I grew up on a manual typewriter, the same one my mom used to write articles for Life Magazine in the ’50s and ’60s. It was a small portable in a beat-up canvas case, and you had to hit the keys hard.

Paul Schweitzer is one of a dying breed. As owner of Gramercy Typewriter Co. in New York City, he repairs machines that many consider obsolete. "The younger generation says, 'Who needs typewriters?'" ...