Computers & Business Machines

Apple II Personal Computer

Imagine the loss, 100 years from now, if museums hadn't begun preserving the artifacts of the computer age. The last few decades offer proof positive of why museums must collect continuously—to document technological and social transformations already underway.

The museum's collections contain mainframes, minicomputers, microcomputers, and handheld devices. Computers range from the pioneering ENIAC to microcomputers like the Altair and the Apple I. A Cray2 supercomputer is part of the collections, along with one of the towers of IBM's Deep Blue, the computer that defeated reigning champion Garry Kasparov in a chess match in 1997. Computer components and peripherals, games, software, manuals, and other documents are part of the collections. Some of the instruments of business include adding machines, calculators, typewriters, dictating machines, fax machines, cash registers, and photocopiers

Resource Type: Typewriters

Adler Typewriter

This typewriter was manufactured by the German company Adlerwerke vormals Heinrich Kleyer (Adler Works, formerly Heinrick Kleyer) of Frankfurt, Germany during the early 20th century. The machine has lost many of its Adler decals, but “Imported” can still be seen on the machine.
Description
This typewriter was manufactured by the German company Adlerwerke vormals Heinrich Kleyer (Adler Works, formerly Heinrick Kleyer) of Frankfurt, Germany during the early 20th century. The machine has lost many of its Adler decals, but “Imported” can still be seen on the machine. The typewriter has a cast iron frame, nickel fittings, and is mounted on a mahogany board with a black metal cover that reads “Adler Imported.” This machine is very similar to the Adler No. 7, having the same sliding type bar mechanism instead of the usual swinging type bars.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1900
maker
Adler Schreibmaschinen
ID Number
ME.312845
catalog number
312845
accession number
168622

Underwood Model 5

The Underwood Model 5, introduced in 1899, is the result of almost thirty years of innovation and improvements in typewriter manufacture. It became the ubiquitous office machine for another thirty years, and its sales led Underwood to dominate the market.
Description
The Underwood Model 5, introduced in 1899, is the result of almost thirty years of innovation and improvements in typewriter manufacture. It became the ubiquitous office machine for another thirty years, and its sales led Underwood to dominate the market. The Model 5 became the modern standard of how a typewriter worked and what it looked like.
The first successful commercial typewriter, developed by Christopher Scholes and Carlos Glidden, was brought to the public in 1874 by the Remington Company. Two elements from that first machine remained dominant in the design of eventual typewriters: the QWERTY keyboard, a pattern of letters on the keyboard, and the telegraph type key movement. At first sales were slow, but the typewriter industry grew as businesses expanded along with their need to retain records, and process paperwork at fast speeds. More and more people, mostly women, learned the new skill of typing, creating a new class of clerical worker, according to historian JoAnne Yates.
There were a handful of typewriter manufacturers by the end of the 1880s such as Remington, a leader in the industry, L.C. Smith & Brothers, Caligraph, Hammond, and a number of smaller firms. As the number of manufacturers grew, so too did the improvements, including the addition of a shift key to activate upper and lower case letters, the size and weight had been reduced but until 1895, but typists could not see what they had typed until the typed page advanced forward.
In the early 1890s, Franz X Wagner, a German immigrant, engineered the first reliable "visible" typewriter that allowed the typist to see the text as they typed. Wagner had already designed several earlier typing machines. John T. Underwood, producer of office supplies such as carbon paper and ribbons, purchased Wagner's design and manufactured it as the Underwood Model 1 in 1895. Unlike earlier machines, which had an up strike type bar from underneath the paper, the new design in
After six years and two other models that improved touch, and tab function and provided quieter operation, Underwood came out with the Model 5 in 1900. Compared to earlier machines of the 1870s, this machine is plain. The machine in the collection was produced in 1910. It has a black frame with gold lettering and stripping.
Date made
1914
maker
Underwood Typewriter Company
ID Number
ME.312108
accession number
161692
catalog number
312108

Sholes & Schwalbach Patent Model for Improvement in Type-Writing Machines

Inventors C. Latham Sholes and Matthias Schwalback of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, submitted this typewriter model with their patent application for an improved up strike key lever mechanism for printing onto paper. The inventors received number 182,511 on September 9, 1876.
Description
Inventors C. Latham Sholes and Matthias Schwalback of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, submitted this typewriter model with their patent application for an improved up strike key lever mechanism for printing onto paper. The inventors received number 182,511 on September 9, 1876. The typewriter has two rows of keys in roughly alphabetical layout as well as the numbers 7 and 8. When struck, the keys would rise up and hit the piece of paper lying horizontally on the platen of the typewriter. The carriage would have to be lifted for the typist to see their typed words.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1872
patent granted by United States Patent Office
1876-09-09
licensee
Sholes, C. Latham
Schwalbach, Matthias
patentee
Sholes, C. Latham
Schwalbach, Matthias
ID Number
1981.0359.02
catalog number
1981.0359.02
accession number
1981.0359
patent number
182511

American Model No. 7 Typewriter

This model number 7 typewriter was manufactured by the American Manufacturing Company of New York, New York at the Williams plant in Derby, Connecticut during the early 20th century.
Description
This model number 7 typewriter was manufactured by the American Manufacturing Company of New York, New York at the Williams plant in Derby, Connecticut during the early 20th century. The American Typewriter Company was located at 265 Broadway in New York, New York, and operated from 1893 until 1915. This model 7 typewriter is a blind writer with upwards striking type mechanism and a QWERTY keyboard.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
American Typewriter Company
ID Number
1982.0201.05
accession number
1982.0201
catalog number
1982.0201.05

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