Keaton Music Typewriter: Museum Object and Cultural History
Keaton Music Typewriter: date made: 20th century. maker: Keaton Music Typewriter Company. Object Name: typewriter.
The object in the museum catalogue
As typewriters developed during the 20th century, a class of music typewriters began to emerge. This is a Keaton Music Typewriter that was invented by Robert H. Keaton of San Francisco, California. Keaton had two patents that covered his music typewriter, the first was given patent number 2,047,690 on July 14, 1936 and related to a 14 key music typewriter, and the second was given number 2,631,712 on March 17, 1953 and covered a 33 key music typewriter. The typewriter’s board held sheet music in place while a semicircle ring of keys containing notes and musical notation typebars could be maneuvered above the sheet music to create musical compositions.
Materials, dates and provenance
- date made: 20th century
- maker: Keaton Music Typewriter Company
- Object Name: typewriter
- Other Terms: typewriter; Manual
- Physical Description: metal; wood (overall material)
- Measurements: overall -case: 6 1/2 in x 22 1/2 in x 18 in; 16.51 cm x 57.15 cm x 45.72 cm
- place made: United States: California, San Francisco
- ID Number: ME.330212
- catalog number: 330212
- accession number: 287938
- Credit Line: Urban Thielmann
- Data Source: National Museum of American History
Sources and reuse
Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.
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