Typewriters can "Date You" →

Typewriters have changed during my lifetime. The oldest one I remember was a Remington with a wide carriage enabling the use of very wide paper.

I remember when I was around 10 years old, it was a regular occurrence to see my grandfather with the Remington typewriter   . It was on a table in his living room. Papers would be scattered all around the area, and it seemed he would always be in the middle of a special letter to someone.

I remember when I was about that age, it was common for me to see my grandfather with the typewriter shown above (on the left).  It always sat on a table in his living room. Papers would be scattered all around the area, and it seemed he would always be in the middle of a special letter to someone.

My great-grandmother was born in 1840 and lived in the Parish of St. John near Swansea, Glamorganshire, Wales. When she was 16 she emigrated to the United States.

Someone in my father's family typed her history, and it was done on long paper, probably 8 x 14 size. I took a copy of that history to church with me one Sunday to share it with two girls and a boy, all 9 years old, in a small class I was teaching.  

Before we even had a chance to start talking about the story, the kids noticed the extra-long paper and the print on the paper. They knew immediately it was different and that it had been typed with a typewriter. This was at a time when typewritten documents were less common and computer-written documents were beginning to be the norm.

Each of these young folks shared some thoughts about a typewriter they had seen once or somewhere. The idea of something of importance being "typed" was sort of a surprise to them.  We probably spent as much time talking about typewriters as we did on the story I had brought.