June 23, the anniversary of the day in 1868 when a patent was granted for the first practical typewriter to a trio of inventors, including Christopher Latham Sholes, a Wisconsin newspaper editor who designed the QWERTY keyboard.
•••
Around here every day is
World Typewriter Day.
Every so often someone
who comes to my house
looks around and asks,
How many do you have?
And I have to confess,
I honestly don’t know.
Lots. Too many. But look
at those majestic machines,
most of which I acquired
long after their prime.
The pink Royal made for
girl typists in the 1950s.
The classic black Underwood,
anchor-heavy. The tiny
Corona designed for
war correspondents.
Think of all the words
they typed, the miles of
ribbons used by all
kinds of writers from
office staff to novelists,
poets to someone hunting
and pecking out an address
on an envelope. Once in
service to millions, some
now survive in places of honor,
excellent retired workers
like so many of us,
including the one
typing right now.
Güd wrtr 
Then, 43 years later to the day, a different Christoffer was born who mastered that keyboard and when in school, won an award for speed and accuracy!
I’d forgotten that! What a fine typist he was, always, as I’ve heard. Thanks for that good memory!
Great! Planning on opening a museum honoring typewriters?!
I should, shouldn’t I? I’m thinking Tom Hanks must have an even more impressive collection/museum!