QWERTY: How Wisconsin Holds the Keys to Typing History – The Look Back – PBS Wisconsin Education

What role did Milwaukee residents play in developing the QWERTY keyboard, one of the most widely used inventions of the modern age?

Christopher Latham Sholes didn’t invent the typewriter, but he did play a major role in shaping its modern form—most notably the development of the QWERTY keyboard. Around 1867, Sholes and his colleagues in a Milwaukee makerspace began working on designs that would ultimately become the Type-Writer. This model was produced by Remington and Sons in New York starting in 1873, and it changed the course of typewriter (and keyboard) history forever.

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Questions to consider

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How long have typewriters been around for? Who were the first typewriters made for and why?

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Where was the QWERTY keyboard created and who was involved? What does the story tell us about how innovation happens?

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How are keyboards and braille text related? What do you notice about letters in braille?

Meet the historians

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Sergio González

History Professor

I research and teach about the history of Latinos in the Midwest.

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Sergio González

History Professor

I haven’t really used a typewriter since elementary school, but I like to think that early practice on that old machine helped make me a pretty proficient typer!

It’s hard to imagine a world without the QWERTY keyboard, which I suppose really speaks to the uniqueness and creativity of its inventors. Love it or not, it’s what we’ve got!

Where to start? There’s so much! It’s the place where my family decided to make their home, so I love to study all the different reasons immigrants like them have journeyed to the city for more than one hundred years and found a way to make it their own.

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Cat Phan

Digital Archivist

I take care of photos and videos and sound recordings so they last.

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Cat Phan

Digital Archivist

No, sadly. But I learned to type on one!

Bee’s knees — I could not type a text, a comment, or an email without it!

Lakefront, lake, lake, lake!

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Kacie Lucchini Butcher

Public Historian

I find and share stories from the past that have shaped our present, and love showing people how cool history is!

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Kacie Lucchini Butcher

Public Historian

Yes! I have a 1957 sage green Remington Quiet-Riter.

It’s the only keyboard I’ve ever used so I love it.

Did you know they call Milwaukee “cream city” because of the cream-colored bricks made from local clay? How cool!

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Molly Snyder

Journalist

I write and share Milwaukee news stories and co-founded QWERTYFEST!

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Molly Snyder

Journalist

Yes, I own about 30 typewriters. I use them to write letters and poems.

I think it’s great. And not only because it was invented in Milwaukee. Why would we change it after all of these years? It goes back to the ol’ adage, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Milwaukee is unpretentious, full of brilliant and creative people, and on a beautiful freshwater lake.

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Jason Puskar

Professor

I research and teach the history of technology!

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Jason Puskar

Professor

I own an Underwood No. 5 from around 1930, which I bought three decades ago for $10 at an antique store in Boston. Basically indestructible.

It’s a giant mess that I wouldn’t trade for anything. It’s like other things that aren’t that useful but that we can’t give up, like high-heeled shoes or wine glasses with long stems.

Milwaukee has never had a more successful export than the QWERTY keyboard. Not beer. Not cheese. Typing truly is how Milwaukee changed the world.

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Kate Melberg

Classics Professor

I study and teach about literature from Ancient Greece and Rome!

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Kate Melberg

Classics Professor

I don’t own a typewriter, but I do own a device that helps me write in braille.

I’m a big fan of the QWERTY keyboard; it is how I learned to type.

Milwaukee is where Nora and I went to our first baseball game together!

“Nobody knew who a typewriter was for when they started making typewriters. Who’s going to use this?”

Jason Puskar

Episode credits

Producer
David Boffa

Hosts
Kacie Lucchini Butcher
Sergio González
Cat Phan

Special Guest
Kate Melberg
Jason Puskar
Molly Snyder

Research and Writing
David Boffa
Tori Charnetzki
Kylie Compe
Ian Glodich
Ryan Hendricks

Videography
David Boffa
Tori Charnetzki
Kylie Compe
Ian Glodich

Editing
Ian Glodich
David Boffa

Captioning
Catie Pfeifer

Translation Services
Rev

Educator Support Materials
David Boffa
Mia Forslund
Jen Kobylecky

Web Design
Charles Barrows
Erika Kachama-Nkoy

Web Development
John Vieth

Digital Content Editor
Mark Riechers

Graphic and Motion Design
Danielle Riseley
Charles Barrows
Ian Glodich

Additional Production Support
Levi Schlimgen
Andy Lavalley

Executive Producer
Ryan Hendricks

Director of Education
Megan Monday

Director of Television
Jon Miskowski

Project Partners
Rebecca M. Blank Center for Campus History
UW–Madison Libraries
Wisconsin Historical Society

Special Thanks
Nora the Mobility Dog
Tea Krulos
QWERTYFEST

Funding provided by

Timothy William Trout Education Fund
a gift of Monroe and Sandra Trout

Eleanor and Thomas Wildrick Family

Focus Fund for Education

Friends of PBS Wisconsin