Burriss: Typewriters still special?
Tuesday, September 16, 2014 12:08 pm By LARRY BURRISS This coming Friday and Sunday are anniversaries of sorts. Not anniversaries that we usually celebrate, but significant dates none-the-less. It was on Sept. 12, 1873, that E. Remington and Sons manufactured the first practical typewriter. And on Sept. 14, 1886, George Anderson received a patent for the typewriter ribbon. Typewriters and typewriter ribbons? In these days of computers and laser printers? What's so special about those? Each of these developments were significant, not just in themselves, but in the changes they brought about to society. For example, the advent of printing ended the monopoly of oral culture. Documents, history and traditions could be passed on from generation to generation almost unchanged. The printed word gave permanence to culture. No, these anniversaries may not be all that important in and of themselves. But they are important for the changes they brought about. Changes that affect us all in more and more ways, and in ways that could not possibly have been seen just a short time ago.
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