The high volume of correspondence in and out of House offices made portable typewriters, like this one used by Representative Bill McCollum’s office, indispensable tools for many years. Serving from 1981 to 2000, McCollum and his staff worked through the transition to desktop computers, which were rare at the beginning of his time in the House but ubiquitous by the end. Computers, along with electronic mail, made typewriters a rarity by the early 21st century.
