Lenore Fenton MacClain
Lenore Fenton MacClain | |
|---|---|
| Born | Lenore Fenton July 31, 1912 Snokomish, Washington, U.S. |
| Died | March 9, 2005 (aged 92)[1] Williamsburg, Virginia, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Spouse | George MacClain |
| Children | 1 |
Lenore Fenton MacClain was an American championship typist and typewriting educator. She won numerous international typewriting awards and international records in typing.
Biography[edit]
MacClain is from Snokomish, Washington.[2] She has undergraduate and master's degrees from the University of Washington.[3] She married George MacClain, a colonel in the U.S. Army, in the late 1940's.
Typing contests[edit]
In 1937 she won a novice typing award with a speed of 87 words per minute.[2][4] She won again in 1938,[5] and in 1939 she broke her own transcription record and earned the title of "the world's greatest secretary".[6] Earlier, she won the world championship on a Dvorak keyboard in Tenth Annual International Commercial Schools Contest in Chicago, June 19, 1946, by typing 131 net words per minute.[7] In 1956, Popular Science noted that she had won so many typing contests that she cancelled additional contests.[8] MacClain was listed in the 1971 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records for being the fastest typist in a one-hour timed test.[9]
She became one of the students of August Dvorak and upon switching from a QWERTY layout to the Dvorak keyboard layout, MacClain increased her typing rate from 70 words per minute to 182 words per minute.[10][11] MacClain's increased typing speed is given as an example in the discussions regarding the benefits of the Dvorak keyboard over the QWERTY layout.[12] While it was first reported that she could type 180 words per minute,[13] this number later edited to be 108 words per minute.[14][15]
Teaching typing[edit]
In 1943, she starred in United States Navy typewriting training videos, where she demonstrated proper touch typing technique, useful typewriter tips and tricks (such as rapid envelope addressing).[3][16]
In 1954, along with J. Frank Dame, she co-authored a book Typewriting Techniques and Short Cuts, which saw a few editions and was reviewed by the Journal of Business Education.[17] MacClain and her techniques are used as examples on how to type,[18] and from 1951 until 1958 she was a typing instructor at Bolling Air Force Base.[19][3] She taught people as young as fifth grade typing using either the QWERTY layout or the Dvorak keyboard.[20]
Later life[edit]
MacClain and her husband moved to Arlington County, Virginia. She was the president of the Virginia chapter of the P.E.O. Sisterhood educational organization,[21][22] and in that position led the state-wide convention in 1965.[3]
She died on March 9, 2005, in Williamsburg, Virginia,[1] and was buried at the Arlington National Cemetery in the same plot as her husband, who died on June 6, 1994.[23] Her Electromatic typewriter with a Dvorak Simplified Keyboard layout is in the collection of the National Museum of American History.[24]
Select publications[edit]
- MacClain, Lenore Fenton; Dame, J. Frank (1948-01-01). Typewriting techniques and short cuts in 15-minute timed writings. South-western.
- MacClain, Lenore Fenton (1961). Typewriting Techniques and Short Cuts; with 10-minute Timed Writings. South-Western Publishing Company.
References[edit]
- ^ a b "Lenore Fenton MacClain obituary". 20 March 2005. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
- ^ a b "KEEPS SPEED TYPING TITLE; Albert Tangora Taps 141 Words a Minute, Breaking Own Record". The New York Times. 1937-06-26. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
- ^ a b c d "Lenore MacClain wields able hand on gavel". Northern Virginia Sun. 30 April 1965. Retrieved 2022-03-17 – via Virginia Chronicle: Digital Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Armful of trophies for champ". Leader-Telegram. 1937-07-10. p. 7. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
- ^ "co-ed turned secretary cracks own record". The Sun and the Erie County Independent. 1938-07-07. p. 5. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
- ^ "Still the world's greatest secretary". Rogers County News. 1939-07-18. p. 3. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
- ^ Arthur Toye Foulke (1961). "Typewriter no longer a curiosity". Mr. Typewriter: A biography of Christopher Latham Sholes. p. 45. ASIN B0007DRUJY.
- ^ "Popular Science". Bonnier Corporation. 1956. p. 280.
{{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires|magazine=(help) - ^ Parkinson, Bob (1972). "How to Increase Your Typing Productivity". Technical Communication. 19 (4): 9–11. ISSN 0049-3155. JSTOR 43151168.
- ^ Hoult, Thomas Ford (1979). Sociology readings for a new day. Internet Archive. New York : Random House. p. 215. ISBN 978-0-394-32243-8.
- ^ "Reform in typewriting". The American Weekly. 1945-12-02.
- ^ Finney, Ruth (1945-10-14). "New keyboard steps up typing speed". The Knoxville News-Sentinel. p. 28. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
- ^ "Navy Inventor Presses War for New Keyboard to Speed Typewriting". Wall Street Journal. 1948-01-28.
- ^ "There is a better typewriter keyboard". National Business Education Quarterly. 1943-12-01.
- ^ Arthur Toye Foulke (1961). "Dvorak Simplified Keyboard". Mr. Typewriter: A biography of Christopher Latham Sholes. p. 45,108. ASIN B0007DRUJY.
- ^ United States Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Motion Pictures and Filmstrips. United States Information Agency. 1953. p. 214.
- ^ "The Book Shelf". The Journal of Business Education. 30 (7): 329–330. 1955-04-01. doi:10.1080/08832323.1955.10115826. ISSN 0021-9444.
- ^ Lamb, Marion Minerva (1947). Your First Year of Teaching Typewriting. South-western publishing Company.
- ^ Eads, Jane (1955-08-11). "Washington Letter". News-Pilot. p. 4. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
- ^ "'Ignored' typewriter plan gains interest". The Knoxville News-Sentinel. 1975-03-30. p. 17. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
- ^ "PEO Board Co-Ordinates Work of Peninsula Chapters". Daily Press. 1964-10-27. p. 47. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
- ^ "PEO chapters will entertain Virginia state president". Daily Press. 1964-10-18. p. 19. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
- ^ "LENORE FENTON MACCLAIN". Daily Press. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
- ^ "IBM Electromatic Typewriter". Retrieved 20 November 2017.