The Lowman & Hanford Stationery and Printing Company was formed by business and civic leaders James D. Lowman (1856-1947) and Clarence Hanford (1857-1920) in 1882. The firm advertised as booksellers, stationers, printers and binders but also sold typewriters, sewing machines, pianos and organs. The company existed in one form or another until about the 1960s.
This photograph of a man and woman each working at Monotype keyboards was taken about 1908, likely at the Lowman & Hanford Printing and Binding building (now the Washington Park Building) on Washington Street, along Railroad Avenue (now Alaskan Way). The Monotype system for printing allows a keyboard operator to prepare a perforated paper tape, called ribbon, that will direct the casting of type separately from its actual casting. A Monotype operator enters text on a Monotype keyboard, on which characters are arranged in the QWERTY arrangement of a conventional typewriter, but with this arrangement repeated multiple times.
Caption on mount: Monotype Keyboards Photographer's number: 43517 Caption information source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotype_System
ID Number: 1970.5046.13
Date: Circa 1908
Physical Description: 1 photographic print mounted on cardboard : b&w ; 12 x 15.5 in.
Additional Information: Digital copy of this item available thanks to funding from a 2016 Institute for Museum and Library Services grant. Metadata updated as part of a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the Library Services and Technology Act, through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State. View the finding aid for this collection at https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv75258
Credit: MOHAI, Lowman and Hanford Company Records, 1970.5046.13
