# What did they do in the Steno Pool? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 12, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-do-in-the-steno-pool/485549 "2009-02-12T16:29:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-do-in-the-steno-pool/485549/21 "2009-02-13T07:49:22Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > Originally it said “life, liberty, and the pursuit of a penis” Then after penis, happiness ensued. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-do-in-the-steno-pool/485549/22 "2009-02-13T07:56:59Z")
> [@Vox\_Imperatoris](#): > > Dictation also hasn’t fully gone out of style Not at all. I dictate stuff every working day. Clients would tend to get a bit snarky about paying hundreds an hour for me to type things. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-do-in-the-steno-pool/485549/23 "2009-02-13T08:03:36Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Not at all. I dictate stuff every working day. Clients would tend to get a bit snarky about paying hundreds an hour for me to type things. Hey, for that kind of money I want to see calligraphy 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-do-in-the-steno-pool/485549/24 "2009-02-13T08:14:25Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Well, they didn’t have a steno pool then. Yes, they did – sort of. For the Declaration of Independence, the handwriting is actually that of professional penman Timothy Matlack, who was commissioned to handwrite (“engross”) the final copy of the Declaration of Independence. (You can actually buy a font of that handwriting for your computer, as well as Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Lincoln handwriting – [vletter.com](http://vletter.com). $30 each) ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-do-in-the-steno-pool/485549/25 "2009-02-13T08:18:41Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > Hey, for that kind of money I want to see calligraphy 😃 My handwriting is not something you’d pay anything at all for. Indeed I’d suspect that unless \*I \*paid \*you \*hundreds an hour, you’d refuse to read it. Trust me on this. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-do-in-the-steno-pool/485549/26 "2009-02-13T08:29:53Z")
> [@Vox\_Imperatoris](#): > > ETA: Can someone point out a correction on the Declaration of Independence? I want to see it! An example: in the line _“Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury.”_, the word _only_ is squeezed in above the line, with a little caret mark (^) stuck in between “answered” and “by”. It’s about in the middle of the page, 10 lines up from the signature of John Hancock. [See image here.](http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_zoom_2.html) ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-do-in-the-steno-pool/485549/27 "2009-02-13T08:33:39Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > Think about how many times you make a change to a report or letter. Back then they had no word processors so every change to a report or letter had to have at least have one page retyped in full. > > That’s what the stenos did. They took dictation to start the process and then retyped for changes. > > no computer storage so most businesses kept important information on paper and in file cabinets - file clerks > > No automatic phone switching or dedicated phone numbers so - Local operator. > > No phone message recording so - Secretaries > > Yep, pretty much replaced by computers. Ancient civilizations always fascinate me. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-do-in-the-steno-pool/485549/28 "2009-02-13T13:25:35Z")
I still use a typewriter on occasion. A three year old once asked me in total awe “Is that a typewriter?” A 15 year old said “That is so cool.You can see what you’re printing.” I feel very old. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-do-in-the-steno-pool/485549/29 "2009-02-13T13:29:07Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Yes, they did – sort of. > > For the Declaration of Independence, the handwriting is actually that of professional penman Timothy Matlack, who was commissioned to handwrite (“engross”) the final copy of the Declaration of Independence. > > (You can actually buy a font of that handwriting for your computer, as well as Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Lincoln handwriting – [vletter.com](http://vletter.com). $30 each) The really awesome thing is looking at the draft of the Declaration they have on display at the Library of Congress - it’s got stuff scratched out and stuck in and there’s one part where they had to stick a little piece of paper on it to get all the corrections in. It brung a little patriotic tear to my eye, it did. (Seriously, I got a little overcome. It happens to me at the America pavilion at Epcot, too. It’s a little embarrassing.) ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-do-in-the-steno-pool/485549/30 "2009-02-13T13:53:22Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > An example: in the line _“Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury.”_, the word _only_ is squeezed in above the line, with a little caret mark (^) stuck in between “answered” and “by”. > > It’s about in the middle of the page, 10 lines up from the signature of John Hancock. > [See image here.](http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_zoom_2.html) I never knew that! Thanks for showing it to us! Now: Any idea whether that is a correction to the engrosser’s omission, or did they decide to add the word “only” after it was finished? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-do-in-the-steno-pool/485549/31 "2009-02-13T14:07:39Z")
Another historical document of note: The [German Instrument of Surrender](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:German_instrument_of_surrender2.jpg) from WWII was a “fill in the blank” document. Apparently they thought it was more important to end the war in Europe than retype the thing. Where were their priorities? ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-do-in-the-steno-pool/485549/32 "2009-02-13T14:09:48Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > Yep, pretty much replaced by computers. Actually, every $25,000-a-year stenographer was replaced by a $75,000-a-year computer _programmer_, another $75,000-a-year database adminstrator, and two $60,000-a-year system administrators. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-do-in-the-steno-pool/485549/33 "2009-02-13T15:02:49Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Well, the was carbon paper and it larger offices there were spiffy typewriters that could make many copies at once. > > But if you had to send stuff to more than a couple dozen people it could get hairy. My grandfather’s secretary (yes, I met her - wonderful lady) could remember banging out seven copies of briefs for the Supreme Court of Ohio on a manual typewriter with carbon paper. She said her hands ached at the end of the day. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-do-in-the-steno-pool/485549/34 "2009-02-13T15:04:19Z")
