Dave Ruddick, warehouse operator II: “I started on campus with Equipment Services in October 1973 as a time slip office machine mechanic, then became a staff member in April 1974. Equipment Services was part of Material Maintenance Services, which also included Surplus Stores, and the manager at the time was C.B. Jones. Ken Wright was the IBM Selectric and IBM typewriter specialist at the time, and I joined him in working on those and other manual and electric typewriters. After I left Equipment Services in 1992, there were only two techs that were left to take Ken and my positions repairing the typewriters. They were Maurice Bristol and Wayne Moore, who have since retired.
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Petersen, left, and Rossini. |
Patti Petersen, principal assistant, Chancellor’s Office, WSU Spokane: “My coworker Pat Rossini and I occasionally find the need to use our trusty friend, the electric typewriter. Using the typewriter has brought a few laughs in our office. When Pat asked a young office assistant to use the typewriter to complete a form, the assistant was totally intimidated. “Where do I turn it on? What do I do?” she asked. Luckily, both Pat and I learned to type (too many years ago) using manual typewriters – no electricity required!”
Barb Olson, University Relations: “When I think about typewriters, memories come flooding back about my typing class in junior high school. Imagine 50 teenagers typing wildly, throwing carriages as end-of-row bells ding away. I bet Mr. Nugent heard bells in his sleep! To pass the typing class, we had to type at least 45 words per minute after factoring in errors. Does anyone ask about words per minute these days? Nancy Siegel and I competed to break the 100 wpm mark. What a hoot! And then there was real life experience with the typewriter. I worked at a brokerage firm whose president lived through the Great Depression and was very frugal. We office workers had the pleasure of not only using a typewriter (thank goodness it was electric and not manual), but also making copies using carbon paper. Oh boy; if you want to work on improving your accuracy, use carbon paper! I knew every key and button on that machine and how it could help me get the job done fast and efficiently so I wouldn’t have to start over.
Good thing because it’s the very same typewriter I use today: IBM Selectric. But only to complete the WSU form, ‘Request for shipment of merchandise.’ It’s faster than completing the form by hand and it is legible! Otherwise I would have no need for the typewriter. I am thankful for today’s technology and usually walk away from the Selectric with a smile.”
Tanya Gale, office assistant 3, Anthropology Office: “I use the typewriter for some tasks that it would be more difficult to use a computer for. For example, I use it to make labels and to fill in forms. I enjoy using it, except when I mistype something. Then I would kill for a backspace button.”
Ellen Potratz, clerical assistant III, Equipment Loan Program: “I manage the Equipment Loan Program. We send science equipment to K-12 schools in Washington State for use in their science programs. When I came into my job 3 ½ years ago, the typewriter was here. It has been used consistently since the ELP was founded in 1993 to fill out ‘Request for Shipment of Merchandise’ forms. In the spring, when I begin to schedule the coming year’s shipments, I have 100 of them to fill out. The typewriter keeps writer’s cramp at bay. (Someone want to put that form online?)”
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Arline Lyons, principal assistant, and Cherra Charlo, program assistant, University Publishing: “We love the IBM typewriter that we share! We mostly use it for envelopes – honestly it’s quicker than running to the printer next door, inserting an envelope, coming back to push ‘print’ and then back to the printer. We, and others of our staff, also use it for occasional forms that are not yet online.”
Tim Steury, editor, Washington State Magazine: “I keep my old Royal here in the office just in case. Just in case my computer explodes. Just in case my brain reverts to its addiction to the ‘tap, tap, tap, ding…’ that proved I was getting somewhere. In spite of that contingency planning, however, I haven’t pulled it out of the cupboard for years. It was nice to see and feel it again. I do miss it.Besides the audible proof of progress it provided, I recall, with much fondness, the advantage of composing a memo or letter and not being afforded the opportunity to hit send before it was ready. I also recall never having a file disappear. The manuscript was either typed or it wasn’t. Tossed in the wastebasket, perhaps, but never simply gone, sucked into digital nothingness.
I think I’ll see if I can track down a new ribbon.”
Over the years, I have had some interesting comments about our typewriter. Once I was interviewing a student for a time slip position. I asked if he had skills on a typewriter. He was amazed we had a typewriter on the premises and asked if he could see it!
When I first started at WSU as a time slip employee; I was hired by the office staff in the Athletics Department. My supervisor showed me my office area, pointing out the computer and typewriter that would be mine to use. He gave me a stack of work and off I went to my office. I had learned to type in high school and was a fairly proficient typist. I spent 22 years as a dental hygienist and had used a computer keyboard for many years. I was excited that I would get to type again on a typewriter.
To my surprise it was an electric typewriter! I had never used an electric and had to close my office door to investigate how to turn it on. It did make me feel like a beginner again.
There are only three typewriters in Clark Hall that are in use at this time.”
Becky Priebe, program administrative manager, Business & Finance Office, College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences and WSU Extension: “My faithful blue IBM Correcting Selectric typewriter comes with a complete set of fonts (some in 10 pitch, some in 12 pitch). It also has the maintenance record, which starts in 1979. Everyone on the floor knows when I fire it up – it rattles.
Writing for a church newsletter, for our community and my high school newspaper gave me plenty of typing practice. Upon high school graduation, my parents gave me an Olympia portable typewriter. I used it through college and into my journalism career. I still use it now and then. It has a black and
red ribbon. Typing some words or letters in
red is fun.
Some who have typed exclusively on computers may not know that “cut and paste” and “cc” have different meanings. Working on drafts for class in school and college, or preparing copy on a newspaper, you literarily used a scissor to cut copy you typed and then used glue – I used rubber cement – and pasted the copy in a different location.
And “cc?” That means carbon copy. In case you need some, I have several boxes of carbon paper at home. Take two sheets of typing paper. Put a sheet of carbon paper in between. When you type on the top sheet, what you type appears – thanks to the carbon – on the second sheet. That second sheet is the carbon copy.
How important are typewriters in my life? So important that there are three manual typewriters at home. I don’t have the heart to toss out machines that helped make my writing career possible.”
Tim Marsh of WSU Today gathered information and photos, took some photos and produced the SoundSlide for this story. SoundSlide music: “Holiday for Strings” (strings only version) by Glenn Miller from the album “The Missing Chapters Vol. 2: Keep ‘Em Flying.”