Stenograph Machine

When the Senate is in session, an official reporter of debates is present on the Senate Chamber floor to report a substantially verbatim account of the proceedings. These accounts are published in the Congressional Record at the conclusion of each day’s session. Newspaper stenographers were first permitted on the Senate floor in 1802, but the Senate began hiring its own official reporters of debates in 1873 when the Government Printing Office began publishing the Congressional Record. Floor reporters work in brief shifts (typically lasting no longer than 15 minutes), rotating throughout the day to record all debate. Early reporters recorded debates with handwritten shorthand exclusively; stenotype machines were first used on the Senate floor in 1974.

Modern stenotype machines have a specialized keyboard with 22 keys that enables reporters to work quickly and accurately, using a shorthand writing process called stenography. By pressing multiple keys simultaneously, a reporter can spell out an entire syllable, word, or phrase with a single hand motion. This stenotype machine, a Stentura 8000 manufactured by Stenograph, was first released in 1992. It came in several colors, including this shade of green named Jade. The Stentura 8000 model introduced an instantaneous display of real-time text translation in English or Steno on its liquid crystal display. Senate records indicate that this machine was likely acquired in September 1995 and used until circa 2003.