Label Type
Object LabelLabel
IBM Correcting Selectric II Typewriter
1973
International Business Machines Corporation
U.S.A.
Gift of Lucile Bridges
2009.002.08Label Type
Cultural/Historical ContextLabel
The IBM Selectric series electric typewriter, launched in 1961, was an overnight hit and completely disrupted the business typewriter market. For the next 25 years, it was the typewriter found on most office desks. The unique design of the typewriter is credited to Eliot Noyes, an American designer. It featured a golf-ball-shaped type head that replaced the conventional typewriter’s "basket," thus eliminating the bane of rapid typing: jammed type bars. With no bars to jam, typists’ speed and productivity soared. By making the ball element interchangeable, the Selectric enabled different fonts, including italics, scientific notation, and other languages, to be swapped in.
The Selectric II was introduced in 1971 and differed greatly from its predecessor, with sharper corners and squarer lines, as well as now having the ability to switch between 10 and 12 characters per inch. In 1973 the Correcting Selectric II was produced. A correction key would backspace the carriage and use correction tape instead of typing ribbon when the next character was pressed. Previously typists had to align correction tape manually, or use fluid or other types of erasing tools.