Early Office Museum

Antique Office Photographs 
~ 1920s ~ 

Click Image to Enlarge	Description	Source
	Four African Americans working in an office in Hempstead, TX.  In the center is a Burroughs Class 3 adding machine.  A candlestick telephone is on the desk.	Early Office Museum Archives
	Office in Dexter Horton National Bank, Seattle, WA. There are a number of Burroughs adding machines.	Manuscripts, Special Collections, University Archives, University of Washington Libraries, UW4165
	Office with 19 men doing paper work on the left and about a dozen women typing on the right.	Early Office Museum Archives
	Filing Section, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, New York, NY.	MetLife Archives
	Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. Underwriters' Office, Boston, MA, 1921.	Fireman's Fund
	Office of Chas. Rump, Redlands Power and Irrigation Co., Grand Junction, CO, 1921. A Sure Shot stapler made by the Acme Staple Co. is on the left front of the desk. Photo, which is dated by a wall calendar, shows Chas. Rump, Miss Larson, and George Kelly.	Denver Public Library, Western History Collection, X-24357.
	Computing Division, Veterans Bureau, Washington, DC, early 1920s. Photograph shows at least 30 workers using Burroughs electric adding machines to compute bonuses for World War I veterans. Eleven electric fans are visible.	Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Div.
	Office with sixty-four clerical workers, one of whom (front right) can be seen operating an adding listing machine.	Early Office Museum Archives
	Critchlow Co. General Merchandise, Prospect, Pennsylvania, photograph by Theodor Horydczak (1890-1971). Photograph includes Oliver typewriter and candlestick telephone.	Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Div., Theodore Horydczak Collection, LC-H814-T-2898-005-x
	"Three women at desk," Colorado, photograph by Harry M. Rhoads (1880/81-1975), 1920-30? Photograph shows a typewriter, a candlestick phone, and high-heeled shoes.	Denver Public Library, Western History Collection, codhawp 00186828.
	Office, photograph taken by Scherer Studio, Washington, DC, 1922.	Early Office Museum Archives
	Office, Detroit News, Detroit. MI, 1922.	Early Office Museum Archives
	In the first of these two offices, at least 15 men are dictating using Dictaphone machines.  In the second office, at least 13 women are transcribing dictation using Dictaphone transcription machines and typewriters.   In addition, 4 women appear to be supervising in the latter office.	Early Office Museum Archives
	Office with a man and four women, 1923.  One woman appears to be a telephone operator and another is working at a typewriter.	Early Office Museum Archives
	Office, Ponca City, OK.  Both wall clocks are labeled "Naval Observatory Time Hourly by Western Union."  The desk in the foreground has a large electric time stamp.  The next desk has two typewriters.  The last desk has a Burroughs adding machine.  There are two uniformed men in front of the door, which suggests that this may be an office at the Atchison, Topeka and Sante Fe Railroad station.	Early Office Museum Archives
	L. Andrew Olsen Lumber Co. office, Osseo, Minnesota, 1923. Date from calendar on wall. Photograph includes adding machine on stand.	Minnesota Historical Society, Neg. No. 46446.
	Interior, Bureau of Engraving, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1925. Stenographers are transcribing using dictating machines and typewriters.	Minnesota Historical Society, Neg. No. 17217.
	Filing office, c. 1925.	Charles Babbage Institute, Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Burroughs Corp. Collection, cb000181.
	Accounting Office, Brooklyn, NY, 1925.	.
	"Partial View of Home Office, Victory Life Insurance Co., Chicago, Ill.," postcard. Reverse of top postcard states, "Began operating March 3, 1924. Operating in twelve states with sixteen branch offices. Employs more than five hundred persons."  Reverse of bottom postcard says the same, except that "more than five hundred" is increased to "more than six hundred."  The two views are nearly identical, except that there are more people working at more desks in the latter postcard image.  According to the Chicago Historical Society, "Beginning in the teens and continuing through the 1920s, African American entrepreneurs [in Chicago], denied access to the city's main business district, built a thriving business center of their own in the vicinity of Thirty-fifth and State Streets. This self-contained community included several new buildings constructed with black capital, like the Overton Hygienic/Douglass National Bank Building. Erected in 1922-23, the building housed several business enterprises owned by Anthony Overton [1865-1946], including the Overton Hygienic Company, which specialized in black cosmetics, the Douglass National Bank, and the Victory Life Insurance Company."	Early Office Museum Archives
