Computers & Business Machines
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
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Victor Index Typewriter
- Description
- This Victor index typewriter was manufactured by the Tilton Manufacturing Company of Boston, Massachusetts around 1889. The typewriter notably lacks a keyboard, and is called an “index” typewriter because you used your index finger to select the letters rather than striking a key. Bringing the selector over the character on the letter plate rotates the daisy wheel to the corresponding character. Pressing the inner left-hand key swung the hammer to strike the character, imprinting the type on the paper. The far left hand key served as the space bar. The daisy wheel used in this machines was such a brilliant design that it went on to be used in typewriters and printers in the 1970s and 1980s. The black metal body of the typewriter notes that the typewriter contains two patents, patented on August 13, 1889 and August 20, 1889. These corresponded to patent number 409128 and patent number 409289, patented by Charles E. Tilton and Arthur I. Jacobs, respectively. Jacobs assigned his patent to the Tilton Manufacturing Company while it was still located in Portland, Maine.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- ME.310347.02
- catalog number
- 310347.02
- accession number
- 117094
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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John M. Joy Teletypewriter Patent Model
- Description
- This teletypewriter model was made by John M. Joy of New York, New York and received patent number 676,137 on June 11, 1901. The patent was for improvements to a printing-telegraph receiver, “to provide a printing-telegraph receiver adapted to print lines transversely on a page of paper that can be operated with a minimum of power and at a high rate of speed, and one that is practically useful in connection with the distribution of news from a central station.” There is a label on the model that reads, “This unit is the property of the Page Machine Co., and is never sold.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- EM.320954
- catalog number
- 320954
- accession number
- 243599
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Blickensderfer No. 6 Portable Typewriter
- Description
- This is the case for the Blickensder No. 6 typewriter. The Blickensderfer typewriter No. 6 was manufactured by the Blickensderfer Manufacturing Company of Stamford, Connecticut from 1910 to around 1928. The Blickenderfer No. 6 was essentially the Blickensderfer No. 5 in an aluminum frame, and could be ordered with either a standard QWERTY keyboard or a DHIATENSOR keyboard. Blickensderfer called the latter their “scientific” keyboard because the most used letters—“D, H, I, A, T, E, N, S, O, and R”—were on the bottom row nearest the space bar to minimize necessary hand movement. The aluminum frame of the No. 6 made it exceptionally portable, weighing only 5 pounds, and came in a leatherette case for easy carrying, seen here.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1900
- 1895
- maker
- Blickensderfer Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- ME.310701.B
- catalog number
- 310701.B
- accession number
- 125450
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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IBM Model C Electric Typewriter
- Description
- This IBM Model C electric typewriter was manufactured by the IBM Company beginning in 1959. The Model C Executive was an electric typewriter that included previous IBM innovations such as proportional letter spacing, cushioned carriage return, electric ribbon rewind, changeable typebars, and multiple copy control as well as new features such as a decelerator mechanism for noise reduction, a new touch control system, and a carbon ribbon feed to achieve book-style printing.
- Originally founded in as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company in 1911, IBM began its venture into typewriter manufacturing with the acquisition of the Electromatic Typewriter Company in 1933. In 1935 IBM produced its first electric typewriter, the Model 01, which IBM considered a commercial success. IBM continued producing typewriters throughout the 20th century until 1990.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 1981.0109.01
- catalog number
- 1981.0109.01
- accession number
- 1981.0109
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Hermes Baby Rocket Typewriter
- Description
- This portable Hermes Baby Rocket brand typewriter was manufactured by Hermes-Presica, a division of Paillard Incorporated, around 1966. Paillard Incorporated was based in Switzerland, but the factory that produced this typewriter was located in Sackingen, Germany. Hermes manufactured a variety of typewriter models under both the “Baby” and “Rocket” brand name, and the design was so popular that it was licensed to several other manufacturers. This Rocket typewriter was a portable version that came with a case cover and handle. Hermes advertised that the green color of their machines was found to be “the most relaxing to the eye…least likely to interfere with the operator’s efficiency.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 1999.0185.01
- catalog number
- 1999.0185.01
- accession number
- 1999.0185
- serial number
- 9041458
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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New Franklin Typewriter
- Description
- This New Franklin typewriter was manufactured by the Franklin Typewriter Company of New York, New York around 1904. The design for the Franklin typewriter was patented by Wellington P. Kidder, receiving patent number 464,504 on December 8, 1891. The main feature of the Franklin typewriter is its series of radial type bars that carry multiple typefaces. The curved Franklin keyboard remains one of its most distinctive features.
