When did double spacing become conventional for papers and essays?

by [deleted]

It's haunted me all throughout school. I'm more of a single spaced guy myself, but collaborators on papers always want to pull the trigger on double spacing long before submitting them. This got me thinking--when did the convention of double spacing papers emerge? It seems very common in high school, throughout college, and in many industries. Was it so reviewers / graders could mark individual lines more easily? Is it a relic of the print age?

tusko01

it so reviewers / graders could mark individual lines more easily?

yes