letter in the English language. Her “E” key went kaput shortly after that and that ‘s what finally propelled her to get a new typewriter.
**anara@anaraguard.com