- The Tilton Manufacturing Company of Boston, Massachusetts was originally assigned patents to both the Victor Index Typewriter (invented by Arthur Jacobs in 1889) and the Franklin typewriter (invented by Wellington Kidder in 1891). Eventually, both these typewriters were sold by their own companies, with the Victor Typewriter Company staying in Boston and the Franklin Typewriter Company moving to New York. The Franklin Typewriter Company began producing Franklin Typewriters in 1892, releasing numerous models before the company went bankrupt in 1904. The Victor Typewriter Company of Boston absorbed the interests of the Franklin Typewriter Company in 1907 and moved into its New York factory and offices at 812 and 814 Greenwich Street, producing its new visible frontstriking typewriter Victor No.1 that same year.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1904
- maker
- Franklin Typewriter Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- 1981.0107.01
- accession number
- 1981.0107
- catalog number
- 1981.0107.01
- 81.0107.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Blickensderfer Model 8 Typewriter
- Description
- The Blickensderfer Model 8 typewriter was manufactured by the Blickensderfer Manufacturing Company of Stamford, Connecticut beginning in 1908. The Blickensderfer was advertised as having one quarter of the parts that other typewriters used, allowing for easier operation, maintenance, and repair. Other features include a tabulator and a scaled with slots for carriage stops. Blickensderfer typewriters also had a patented type action using their patented “type wheel,” a metal wheel containing all the characters which would rotate and strike the paper to create the inked mark. The type wheel allowed for easier type alignment, less jamming, and an easier way to change type fonts. The simplicity of the Blickensderfer made it portable, and this model had a wooden cover with a leather handle for easy carrying. While QWERTY keyboards could be ordered, by default most Blickensderfer typewriters eschewed the QWERTY keyboard in favor of a “Scientific” keyboard that put the most used letters “D, H, I, A, T, E, N, S, O, and R” on the bottom row nearest the space bar to minimize hand movement.
- George C. Blickensderfer founded the Blickensderfer Manufacturing Company in Stamford, Connecticut in 1893. The Blickensderfer Manufacturing Company produced nine different models of typewriters, including an electric typewriter, and operated until George Blickenderfer’s death in 1917. The company was reformed as the Blick Typewriter Company for a few years before the Blickensderfer patents and designs were sold and manufactured by a variety of different companies.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 1981.0653.01
- accession number
- 1981.0653
- catalog number
- 1981.0653.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Woodstock "Electrite" Typewriter
- Description
- This Woodstock Electrite electric typewriter was manufactured by the Woodstock Typewriter Company of Chicago, Illinois around 1925. The Electrite was advertised as a typewriter that made “all typists experts.” The Electrite’s electric motor powered the strike mechanism and space bar, so that each key hit the paper with the same amount of force every time, resulting in uniform letters. In manual typewriters, a soft touch or mistype could result in printed text that was faint or hard to read.
- Like many typewriting companies, the Woodstock Typewriter Company went through several different corporate iterations. The Emerson Typewriter Company of Kittery, Maine began business in 1907, before it was purchased by the Sears, Roebuck, & Company of Chicago in 1910. Sears, Roebuck, & Company opened their typewriting company as the Roebuck Typewriter Company in Woodstock, Illinois, but soon sold their concern to the Woodstock Typewriter Company in 1914. The Woodstock Typewriter Company operated until 1950, when it was bought by R.C. Allen Business Machines.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 1982.0201.03
- accession number
- 1982.0201
- catalog number
- 1982.0201.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Royal Standard Typewriter
- Description
- This Royal Standard Typewriter was manufactured by the Royal Typewriter Company of New York, New York beginning in 1906. This typewriter is the original Royal Standard model, which was soon followed by a Royal Standard model number 1. The Royal Standard typewriter was a flatbed model with a QWERTY keyboard that featured visible writing. Early typewriters had upwards striking typebars that required the typist to lift the carriage to see what they had written.
