This photograph of a typing lesson at Manchester High School for Girls was taken at the beginning of the twentieth century. This was a time when there were more job opportunities for women in clerical work. Before that time, most clerical jobs had been done by men. The secretarial course at Manchester High School included typing, shorthand [using a type of sign language to write very quickly], book keeping [keeping accounts] and academic subjects such as English, arithmetic and French. It was very popular and gave the girls a good training in secretarial work.
What to look at in the photograph
Some of the girls are using typewriters. These were used for office work until they were replaced by computers in the late twentieth century. The girls and the teacher are wearing long skirts and blouses with long sleeves and high necklines. Their long hair is tied back. The room was heated by a coal fire. The fireplace is on the right of the photograph.
Worksheet
A typing lesson in Victorian times would have been the equivalent of a computer studies lesson today. Compare the evidence of the photograph of the typing lesson with one of your computer studies lessons in the following ways:
what a typewriter and a computer look like
what a typewriter and a computer can do
what the classroom looks like