By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills
The typewriter invented by Christopher Latham Sholes in 1867 changed how documents were created making written communication faster and more efficient than ever before. Over the years, advances in technology refined the machine. It’s amazing to think that the QWERTY keyboard I use every day traces its roots back to a typewriter
This link to National Typewriter Day—June 23 is a treasure house of memorabilia, facts, and a few tidbits you might not know about typewriters.
 From the above article, I discovered the use of typewriters from such notable figures as Ray Bradbury, Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway, Richard Brautigan, and Tom Hanks. It’s fun reading that will bring a smile to your face. More interesting information on this special day can be found on Days of the Year.
 I took high school typing, and I learned from one of these: 
Note the finger pressure needed for each key and the carriage return. Back then, there wasn’t a delete key but only a backspace. The typist used correction tape or White Out to manage mistakes. Did I mention the clumsy technique for fixing typos ranged from messy corrections to starting all over? Timed tests for speed and accuracy were . . . challenging.
Some of the students in high school were fortunate to grab a newer  typewriter, which made the timed tests unfair—in my opinion.
Today I’m a computer gal, and I have no desire to return to the manual machines of my youth. Yet, I’m fascinated with the history of typewriters and have collected a few over the years.
What has been your experience with typewriters? Are you a collector?
