Christine Jacobson

I have an essay this week in the @publicdomainrev , a publication I consider to be the most beautiful magazine on the internet. I am so grateful to editor Hunter Dukes for helping me edit this down from the longer catalog version and giving these women’s stories such a worthy platform! The @houghtonlibrary exhibition Thanks for Typing doesn’t feature Sophia Tolstoy since we don’t have evidence of her work in our collections. But her mind-boggling labor on War and Peace, mountain of domestic duties through child rearing and the loss of five children, and cruelty from Lev has haunted me for years. It largely inspired the show, so I was so so pleased to have the chance to fold her into this essay. She deserves all the flowers. (Link to essay in bio)

@houghtonlibrary and @harvardfilmarchive bring you THE LADY & THE TYPEWRITER, a film series companion to the exhibition, “Thanks for Typing.” Over the month of March, catch MEET JOHN DOE (1941), HIS GIRL FRIDAY (1940), and THE HUDSUCKER PROXY (1994), with introductions by curator Christine Jacobson @cejacobson on March 13 and March 20. Tickets and more info at the HFA website: https://bit.ly/47gro5f #MeetJohnDoe #FrankCapra #HisGirlFriday #HowardHawks #TheHudsuckerProxy #JoelAndEthanCoen #Film #Hollywood #Typewriter #ThanksForTyping #Women #Labor #HoughtonLibrary #HarvardLibrary #Harvard

Manuals for secretarial work proliferated in the 20th century and demonstrate the range of competencies expected of secretaries. They are also invaluable windows into 20th century women’s labor history. See our growing collection of manuals in our exhibition, "Thanks for Typing," on view through May 1, 2026. #Secretary #Manuals #ThanksForTyping #Women #Labor #HoughtonLibrary #HarvardLibrary — Peter Lawrence Agnew (b. 1901), et al. Secretarial Office Practice. Cincinnati: South-Western Pub. Co., 1966. 2026-258. Daniel D. Chabris Book Fund, 2025 Sheila T. Stanwell and Josephine Shaw. Essential Secretarial Studies. London: Edward Arnold, 1974. 2026-260. Daniel D. Chabris Book Fund, 2025 Albert C. Fries, et al. Applied Secretarial Procedures. New York: Gregg and Community College Division, McGraw-Hill, 1974. 2026-259. Daniel D. Chabris Book Fund, 2025.

M is for Margaret (and Midge, Midgie, Midgie Girl, MJ, Marguerite, Margarita, Midgka, Margaret Evangeline.) so lucky to be your Mother 💛

Cambridge in late spring is the most potent drug, and I am on it!!

Today is the last day of THANKS FOR TYPING at @houghtonlibrary . It was a dream to co-curate this with @dalestinchcomb and to spend so many months in the company of Lilian, Mabel, Mary, Theodora, Véra, Vivienne, Valerie, and the Mmes Marshall, Dickens, and Rosenfield. Goodbye for now but not for long—there’s so much more yet to uncover! One of the best parts of this show was giving tours and meeting so many women who shared their own stories of typing, or their mothers and grandmothers’. Thanks you to everyone who came out for those. It was such a joy to connect with you. 🤳 @valentine.tarot 🎶 rec by @mamajama519

“Thanks for Typing: Women’s Type Labor in Literature and the Arts” closes tomorrow! Thanks to those who typed us notes on our Olympia typewriter. ➡️ Swipe to read some of them. #ClosingSoon #ThanksForTyping #Women #Labor #HoughtonLibrary #HarvardLibrary

Thanks for Typing closes one week from today! Our last tour will be on Monday, April 27 at 4pm. Why don’t you knock off work early, get yourself a croissant, and swing by the library before the tour to type a letter for a friend on our pink Olympia typewriter? gaze at a first edition of The Best of Everything? read Dorothy West’s first published short story The Typewriter? well?

#OnThisDay Vladimir Nabokov was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia in 1899. He owed much of his career to his wife, Véra, who was always his first reader, confidant, contract negotiator, and, crucially, expert typist. Learn more about Véra and other typewriting wives in our exhibition, "Thanks for Typing," on view through May 1, 2026. #Birthday #OTD #VladimirNabokov #VeraNabokov #ThanksForTyping #Women #Labor #HoughtonLibrary #HarvardLibrary — 1, 2, 4 and 5) Images courtesy of Carl Mydans, The LIFE Picture Collection, and Getty, 1958. 3) Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977). “Happy Birthday”: pencil sketch, about 1960–1977. MS Russ 140. Gift of Vladimir Nabokov Literary Foundation, 2017. 6) Véra Nabokov (1902–1999). Zhivago: typescript notes, undated. MS Russ 140. Gift of Vladimir Nabokov Literary Foundation, 2017. 7) First edition of Lolita, 1955.

#OnThisDay Henry James was born in Manhattan, New York in 1843. He worked closely with two typists in his late career who had profound impacts on his writing process and style. Learn more about Mary and Theodora, as well as other important literary typists, in our exhibition, "Thanks for Typing," on view through May 1, 2026. #Birthday #OTD #HenryJames #MaryWeld #TheodoraBosanquet #ThanksForTyping #Women #Labor #HoughtonLibrary #HarvardLibrary — 2) Mary Weld in the Watchbell Street Studio bookbindery, Rye, around 1901–1904. MS Eng 1579 (36). Louis J. Appell Junior Fund for British Civilization in the Harvard College Library and the Bayard Livingston and Kate Gray Kilgour Fund, 2003. 4) Portrait of Theodora Bosanquet. MS Eng 1213.8. Amy Lowell fund and Henry James royalties, 1963. 6) Henry James (1843–1916) and Theodora Bosanquet. The Portrait of a Lady: manuscript, around 1906. MS Am 1237.17. Norton Perkins Fund, 1943. 7) Theodora Bosanquet (1880–1961). Henry James at Work. London: Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, 1927. AC85.J2335.Y924bb. Amy Lowell Trust, 1963.

it was very fun to talk to the great @thejaredbowen on @thecultureshowgbh about Thanks for Typing. also instructive to learn what my face looks like when I talk about Henry James. it was recorded, so you can watch or listen at the link in my stories if so inclined. thanks for having me @wgbh !

I just love my daughter so much she is the coolest person alive!!