- The Royal Typewriter Company was founded in 1906 by Thomas Fortunes Ryan and Edward B. Hess, with Ryan providing the capital and Hess providing the inventiveness. Hess owned over 150 patents, many of which were assigned to the Royal Typewriter Company. Hess’s most noteworthy patents related to increasing the ease of typing, including an accelerating typebar, anti friction roller escapement, Magic Margins, and selective touch control. In 1954 Royal merged with the McBee Corporation, operating as Royal Mcbee until 1964. In 1964 Royal McBee was acquired by Litton Industries, which used Royal as a brand until 1968.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 1982.0201.04
- accession number
- 1982.0201
- catalog number
- 1982.0201.04
- serial number
- 15995
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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American Model No. 7 Typewriter
- 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
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Naumann Erika Typewriter
- Description
- This Erika Modell M typewriter was manufactured by Seidel & Naumann of Dresden, Germany during the 1930s. The typewriter is a manual typewriter, with glass-covered QWERTY keys. The Erika model typewriters were made to be portable, and this model is inside a leather case, with a cleaning brush attached to the interior of the lid.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 1982.0202.01
- accession number
- 1982.0202
- catalog number
- 1982.0202.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Remington Remette Typewriter
- Description
- This Remette brand typewriter was manufactured by the Remington Rand Corporation from the late 1930s until the early 1940s. The Remette was a portable typewriter that came in a black leather carrying case. The Remette has a full size “QWERTY” keyboard, with the type bars visible in semi-circle above the brand name “Remette.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 1991.0696.01
- catalog number
- 1991.0696.01
- accession number
- 1991.0696
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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IBM Electromatic Typewriter
- Description
- This is an Electromatic brand electric typewriter. The Electromatic typewriter was first manufactured in 1924 by the North East Electric Company. The North East Electric Company produced the motor and base, and used a Remington model 12 as the typewriter. The North East Electric Company became the Electromatic Typewriter Company before being purchased by IBM in 1933. The Electromatic operated with a motor controlling all aspects of typing, from the type bar to the carriage returns, allowing the user to operate the typewriter without their fingers ever leaving the keyboard. This typewriter was once used by the United States Navy.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1933
- ID Number
- 1993.0278.01
- catalog number
- 1993.0278.01
- accession number
- 1993.0278
- serial number
- 84032
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Remington Quiet-Riter Typewriter
- Description
- This Quiet-Riter Eleven model portable typewriter was manufactured by the Remington Rand Corporation during the 1950s. The portable typewriter has all the features of a full sized model including an 88 character standard keyboard, a miracle tab that set and cleared stops making indenting easier, a cylinder that allowed you to type closer towards the bottom of the frame, and a shock resistant Cycolac frame. The typewriter came in a hard case for easier portability.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1950 - 1959
- 1950s
- ID Number
- 1993.0452.01
- catalog number
- 1993.0452.01
- accession number
- 1993.0452
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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IBM Model D Executive Typewriter
- Description
- The IBM Model D electric typewriter was produced in the spring of 1967 in both a regular and executive versions. The Model D Executive featured proportional spacing originally introduced in IBM’s Model B Executive typewriter. Instead of every character taking exactly the same space on the page, thin letters received narrower space, and wide letters got wider space. Other features of the Model D included a "control row" above the keyboard that allowed the user to adjust the margins, the tab settings, and the ribbon position.
- Originally founded in as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company in 1911, IBM began its venture into typewriter manufacturing with the acquisition of the Electromatic Typewriter Company in 1933. In 1935 IBM produced its first electric typewriter, the Model 01, which IBM considered a commercial success. IBM continued producing typewriters throughout the 20th century until 1990.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- International Business Machines Corporation
- ID Number
- 1984.0499.01
- accession number
- 1984.0499
- catalog number
- 1984.0499.01
- serial number
- 83851122
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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R.C. Allen Musicwriter
- Description (Brief)
- One (1) R.C. Allen musicwriter
- Mechanical typewriter with beige body with brown keys. Four-line keyboard. 14" carriage. Keys are musical symbols and numbers.
- Inscription: "R.C. Allen", "Musicwriter" On back label: "Musicwriter Patented Typewriter - U.S. Paten No. 511,941; Great Britain, No. 712,430, Nov. 3, 1954; Switzerland, Patent No. 298,526; Germany DBP 909,101." "MUSIC PRINT CORPORATION Denver, Colorado, U.S.A."
- Description
- This Musicwriter “typewriter” was manufactured by R.C. Allen of Grand Rapids, Michigan during the mid 20th century. The Musicwriter was used to compose sheet music. Instead of a letter-writing typewriter, each key could print a different type of note, which could be raised or lowered on the musical staff.