> [@spifflog](#): > > Hand and hand with this, it’s surprising, at least to me, to see how many historical documents from WWI have pen and ink corrections. I seem to remember seeing Truman’s approval for dropping the atomic bomb having some pen and ink changes. You’d think that a document having that much historical significance would be retyped, but it wasn’t. They probably just didn’t want to have extra copies of a “I hereby authorize the use of atomic weapons against such-and-such a target” order on White House stationary lying around, is all. :eek: 😉 > [@Mk\_VII](#): > > Typing wasn’t a skill which most men (and especially businessmen) thought worth learning. That’s what they had the typing pool for. I remember someone (maybe you?) bringing this fact up in a thread awhile back commenting on an eerily prophetic though laughably outdated “home computers in the future” film that’d been posted online ([this one, I think](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC5sbdvnvQM)). Said film featured instant written communication to any computer user in the world…via a stylus and some kind of sensor pad. I don’t think it was supposed to use any kind of Optical Character Recognition or transcription, or anything like that…it was apparently just thought more rational and technologically feasible to digitize hand-written script than for users (read: **M** en) to learn how to type! ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-do-in-the-steno-pool/485549/35 "2009-02-13T15:05:30Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Actually, every $25,000-a-year stenographer was replaced by a $75,000-a-year computer _programmer_, another $75,000-a-year database adminstrator, and two $60,000-a-year system administrators. 😃 I started work at one company right before they got word processors – the most advanced office machine we had was an IBM Correcting Selectric II. At that point we had one support person for seven professionals. 15 years later we had grown significantly and now had a sophisticated computer network – not a typewriter to be found. I counted things up and we still had one administrative person for every seven professionals. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-do-in-the-steno-pool/485549/36 "2009-02-13T15:07:27Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > (Seriously, I got a little overcome. It happens to me at the America pavilion at Epcot, too. It’s a little embarrassing.) Honey, I get “a little overcome” at the ads for the movie theater they play before the film. It’s just so…majestic! Seriously, I’m not making this up. Century Theater’s screeching searchlights make me teary. I’m such a dork. [/hijack] What were we talking about again? Oh, right, typewriters. They still use them in both my husband’s offices (one law, one a university) for filling out forms. My kids think they’re the most fun toys ever. None of the [del]secretaries[/del] administrative assistants in the huge law firm (this firm takes up two floors of a large Loop office building!) know shorthand anymore. I think there’s one senior admin. ass. who’s about 102 who does, but she’s far too highly ranked to actually do it. She herself has several assistants to do transcription these days - from digital sound files. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-do-in-the-steno-pool/485549/37 "2009-02-13T15:08:46Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Recall also that there were no photocopiers, so if that memo had to go to ten people… Clark Clifford, one of President Truman’s top aides, recalled in his memoirs that original documents about U.S. relations with the Soviet Union, IIRC, were held up at the State Department once. Truman had to give a public statement in a hurry without the papers in hand, and was annoyed when he was contradicted by the documents once they were returned to the White House. I forget exactly what the controversy was. It’s hard to overstate how photocopying has transformed government, academia and business. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-do-in-the-steno-pool/485549/38 "2009-02-13T15:21:13Z")
> [@Cardinal](#): > > Even in the late 90s I taught Word etc to older businessmen who had been told in college that there wasn’t any real point to their learning to type (or at least this was the silent assumption). They would come to class and have not only very little idea about how Word worked, but how to use a keyboard. They were now being expected to fill out reports on the plane with the laptop and email them in the morning, post haste. They were a bit lost. In the late '90s I was doing similar work. The older male executives actually did OK, although it took them a while to get used to keyboarding. The older women executives, on the other hand, had a terrible time. When they were just starting their careers, they were very strongly advised to never learn to type, for fear of being shunted into the steno pool. Many of them had a total emotional barrier about keyboarding, and could overcome it only with great difficulty. Nowadays, nearly everyone coming into our organization is already well-acquainted with keyboards and computers in general. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-do-in-the-steno-pool/485549/39 "2009-02-13T15:24:26Z")
I started telling people 35 years ago to learn how to type. It is an easy skill to pick up, and it is never going to be a skill you will regret having. Nowadays it is damn near mandatory. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-do-in-the-steno-pool/485549/40 "2009-02-13T15:25:21Z")
> [@Cardinal](#): > > Even in the late 90s I taught Word etc to older businessmen who had been told in college that there wasn’t any real point to their learning to type (or at least this was the silent assumption). When I was in high school (early '80s), my father insisted that I take a semester of typing. I was highly annoyed (mostly because I was afraid it would screw up my GPA), but he figured it would be useful for me to know how to type, so I could type up my own term papers in college, rather than having to hire someone to type them. I struggled through that semester, barely got my A with 20 wpm on a manual machine…and have been touch-typing for 26 years now. I’m now at 70 wpm, and figure my father was prescient. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-do-in-the-steno-pool/485549.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-do-in-the-steno-pool/485549.md?page=3)