How QWERTY Became the Keyboard Standard

QWERTY survived the disappearance of the mechanism it was built around. Modern keyboards do not swing long metal typebars toward paper, yet the letters still begin Q, W, E, R, T, Y. The usual explanation says the layout was designed to slow typists so typewriters would not jam. That sentence is too neat. Historical education based on the cited record. Where origin claims are disputed, the episode distinguishes evidence from popular retellings. Sources and further reading: - Smithsonian National Museum of American History, What Typewriters Reveal About Innovation: https://americanhistory.si.edu/explore/stories/type-o-rama-what-do-typewriters-reveal-about-innovation - Neil Kay, Separating Myth from Probability: The Origins and Evolution of QWERTY: https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/67983/ - Donald Norman and Diane Fisher, Why Alphabetic Keyboards Are Not Easy to Use: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/001872088202400502