“Proficiency in Typewriting”

"Certificate of Proficiency in Typewriting," October 26, 1925
“Certificate of Proficiency in Typewriting,” October 26, 1925

Here is a recent acquisition, a fragment of the past that made its way into the Local History Room. This wallet-sized certificate attests to the speed and accuracy of the typwriting skills of one Esther De Marzio. Who was she, we ask?

A 1927 Kingston High School graduate, Literary Editor and writer for The Quill, the KHS literary magazine, a teacher at Kingston Elementary School for 38 years and Principal there for 34, Miss De Marzio (or Di Marzio, as sometimes appears) moved to Kingston at the age of 10 and spent the next 80 years here. She volunteered in the Local History Room, served on the scholarship committee of the Council on Aging, read for the blind, traveled the world and enjoyed Gray’s Beach and her garden. Here she is sometime in the 1930s.

Florence Esther De Marzio, circa 1935
Florence Esther De Marzio, circa 1935

To find out more on Underwood typewriters (don’t laugh: the history of office equipment is fascinating!), click here or here.

Source: Kingston Reporter, “Florence DeMarzio, 90, school principal,” August, 17, 2000.