The Donald & Carolyn Hoke collection of typewriter advertising and ephemera offers great insight into the technological development of the typewriter through its beginnings in the 1870s until its eventual dissolution in the 1990s. The plethora of advertising ephemera helps frame the typewriter historically and sociologically, offering insight into the careers of typists and the migration of the typewriter from the office into the home. Trends in advertising and industrial design through the twentieth century are also represented in this collection and will offer ample evidence of these evolutions to researchers.

There was no original order for this collection; it has been artificially arranged into four series, Manufacturers, Occupations, Accessories, and Collecting.

The Manufacturers series is arranged by manufacturer title dating from 1829 to 2015. It consists of trade catalogs, manuals, pamphlets, correspondence, invoices, flongs, tear sheets, price lists, and bulletins from 163 different typewriter manufacturers. The series gives great insight into how typewriter manufacturers conducted business and advertised their products from the beginning of the typewriter's existence to its eventual decline. A highlight from this series is a run of service bulletins between the 1970s into the 1980s from the SCM company to its technical department about part upgrades and changes in their line of typewriters; it offers a detailed look into the evolution of typewriter design within a specific company. The manufacturers series holds ephemera from a large variety of manufacturers, but the four that are especially well represented are Remington, Smith-Corona, Underwood, and Royal. The various manufacturer's file holds ephemera from fifty-six smaller manufacturers that are only represented by one or two pieces of ephemera. Still, it is a good place to look for rarer manufacturers' history.

The Occupations series dates from 1887 to 1988 and is divided into four sub-series: Training, Repair, Sales, and Typists. The Training sub-series holds typing education materials such as keyboard charts, typing contests, textbooks, and advertising ephemera from typing trade schools. The Repair sub-series holds repair and parts catalogs for various makes of typewriters, correspondence, invoices, and advertising ephemera from typewriter repair companies. The Sales sub-series holds typewriter dealership letters and invoices along with advertising material such as trade catalogs and tear sheets. The Typists sub-series is worthy of particular note, holding 500 postcards along with photographs and publications that supply an important viewpoint on the cultural significance of the occupation of typists and the oftentimes sexist and misogynist humor that influenced the conception of a typist's role in the office setting.

The Accessories series dates from 1891 to 1989 and is arranged by type of typewriter accessory, including typewriter ribbons, paper, keys, silencer feet, office furniture, and type correction materials. Each accessory has its own file with advertising ephemera, including trade catalogs, price lists, tear sheets, stamps, pamphlets, and trade cards. There are several vintage boxes of typewriter and carbon paper that highlight the packaging trends for the product in the 1920s and 1960s.

The Collecting series dates from 1875 to 2001 and consists of correspondence, newsletters, listserv emails, collector convention ephemera, history, and research materials. Much of this series was produced as a byproduct of Donald Hoke's collecting and involvement in various typewriter collecting communities. A highlight from this series is the complete run of listserv emails between 1997 and 1998 from the Platen typewriter collector community discussing repair, identification, and trade of vintage typewriters. This series offers insight into the communities involved in collecting and disbursement of historical materials related to the typewriter.