a Hamilton, Ontario typing class in 1945 – photo by Superior Engravers via HPL
Toronto. As I noted in the previous post, local libraries and archives are helpful to photo collectors. The sample here of a 1945 typing class held in Hamilton, Ontario is courtesy of George Dunbar and his diligent searches on line for photographic history.
Into the 1960s, typing pools were a common business facility for the larger corporations. Letters arrived by internal or external mail and were answered after the reply was written and revised a number of times over a few days including typing (draft and final). Sent by the same internal/eternal mail, a letter and its reply could easily take a week or two.
All this changed when internal email came along followed a bit later by internet email. In a ‘blink’, typewriters, standalone systems (like Wang) and typing pools disappeared to be replaced by emails sent directly by management who struggled with the complexities of computers and keyboards.
My wife and I had a few old and working typewriters, one of which was passed on to a grandson. After fiddling with the mechanical marvel, his question to his mom was, “were’s the delete key …”?