- R. C. Allen was founded in 1932 as a manufacturer of cash registers, adding machines, and altimeters. R.C. Allen purchased the Woodstock Typewriter Company of Woodstock, Illinois in 1950 and began manufacturing typewriters and musicwriters such as this machine.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1960
- maker
- R. C. Allen
- ID Number
- 1984.0914.01
- accession number
- 1984.0914
- catalog number
- 1984.0914.01
- serial number
- 8C-2105274 14
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Fox Portable No. 1 Typewriter
- Description
- The Portable No. 1 typewriter (also known as the Baby Fox) was produced by the Fox Typewriter Company of Grand Rapids, Michigan beginning in 1917. The typewriter carriage collapsed behind the body of the typewriter, becoming flat and easily portable. The QWERTY keyboard has glass topped keys with a wooden space bar.
- The Fox Typewriter Company was founded in 1902 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The company originally produced blind upstriking typewriters before producing a visible typewriter in 1906. World War I created a lack of materials that led many typewriter companies to cease manufacture during this time. The President of the Fox Typewriter Company, William R. Fox, returned to the Fox Machine Company in 1915, but a new Fox Typewriter Company was founded later in the year, buying the company’s patents and factory. The new Fox Typewriter Company produced the Fox portable in 1917 before declaring bankruptcy in 1921.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1917
- ID Number
- 1985.0653.01
- accession number
- 1985.0653
- catalog number
- 1985.0653.01
- accession number
- 1985.0653
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Burroughs Electro-Mechanical Typewriter
- Description
- This Burroughs Corporation electro-mechanical typewriter was produced during the first half of the 20th century in Detroit, Michigan. Burroughs was better known for its line of adding machines, as it began its history as the American Arithmometer Company, before changing its name to the Burroughs Adding Machine Company. In 1953 the company renamed itself the Burroughs Corporation, moving on to produce typewriters, and subsequently computer mainframes. This typewriter has mechanical keys, but an electric carriage return. The typewriter has an extra-wide carriage to accommodate larger sheets of paper, intended for tabular and statistical work.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1932
- ID Number
- 1985.0952.01
- catalog number
- 1985.0952.01
- accession number
- 1985.0952
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Smith and Corona Standard Typewriter
- Description
- This Corona Standard typewriter was produced by L.C. Smith & Corona Typewriters Incorporated of Syracuse, New York around 1935. This typewriter has an interesting variation on the standard QWERTY keyboard, as each key has an image of an animal, along with the alphabetical character. This special keyboard was available on three different models of Corona’s —the Silent, the Sterling, and the Standard—for a $2.25 charge. The keyboard was designed to help teach children how to type, and came with a set of nine rings, four on each hand and one on the thumb. Each ring had the image of an animal that corresponded with an animal on the key—you hit the bear with the finger that had the bear ring, the rabbit with the finger that bore the rabbit ring, the spacebar with the thumb that bore the elephant ring, etc. This typewriter is rare, as the Great Depression made an extra fee for a child’s keyboard difficult for many families to afford.
- The success of the Standard Typewriter Company’s Corona model typewriter prompted the company to change its named to the Corona Typewriting Company in 1914. In 1926 the company joined with the L. C. Smith & Brothers Typewriting company to become Smith Corona. Smith Corona manufactured typewriters and typewriter accessories throughout the 20th century, becoming Smith Corona Marchant in 1958. After two bankruptcies, Smith Corona returned to operation in 2010 as a thermal paper manufacturing company.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1935
- ID Number
- 1986.0082.01
- catalog number
- 1986.0082.01
- accession number
- 1986.0082
- serial number
- 1C19988
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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IBM Electromatic Typewriter
- Description
- This Electromatic brand typewriter was manufactured by the International Business Machines Corporation beginning in 1935. The Electromatic typewriter was first manufactured in 1924 by the North East Electric Company. The North East Electric Company produced the motor and base, and used a Remington model 12 as the typewriter. The North East Electric Company became the Electromatic Typewriter Company before being purchased by IBM in 1933. In 1935 IBM produced the Electromatic Model 01 for the first time. The Electromatic operated with a motor controlling all aspects of typing, from the type bar to the carriage returns, allowing the user to operate the typewriter without their fingers ever leaving the keyboard.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1940
- ID Number
- 1987.0544.01
- catalog number
- 1987.0544.01
- accession number
- 1987.0544
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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