Early Office Museum

Vintage Photographs of Office Interiors
~ 1930s-1940s ~
 

Click Image to Enlarge Description Source
Large_Office_by_Nat_Photographic__Advertising_Co_Chicago.jpg (88416 bytes) Large Office.  Photograph by National Photograph and Advertising Co., Chicago, IL. Early Office
Museum Archives
OM Office c. 1930.JPG (59053 bytes) Office with front-strike typewriters. Early Office
Museum Archives
Fireman's Fund Insurance Co., Underwriting Division, Chicago, IL, 1931. Fireman's Fund
1932_Clerks_stuff_envelopes_in_War_Loan_conversion_program_England.jpg (185326 bytes) Clerks at His Majesty's Stationery Office stuff envelopes in connection with the War Loan conversion program, Engliand, 1932.  When interest rates declined during the Depression, the war loan conversion program asked people to accept 2% (according to reports on the internet) or 3.5% (according to the caption on the photo) rather than 5% on investments in government bonds. Early Office
Museum Archives
Virginia Tech 1930s NS6111.JPG (52308 bytes) Mr. Papper, Auditor's Office, Hotel Roanoke, Roanoke, Virginia, 1930s. There is a Comptometer and another calculator. Virginia Tech ImageBase, Norfolk & Western Hist. Photo. Coll., No. ns6111.
cb000186 1933 Office with Burroughs Machines OM.JPG (47089 bytes) Bookkeeping office, 1933. Photograph shows 17-column Burroughs electric adding and listing machines, possibly Duplex Adding and Listing or Duplex Subtractor Bookkeeping Machines. Charles Babbage Institute, Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Burroughs Corp. Collection, cb000186.
1934 Equitable Assurance Co NMAH P. A. Juley & Son Collection.jpg (39987 bytes) Equitable Assurance Co., 1934. Bookkeeping staff using Moon Hopkins bookkeeping machines. Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History, P. A. Juley & Son Collection
1934_Hollerith_Machines_Milk_Marketing_Board_UK.jpg (196242 bytes) Four women working on Hollerith tabulating machines, Milk Marketing Board, England, 1934.  "Information about the number of gallons and rates went onto the producers' cards....[I]t was not until the 1960s that the Board got rid of the last of the Hollerith machines. Hultun Picture Co. and IRIS Publishing Ltd.
Office_Pool_Colored_Civilian_Conservation_Corps_a95_OM.jpg (53140 bytes) Civilian Conservation Corps office. The Federal Government's CCC, which was segregated, planted an estimated three billion trees from 1933 to 1942. There are typewriters and adding machines. New Deal Network http://newdeal.feri.org/
library/a95
Revising_Old_Records_j86.jpg (45208 bytes) Works Progress Administration, Recorder of Deeds office.  African American clerical workers revising old records, Washington, DC, 1936.  New Deal Network http://newdeal.feri.org/
library/j86
Minnesota_1936_pf028284_Y.jpg (46898 bytes) Typists at post office working on identification cards for Social Security, St. Paul, Minnesota, 1936. Minnesota Historic Society, Neg. No. 39987
Office_Bridgeport_Brass_Bridgeport_CT_OM.JPG (60758 bytes) Office, Bridgeport Brass, Bridgeport, CT.  Bridgeport Brass was founded in 1865 and operated well into the 20th century. Private collection.
1920_Office_Workers_California_State_University_IMET.jpg (52269 bytes) Office with two men and a woman at a roll-top desk using a front-strike typewriter and a dictation transcribing machine, 1920. California State University, Sacramento, Education Department, IMET.
Historical_Records_Survey_Workers_NY_NY_d17b.jpg (49661 bytes) Works Progress Administration Census Project Historical Records Survey workers wearing masks while inventorying and surveying records in sub-cellar below river level, New York, NY. The WPA was established in 1935. New Deal Network http://newdeal.feri.org/
library/d17b
Revising_Filing_System_j85.jpg (51263 bytes) Works Progress Administration Record Project workers in the City Hall file room revising the old filing system, Baltimore, MD, 1940. New Deal Network http://newdeal.feri.org/
library/j85
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. Teletype room at general office of International Harvester Co., Chicago, IL, 1937. Wisconsin Historical Society, Wisconsin Historical Images, No. 12015.
1939_Ediphone_Operators_Babcock_Wilcox_Ltd_London_England_EHS29320070_OM.JPG (51759 bytes) Edison Ediphone transcription machine operators, Babcock & Wilcox, Ltd., London, England, 1939. Babcock, Wilcox & Co. was founded in 1867 to manufacture industrial boilers. Edison Historic Site 29320070
cb000185 c. 1940 Accounting Work Room First Nat Bank of Chicago OM.JPG (58278 bytes) Accounting Department, First National Bank of Chicago, c. 1940. This company had 100 bank bookkeeping machines. Charles Babbage Institute, Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Burroughs Corp. Collection, cb000185.
1940_Production_Department.jpg (78855 bytes) Production Department, 1940. Photographs shows Moon Hopkins bookkeeping machines. Early Office
Museum Archives
Supply__Mailing_Dept_National_Grange_Mutual_Keene_NH.jpg (268044 bytes) "Supply and Mailing Department, National Grange Mutual Liability and Fire Insurance Companies, Keene, New Hampshire."  On the back of the postcard someone wrote "Jean 1941."  The postcard shows a rotary duplicating machine, a Graphotype machine, and an Addressograph machine.  The National Grange, the nation's oldest agricultural organization and a fraternal order known as the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, was founded in 1867 and still exists.  The National Grange set up the National Grange Mutual Liability Co. in 1923; the company name was changed to NGM Insurance Co. in 2005. 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. Employees record births in the Vault Room in the State Office Building, Capitol Annex, Madison, WI, 1942.  In the back center, the photo shows a pneumatic tube system used to send papers. Wisconsin Historical Society, Wisconsin Historical Images, No. 13866.
1942_War_Dept_card_punching_section_WP_DCPL.JPG (194521 bytes) Tabulating Card Punching Office, War Department, Washington, DC, 1942. All the women punching cards are African American.  The supervisor in the aisle is white. Washington Post
1943_Office_Samuel_Plato_building_contractor_Nat_Archives.JPG (112564 bytes) Office of Samuel Plato, Washington, DC, 1943.  Samuel Plate was an African American building contractor.  All the office workers are African American. National Archives
Office_Military_Tabulating_Machines.jpg (142680 bytes)

