Early stenographic machines on display at the Gallery of Shorthand in Central Islip, NY.

If your summertime travel takes you to the Big Apple, Wilmington or across the ocean to Italy, be sure to plan a visit to one of several museums that tell the shorthand and stenography histories. Court reporters and other stenography professionals list them among their top travel stops.

• Gallery of Shorthand, Central Islip, New York: Shorthand can be traced back to 3500 B.C. when the Sumerians first created written literacy for the purpose of recording and preserving the people’s history. Fast-forward to Cicero’s 63 B.C., when the first shorthand system to record official Roman Senate proceedings was developed. Then, follow the centuries of technological advancements that bring us to today’s digital revolution. The gallery houses more than 30 stenotype machines plus dozens of illustrations and artifact replicas that visually chronicle the development of court reporting from ancient times to today.

• Museum of Business History and Technology, Wilmington, Delaware: This museum offers a more comprehensive look at the development of many types of business machinery used by today’s stenographers and court reporters. Displays include multiple stenographic and teletype machines, plus typewriters, copy machines and word processing machines.

• Peter Mitterhoffer Typewriter Museum, Vienna, Italy: Though prototypes and patents for several earlier typewriting inventions exist, Peter Mitterhoffer is widely recognized as the inventor of the first commercially viable typewriter. A museum dedicated to his story and the subsequent development of the typewriter and stenograph machines opened in 1993. You’ll see hundreds of these machines, from the earliest wooden specimens to the late 21st century models.

If you’re intrigued by the history of stenography, why not be part of its future? Contact the Stenotype Institute at 800-273-5090 and find out about opportunities in court reporting and closed captioning.