LEFT: This public domain image shows one of the very first QWERTY typewriters, manufactured in 1873; this photograph was taken in 1912 at the Buffalo History Museum in Buffalo, New York.
with capital letters in the upper case and regular letters in the lower case, hence the names. Prior to the shift key’s addition in 1878, typewriters could only type in uppercase, so typewritten articles required newspaper printers to fig- ure out which letters were meant to be which. By creating the means to include both kinds of lettering on the type- writer, C. L. took away the guesswork and saved time. We don’t have the printing blocks anymore, but we still call them uppercase and lowercase letters anyway. C. L. spent his final years battling tuberculosis, to which he finally succumbed in 1890, just three days after his 71st birthday. He and Mary Jane, who had died two years earli- er, are buried in the Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was survived by his ten children and many grandchildren, as well as by his incomparable contribution to technology.
A slightly more refined model of the Sholes and Glidden typewriter, manufactured by Remington & Sons.
Be sure to follow Laura’s journey & read her other fascinating stories behind the state’s recognizable historical blue markers!
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