The History and Uncertain Future of Handwriting by Anne Trubek

Author:Anne Trubek
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781620402160

Although one would expect outcries against the typewriter from penmanship proponents, the early response from educators to the typewriter was largely positive. It helped with spelling and punctuation, teachers claimed: “Teachers had noticed, early in the game, that the clarity of machine writing forced people to improve their spelling and punctuation. The penman, in doubt about whether the ‘i’ should proceed the ‘e,’ had usually written an ambiguous ‘ie’ that could be taken for ‘ei.’ Or had made the entire word a snakelike ripple that could be understood only from context.” Others believed the typewriter helped children learn to read early: Entranced by the machine, they would start playing with it and, by default, learn their letters.12 Researchers found that “familiarity with the typewriter makes students better penmen, not worse. The typewritten word seems to set a standard for neatness.”13

That enthusiasm aside, after typing had become common, some groups began to lament the loss of proper penmanship instruction. “Since the introduction of the typewriter in our junior high schools, there is a tendency to minimize the importance of the teaching of handwriting,” wrote a Pittsburgh school administrator in 1924.14 In 1938 the New York Times published an article, “Of Lead Pencils,” that warned, “Writing with one’s own hand seems to be disappearing, and the universal typewriter may swallow all.”15

The placement of the keys on the typewriter greatly influenced the speed of the typist. The letters were arranged into an idiosyncratic pattern—that, despite it being inefficient and of no purpose to us today, remains: the QWERTY keyboard. QWERTY was invented in 1873 in order to separate common letter pairs, preventing type bars from sticking together when struck sequentially. But QWERTY keyboards did not come with any instruction manual for how best to use them. Most people used either two or four fingers to type.

In 1888, Frank McGurrin created a system that all people could use, one that would be the most efficient. His system is what we now call touch-typing. He went on the road, showing off his speedy new method, shocking people that he could hit keys without looking at them and using all ten fingers.

McGurrin challenged anyone to beat his speed. Louis Traub, a typewriting teacher in Cincinnati, took the bet. Traub was dismissive of the ten-finger system, asserting that four were enough. McGurrin and Traub dueled in Cincinnati in 1888, racing to see who could more quickly and accurately complete forty-five minutes of direct dictation and forty-five minutes of copying from an unfamiliar script. McGurrin, with his ten fingers and the “home keys” method of placement, won decisively.

The media and public were fascinated by the spectacle of typing contests. Going fast was becoming a cultural phenomenon in an increasingly industrialized America, and typing speed contests fit perfectly into this general speedup. Over the next few decades, typing races were a craze, and highly competitive.

Charles E. Smith had developed the Underwood Speed Training Group on Vesey Street in New York City. There, dozens of typists practiced eight hours a day.

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