Yesterday it was announced that the last major manufacturer of typewriters is closing their doors. Several smaller makers of typewriters piped up with Monty Python-esque yelps of “We’re not dead yet!”, but the typing is definitely on the wall. The era of typewriters is essentially over.
One of my earliest memories involves a typewriter. When I was a toddler my dad used to work the 3pm-11pm shift, and occasionally on Friday nights I would somehow stay awake long enough to catch a glimpse of him right before falling asleep. On one of those Fridays I remember sitting at my mom’s typewriter (which was sitting on our coffee table) and randomly typing letters, asking my mom after each few keystrokes, “Is this a word?”
That may have been the last time I used a manual typewriter. Although my parents had a Smith-Corona electric typewriter in our house, we also had computers. My dad had a daisy wheel printer that used a typewriter head, meaning that I could write school papers on a computer and print them out with typewriter-quality. The only thing our Smith-Corona had over the computer printer was that we had a few different colored ribbons we could use.
In high school, I witnessed the transition between typewriters and computers first hand. In mid-high, we had the option of taking “typewriting” (I skipped it; I had been typing on computer keyboards for almost a decade at that point). By the time I was a senior we were taking “business computing” classes, learning the basics of word processors, spreadsheets and databases. I can’t remember seeing a typewriter at any point in college, or anywhere else since then except maybe the DMV.
When I was working in Spokane as a LAN Administrator for the FAA, we had access to a place called the DRMO. It stands for “Defense Reutilization and Marketing Office”, but I just knew it as “Dr. Moe’s”. Essentially it was a place where we, as a government agency, could get free equipment that other government offices and agencies had thrown away before it got auctioned off to the public. Several of the guys I worked with loved going to Dr. Moe’s and bringing back piles of free junk — think of it as antique shopping for dudes. One day, a couple of the guys I worked with drug back an entire pallet full of typewriters, and thought I would be so proud of them. “These are typewriters,” I said. “I’m a computer guy. I’m trying to get you guys to stop using these!” The next week, I made them take them all back to Dr. Moe’s.
Like payphones, I’m sure my kids would recognize a picture of a typewriter, but I doubt they would be able to figure out how to use one. More than that, I doubt they would understand why anyone would ever need one.
I still own a manual typewriter. It’s an Olympia. Back in 2006 and 2007 I did some part time work for may dad and I used the typewriter to print addresses on my father’s old mailing labels. That was great for printing out just one or two mailing labels. If I printed just one on my computer, I’d waste most of a sticky sheet.
You can still get ink ribbons for my typewriter.
2007 was probably the last time I used the manual typewriter. I still keep it, for sentimental reasons (it was a high school graduation present from my dad). Perhaps I could display it on a shelf somewhere…next to one of my Altairs.
Really- our high school had computers??? When we were there???
After working and getting laid off from several oil companies in the early ’90s, I applied at the state for any job openings they might have, and had to take a typing test. Yes, typing. I flunked it because I couldn’t remember to hit the line return and would type off the edge of the paper before I realized it. Typewriters have never heard of word wrap! Then went to work at a tech school who had thrown all their typewriters away, so all was well.