<I>A Biography of the Lives of Cortez W. Peters, Sr., World's Accuracy Typist and Cortez W. Peters, Jr., Author and Recorder of Championship Keyboarding Methodology</I>
date: label: Date
content: June 2017
name: label: Narrated by
content: JoAnne Peters King, American
label: Subject of
content: Cortez W. Peters Jr., American, 1925 - 1993
label: Subject of
content: Cortez W. Peters Sr., American, 1906 - 1964
label: Manufactured by
content: Royal Typewriter Company, American, founded 1904
notes: label: Caption
content: Cortez W. Peters, Sr. was the first African American to win and hold the title of the World’s Accuracy Typist upon winning the World’s Amateur Typing Contest in 1925.
label: Caption
content: Born in 1906 in Baltimore, Maryland, Peters taught himself to type at the age of 11 after his father, a watchmaker, received a used typewriter as payment for his services. His self-taught style accounted for his unique typing methodology for developing accuracy and speed.
label: Caption
content: In 1934 Peters, Sr. opened the Cortez Peters Business School in Washington, D.C. Over the next seven years two more locations opened, in Baltimore (1935) and Chicago (1941), and remained in operation until the mid-1970s. The schools were among the only privately owned African American schools in the nation, and were among the first to teach the professional skill or typing to a black audience. In addition to typing, the schools also taught shorthand and other clerical skills to help African Americans break into white collar professions. Eventually the school expanded to cover 22 subjects and taught an estimated 100,000 students across all three locations.
label: Caption
content: Cortez W. Peters, Jr. helped his father run these institutions, eventually taking over after his father’s death in 1964. Peters, Jr. was an accomplished typist in his own right, winning several awards for both speed and accuracy. Together the pair honed and taught the Cortez Peters typing methodology in their schools and later through books and online. This method is knows as an “individual diagnostic/ prescriptive method” and focuses on identifying issues with an individual’s typing methods and developing personalized strategies to create new learned behaviors. This method is seen as the foundation of modern typing instruction.
label: Description
content: A Biography of the Lives of Cortez W. Peters, Sr., World's Accuracy Typist and Cortez W. Peters, Jr., Author and Recorder of Championship Keyboarding Methodology, narrated by JoAnne Peters King. The document is spiral bound with a black plastic spine and white front cover, and a black plastic back cover. The front cover centrally features a color photocopy reproduction of an oil painting of Cortez W. Peters, Sr. Peters is depicted in bust pose, seated behind a black typewriter, with his face turned towards the viewer. He is wearing a light colored suit with a tan tie. His hands are poised over the keyboard. The painting has a gilded frame. The subtitle of the document is printed in black text at the top of the page and reads ["THE EVEOLUTION OF THE CORTEZ PETERS CHAMPIONSHIP / TYPEWRITING METHOD FROM THE MANUAL TO THE / COMPUTER]. The title and narrator information is printed below [A Biography of the Lives of Cortez W. Peters, Sr., World's Accuracy Typist / and Cortez W. Peters, Jr., Author and Recorder of / Championship Keyboarding Methodology] and [JoAnne Peters King / Narrator / Silver Spring, Maryland / June. 2017]. The interior pages feature black text on white paper, black and white photocopies of photographs, color photocopies of photographs, and one black and white photocopy of an illustration. The document is fifty-two (52) pages plus (ten) 10 pages that includes the front cover and Table of Contents.
place: label: Place made
content: Silver Spring, Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Business
label: Topic
content: Communication
label: Topic
content: Education
label: Topic
content: Labor
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Books and Published Materials
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Joanne Peters King and Darryl Wayne Joyce
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2019.30.1
objectType: label: Type
content: oral histories
label: Type
content: transcripts
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: © JoAnne Peters King
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: ink on paper (fiber product) with plastic
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D (Closed): 11 1/8 × 9 × 11/16 in. (28.3 × 22.8 × 1.7 cm)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D (Open): 11 1/8 × 17 5/16 × 11/16 in. (28.3 × 44 × 1.7 cm)