Lenore Fenton MacClain

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

Biography

MacClain was from Snohomish, Washington.[2] After briefly attending Whitman College,[3] she graduated from the University of Washington with undergraduate and master's degrees[4] She worked as a high school teacher[5] and married George MacClain, a colonel in the U.S. Army, in the late 1940s.

Typing contests

In 1937 MacClain won a novice typing award with a speed of 87 words per minute.[2][6] She won again in 1938,[7] and in 1939 she broke her own transcription record and earned the title of "the world's greatest secretary".[8] 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.[9] In 1956, Popular Science noted that she had won so many typing contests that she cancelled additional contests.[10] 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.[11]

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.[12][13] MacClain's increased typing speed is given as an example in the discussions regarding the benefits of the Dvorak keyboard over the QWERTY layout.[14] While it was first reported that she could type 180 words per minute,[15] this number later edited to be 108 words per minute.[16][17]

Teaching typing

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).[4][18]

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.[19] MacClain and her techniques are used as examples on how to type,[20] and from 1951 until 1958 she was a typing instructor at Bolling Air Force Base.[21][4] She taught people as young as fifth grade typing using either the QWERTY layout or the Dvorak keyboard.[22]

Later life

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,[23][24] and in that position led the state-wide convention in 1965.[4]

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.[25] Her Electromatic typewriter with a Dvorak Simplified Keyboard layout is in the collection of the National Museum of American History.[26]

Select publications

  • 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

  1. 1 2 "Lenore Fenton MacClain obituary". 20 March 2005. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
  2. 1 2 "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. ↑ (1931) Catalogue of Whitman College; p. 115
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Lenore MacClain wields able hand on gavel". Northern Virginia Sun. 30 April 1965. Retrieved 2022-03-17 – via Virginia Chronicle: Digital Newspaper Archive.
  5. ↑ Basic and Advanced Typing. Education for Victory, November 15, 1943; p. 8
  6. ↑ "Armful of trophies for champ". Leader-Telegram. 1937-07-10. p. 7. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
  7. ↑ "co-ed turned secretary cracks own record". The Sun and the Erie County Independent. 1938-07-07. p. 5. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
  8. ↑ "Still the world's greatest secretary". Rogers County News. 1939-07-18. p. 3. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
  9. ↑ Arthur Toye Foulke (1961). "Typewriter no longer a curiosity". Mr. Typewriter: A biography of Christopher Latham Sholes. p. 45. ASIN B0007DRUJY.
  10. ↑ "Why They Want to Shift the Keyboard". Popular Science. Bonnier Corporation. 1956. p. 280.
  11. ↑ Parkinson, Bob (1972). "How to Increase Your Typing Productivity". Technical Communication. 19 (4): 9–11. ISSN 0049-3155. JSTOR 43151168.
  12. ↑ Hoult, Thomas Ford (1979). Sociology readings for a new day. Internet Archive. New York : Random House. p. 215. ISBN 978-0-394-32243-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  13. ↑ "Reform in typewriting". The American Weekly. 1945-12-02.
  14. ↑ Finney, Ruth (1945-10-14). "New keyboard steps up typing speed". The Knoxville News-Sentinel. p. 28. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
  15. ↑ "Navy Inventor Presses War for New Keyboard to Speed Typewriting". Wall Street Journal. 1948-01-28.
  16. ↑ "There is a better typewriter keyboard". National Business Education Quarterly. 1943-12-01.
  17. ↑ Arthur Toye Foulke (1961). "Dvorak Simplified Keyboard". Mr. Typewriter: A biography of Christopher Latham Sholes. p. 45,108. ASIN B0007DRUJY.
  18. ↑ United States Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Motion Pictures and Filmstrips. United States Information Agency. 1953. p. 214.
  19. ↑ "The Book Shelf". The Journal of Business Education. 30 (7): 329–330. 1955-04-01. doi:10.1080/08832323.1955.10115826. ISSN 0021-9444.
  20. ↑ Lamb, Marion Minerva (1947). Your First Year of Teaching Typewriting. South-western publishing Company.
  21. ↑ Eads, Jane (1955-08-11). "Washington Letter". News-Pilot. p. 4. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  22. ↑ "'Ignored' typewriter plan gains interest". The Knoxville News-Sentinel. 1975-03-30. p. 17. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  23. ↑ "PEO Board Co-Ordinates Work of Peninsula Chapters". Daily Press. 1964-10-27. p. 47. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  24. ↑ "PEO chapters will entertain Virginia state president". Daily Press. 1964-10-18. p. 19. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  25. ↑ "LENORE FENTON MACCLAIN". Daily Press. 12 March 2005. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
  26. ↑ "IBM Electromatic Typewriter". Retrieved 20 November 2017.


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