Office_Military_Keypunch_Machines.jpg (138543 bytes)

Office_Military_Teletype_Machines.jpg (147648 bytes)
U.S. Military Offices.  Top photo shows tabulating machines used to tabulate data from punched cards.  Middle photo shows key punch machines used to punch cards used in tabulating machines .  Bottom photo shows teletype machines. Early Office
Museum Archives
1940s_British_Office_x.JPG (45016 bytes) Office in the U.K. Private collection
1947_Office_with_15_Comptometers.jpg (109669 bytes) Office with 15 Comptometers,  from the Studios of Felt & Tarrant Mfg. Co., Chicago, 1947. Early Office
Museum Archives
1949_Div_of_Internl_Press_and_Pubs_State_Dept.jpg (149645 bytes) U.S. Department of State, Division of International Press and Publications, Wire Room, Washington, DC, 1949. Integrated work force. "A view of the wire room through which pass 150.... [fix] words a day.  The Wireless Bulletin of 7,000 words is sent out twice daily to New York City and San Francisco for broadcast to 50 U.S. diplomatic posts throughout the world.  The Division also supplies through these machines complete daily coverage of significant Washington news to the Voice of America Office in New York for broadcast in foreign countries. Early Office
Museum Archives
1951_General_Accounts_Section_UN_HQ_NY_NY_x.JPG (156216 bytes) General Accounts Section, United Nations, New York, NY, 1951. Private collection
Office_in_California.jpg (175793 bytes) Office, California. Private collection
British_Office_with_Typists_Bar-Lock.jpg (177110 bytes) Office, U.K. The typist closest to the camera is using a Bar-Lock typewriter, presumably a late frontstrike model. Early Office
Museum Archives
Office, White Rose food distributors NY NY.jpg (188610 bytes) Office of White Rose, New York, NY.  White Rose was a large wholesale food distributor.  Signs on the walls advertise White Rose Quality Foods and Pique Seasoning.  The White Rose private label brand was introduced at the beginning of the 20th century.  Pique Seasoning was widely used as a flavor amplifier in the 1940s and was still on the market in the 1970s. White Rose, which is now owned by Di Giorgio Corp., is presently the largest independent wholesale food distributor in the New York City metropolitan area. Early Office
Museum Archives
Files_in_a_Railroad_Office_1.jpg (203558 bytes) Office with Files at Railroad Company. Early Office
Museum Archives
Files_in_a_Railroad_Office_2.JPG (192615 bytes) Office with Files at Railroad Company Early Office
Museum Archives
Office_with_typewriters_and_adding_machines.jpg (122966 bytes) Office with typewriters, adding machines, vertical files, 13 women, and 3 men, Chicago, IL. Photograph by Kelly Powell, Chicago, IL. Early Office
Museum Archives

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