Thomas Oliver was born in Woodstock, Ontario, Canada in 1852. As a young man he moved to Iowa to be a Methodist Minister. In 1888 he started to develop his first typewriter as a means to produce more legible weekly sermons. He received his first patent in 1891 and in 1892 had a 'crude working model' to bring to market. He left the ministry and found investors to support his venture to the tune of $15,000 each. He built his first factory in Iowa and began to market the Oliver extensively for home use to great success. Later the factory moved to Chicago, where over a million Olivers were produced! The Martin Howard Collection