Developed by Christopher Glidden in the 1860s and manufactured by the Remington arms company beginning in 1873, the Sholes & Glidden was the first commercially successful typewriter. Its adoption by large corporations kickstarted the typewriter industry and contributed to the speedup of American work life. The innovations of the Sholes & Glidden, particularly its keyboard layout, were widely adopted. This typewriter is why your computer keyboard reads QWERTYUIOP.

The typewriter was not immediately successful. Manufacturers had to figure out how to combine precise machinery with a durable structure and components.

Check out thf.org/collections to discover more of our typewriter artifacts.

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