Blind stenographer using dictaphone. Stenography is the practice of recording notes in shorthand, usually using a specialised typing machine. Here, the notes were recorded in audio form and the stenographer is typing them up as she listens to them. Historically, this was one of the professions open to blind people. The dictaphone (at left) is a wax cylinder model. This technology originated from the phonograph, which had been developed by Alexander Graham Bell in 1877. The name Dictaphone was trademarked in 1907. This photograph, which dates from 27 April 1911, is from the Bain News Service, one of the USA's earliest news picture libraries.