With an emphasis on key individuals and key movements, this book is the first attempt to provide a collection of critical essays on the history of technical communication designed to help guide future research. This collection consists of the classic; essays in the field that have made a major contribution to the development of the field, and the new; essays that contribute to our historical understanding of a specific element or period of technical communication. This, combined with an up-to-date bibliography of research in the area, make Three Keys to the Past as valuable to the experienced researcher in the field as to those just entering it.