Remington Desk Typewriter, Model No. 12, 1923

Sholes & Glidden introduced the first practical typewriter in 1874. By the 1880s, there were several companies mass producing these machines, including rifle manufacturer Remington & Sons. Typewriters were part of the "information explosion" that included technologies like the phonograph and telephone. They modernized offices by helping workers--increasingly women--reproduce and organize information more neatly and quickly than handwriting.