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Lenore Fenton MacClain

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Lenore Fenton MacClain
Born
Lenore Fenton

(1912-07-31)July 31, 1912
Snokomish, Washington, U.S.
DiedMarch 9, 2005(2005-03-09) (aged 92)[1]
Williamsburg, Virginia, U.S.
SpouseGeorge MacClain
Children1

Lenore Fenton MacClain was an American championship typist and typewriting educator. She won numerous international typewriting awards and international records in typing.

Biography

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MacClain was from Snohomish, Washington.[2] She had 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 1940s.

Typing contests

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In 1937 MacClain 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

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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

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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

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  • 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

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  1. ^ a b "Lenore Fenton MacClain obituary". 20 March 2005. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ "Armful of trophies for champ". Leader-Telegram. 1937-07-10. p. 7. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
  5. ^ "co-ed turned secretary cracks own record". The Sun and the Erie County Independent. 1938-07-07. p. 5. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
  6. ^ "Still the world's greatest secretary". Rogers County News. 1939-07-18. p. 3. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
  7. ^ Arthur Toye Foulke (1961). "Typewriter no longer a curiosity". Mr. Typewriter: A biography of Christopher Latham Sholes. p. 45. ASIN B0007DRUJY.
  8. ^ "Why They Want to Shift the Keyboard". Popular Science. Bonnier Corporation. 1956. p. 280.
  9. ^ Parkinson, Bob (1972). "How to Increase Your Typing Productivity". Technical Communication. 19 (4): 9–11. ISSN 0049-3155. JSTOR 43151168.
  10. ^ Hoult, Thomas Ford (1979). Sociology readings for a new day. Internet Archive. New York : Random House. p. 215. ISBN 978-0-394-32243-8.
  11. ^ "Reform in typewriting". The American Weekly. 1945-12-02.
  12. ^ Finney, Ruth (1945-10-14). "New keyboard steps up typing speed". The Knoxville News-Sentinel. p. 28. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
  13. ^ "Navy Inventor Presses War for New Keyboard to Speed Typewriting". Wall Street Journal. 1948-01-28.
  14. ^ "There is a better typewriter keyboard". National Business Education Quarterly. 1943-12-01.
  15. ^ Arthur Toye Foulke (1961). "Dvorak Simplified Keyboard". Mr. Typewriter: A biography of Christopher Latham Sholes. p. 45,108. ASIN B0007DRUJY.
  16. ^ United States Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Motion Pictures and Filmstrips. United States Information Agency. 1953. p. 214.
  17. ^ "The Book Shelf". The Journal of Business Education. 30 (7): 329–330. 1955-04-01. doi:10.1080/08832323.1955.10115826. ISSN 0021-9444.
  18. ^ Lamb, Marion Minerva (1947). Your First Year of Teaching Typewriting. South-western publishing Company.
  19. ^ Eads, Jane (1955-08-11). "Washington Letter". News-Pilot. p. 4. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  20. ^ "'Ignored' typewriter plan gains interest". The Knoxville News-Sentinel. 1975-03-30. p. 17. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  21. ^ "PEO Board Co-Ordinates Work of Peninsula Chapters". Daily Press. 1964-10-27. p. 47. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  22. ^ "PEO chapters will entertain Virginia state president". Daily Press. 1964-10-18. p. 19. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  23. ^ "LENORE FENTON MACCLAIN". Daily Press. 12 March 2005. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
  24. ^ "IBM Electromatic Typewriter". Retrieved 20 November 2017.
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