Harvard Exhibition Highlights Unsung Female Typists in Literary History

The "Thanks for Typing" exhibit at Houghton Library explores women's vital contributions to literature through typing.

Published on Feb. 6, 2026

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Harvard's Houghton Library is hosting an exhibition titled "Thanks for Typing: Women's Type Labor in Literature and the Arts" that showcases the often overlooked role of female typists in the creation of literary masterpieces. The exhibit features typescripts, instructional guides, vintage typewriter ads, and other artifacts that reveal how women's typing work revolutionized their presence in the workplace and influenced the development of modern literature.

Why it matters

The exhibition aims to cast a spotlight on the indispensable yet historically unrecognized contributions of female typists, whose work as conduits for the words of famous authors like T.S. Eliot, Truman Capote, and Vladimir Nabokov was frequently overlooked and uncredited.

The details

The "Thanks for Typing" exhibit includes a variety of items, from T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" typescripts to instructional typing guides and vintage typewriter advertisements. Visitors can even try their hand at typing on a pink Olympia manual typewriter, offering a tactile connection to the era when typewriters revolutionized women's roles in the workplace. The exhibition also explores how typists influenced literature, as seen in Truman Capote's disparaging comment, "That's not writing, that's typing."

  • The "Thanks for Typing" exhibition is running at Harvard's Houghton Library through May 1, 2026.

The players

Houghton Library

Harvard University's rare books and manuscripts library, which is hosting the "Thanks for Typing" exhibition.

Christine Jacobson

Co-curator of the "Thanks for Typing" exhibition.

Dale Stinchcomb

Co-curator of the "Thanks for Typing" exhibition.

T.S. Eliot

Renowned poet whose "The Waste Land" typescripts are featured in the exhibition.

Truman Capote

Acclaimed author whose disparaging comment about typing is included in the exhibition.

Vladimir Nabokov

Renowned novelist whose work, including "Lolita", is highlighted in the exhibition's exploration of the role of typists in literary history.

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What’s next

The exhibition's curators, Christine Jacobson and Dale Stinchcomb, have also organized a series of events to deepen engagement with the exhibit's themes, including a film series and curatorial chats.

The takeaway

The "Thanks for Typing" exhibition at Harvard's Houghton Library sheds light on the vital yet often overlooked contributions of female typists to the creation of literary masterpieces, underscoring the importance of recognizing the unsung labor that has shaped the literary canon.