	Freight Receipts, General Office Building, Norwalk & Western Railway, Roanoke, Virginia, 1920s. Burroughs key-driven calculators.	Virginia Tech ImageBase, Norfolk & Western Hist. Photo. Coll., No. ns5398
	Freight Receipts, General Office Building, Norwalk & Western Railway, Roanoke, Virginia, 1920s. Photograph shows four employees working with Comptometer calculating machines. There is an Automatic Pencil Sharpener Co. pencil sharpener, probably a Chicago model, in the foreground.	Virginia Tech ImageBase, Norfolk & Western Hist. Photo. Coll., No. ns5436
	General Office Building, Norwalk & Western Railway, Roanoke, Virginia, 1920s.	Virginia Tech ImageBase, Norfolk & Western Hist. Photo. Coll., No. ns5423.
	General Office Building, Norwalk & Western Railway, Roanoke, Virginia, 1920s. Wide carriage Remington typewriters or bookkeeping machines.	Virginia Tech ImageBase, Norfolk & Western Hist. Photo. Coll., No. ns5505.
	Treasury Office, General Office Building, Norwalk & Western Railway, Roanoke, Virginia, 1929.	Virginia Tech ImageBase, Norfolk & Western Hist. Photo. Coll., No. ns5407.
	Comptometer Bureau, Armour & Co., Chicago, 1926. Armour & Co. was a meat business.	Felt & Tarrant Mfg. Co. Catalog, 1926.
	Edison Purchasing Department, West Orange, NJ. Source lists date as 1916 but setting appears to be 1920s. Photograph shows Monroe calculating machines.	Edison National Historic Site, 10.365/1.
	John Runk's office at his shop, Stillwater, Minnesota, photograph by John Runk. Date listed by source as 1938 but setting appears to be 1920s. There is an American Adder in the photo.	Minnesota Historic Society, Neg. No. Runk 1927.
	Western Union telegraph office, Omaha, NE. Based on the equipment shown, Neal McEwen concluded that this photo and the following one show a Western Union telegraph office.	Early Office  Museum Archives
	Western Union telegraph office, Omaha, NE. Based on the equipment shown, Neal McEwen concluded that this photo and the preceding one show a Western Union telegraph office.	Early Office  Museum Archives
	Office with thirteen Graphotype machines. Graphotypes, which were produced by Addressograph Co., Chicago, embossed letters on metal plates that were used to print addresses on letters and envelops. The typewriter keyboard Model G3-44 shown here sold for $850 in 1927. The number of Graphotypes indicates that the company maintained a huge mailing list.	Early Office Museum Archives
	Storage files for metal address plates used in the Addressograph system. This photograph and the preceding one were taken at the same company.	Early Office Museum Archives
	Man with eighteen Bates numbering machines. This photograph and the preceding two were taken at the same company.	Early Office Museum Archives
	Office of Information, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, 1928.	Early Office Museum Archives
	Computing Division, Veterans Bureau, Washington DC, 1929.  Three dozen Burroughs adding machines were being used to compute veterans' benefits.	Early Office Museum Archives
	Office at an Addressograph sales and repair outlet, 1929.  There are two desktop manual Addressograph machines.  Two additional photos of larger Addressograph machines in a showroom and workshop at the same company are posted on our web page on Mailing Machines.	Early Office Museum Archives
Click on link at right to see photo. (Click on thumbnail to see full-size image.) When finished, click the "Back" button on your browser to return here.	Mailing and filing room, General Laboratories, Madison, WI, 1929.  Photograph shows three mail room machines.	Wisconsin Historical Society, Wisconsin Historical Images, No. 21003.
	"Rawleigh's Eastern Executive Office."  Rawleigh's, which was founded in 1889, is a manufacturer and distributor of medicinal, food, and cleaning products.  In the front of the photo, left of center, a woman is using a bookkeeping machine with fanfold paper.  Right of center a woman is using a transcription machine and a typewriter to type material recorded on a dictating machine.	Private collection
	Office with Burroughs electric bookkeeping machine.	Early Office Museum Archives

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