A trip down memory lane to the days when typewriting was taught at schools, and typewriters were used by office staff, authors at home, and library staff typing catalogue cards and reports!

TYPING CLASSES 

Since the 1930s, the growth in school rolls led to students being increasingly streamed according to their academic ability. This meant that not all had the opportunity to study typing. Many secondary school students were placed by their school in either the 'academic' stream or the 'commercial' stream which included typing, shorthand, and bookkeeping. Some students in the academic stream did 'challenge' the setup within their school and were able to join typing lessons. Typing classes were predominantly taken by female students, with instances of male students requesting to be able to attend. 

Find out more:

Ruth  Fry,  "It's different for daughters: A history of the curriculum for girls in New Zealand schools, 1900-1975'. Educational Research Series No. 65. New Zealand Council for Educational Research, Wellington. R198685 

Students who were not planning on undertaking tertiary study could choose to study for a series of trade certificates. Pitman’s, Chamber of Commerce or public service examinations were available for shorthand, typing speed and written English.   

Find out more: 

Sarah Christie,  "Women and the New Zealand office, 1945-1972: Keystrokes to a rewarding life?"  A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Otago, Sept 2021.

To fix typos, a correction ribbon or fluid were used. Other practices included using an ink rubber or a metal pin to scratch out the typed letter! 

Office typists

Clerical work and typing were originally carried out by men. Between the late 19th century and 1930s, NZ Census figures show that women began working as typists, stenographers (shorthand typists) and bookkeeping machine operators, as men began moving into accountancy and more general clerical roles.  (Source:  Brown, Shannon. ‘Female Office Workers in Auckland, 1891-1936.’ MA (History), University of Auckland, 1993, p.175.)  

Authors and their typewriters

Library staff cataloguers

Over the years, library staff have received cataloguing training through tertiary institutes offering professional librarianship courses. Card catalogue training workshops were also given to public library and school library staff by National Library Extension Services staff on how to classify and catalogue books, and type and file catalogue cards. School Library Service Advisers would also travel with a portable typewriter to schools to provide training sessions.

A strategy used for filing catalogue cards correctly was to place the newly typed cards above the rod in the catalogue drawer. A colleague would then check and file the cards.

Models of Typewriters & typist chairs