Daily AncestorTypewriter
In census returns of about 1900 to 1920, a typewriter was usually a person, a typist who operated a typewriting machine, not the machine itself.
When typing machines came into offices, the person who worked them was also called a typewriter. Census instructions for 1900, 1910 and 1920 tell enumerators to report a stenographer or typewriter as such, and not simply as a clerk; by 1930 the instructions say typist instead.
Many of these typewriters were young women, one of the first respectable office jobs open to them. Reading the word as a machine can make a census line look like a mistake.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1900 to 1920 census
Edith Moore, 22, Typewriter, Law office
Sources
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Typewriter." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/typewriter. Last checked 2026-10-01.