Double-type typewriter

New York's Remington Company manufactured this typewriter, which the museum acquired during the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1878. It was already in widespread use in the United States and England by then, but the author of the report of the exhibition's international jury had some reservations. "Will this machine be useful?" he asked. "It is too early to say. However, in some cases we think it could be precious to make copies of, but not to write, minutes, which would require the operator or writer to have special training. In any case, there is no doubt that several important companies use the machine for their business correspondence. That is certainly in the practical domain." This typewriter's entry into the museum's collections signalled the emergence of innovation at the crossroads of new communication tools and the paradigms of modern mechanics based on standardised parts and mass production.