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 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 Caption information source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotype_System

• Subjects (LCTGM): Printers--Washington (State)--Seattle; Stationery trade--Washington (State)--Seattle; Typesetting--Washington (State)--Seattle; Typesetting machines