Early Office Museum
Antique Office Photographs
~ 1920s ~
When no date is provided in the Description column below, we
do not know the date of the image or photograph.
We have placed undated images and photographs in their likely chronological
order.
If the Source in the right-hand column is anything other than "Early Office
Museum Archives,"
we do not have the ability to grant permission for use of the photograph or to provide a high
resolution image.
You would need to contact the source directly.
| Click Image to Enlarge | Description | Source |
 |
Office of farm implement
company, New London, WI, 1920. The man is Henry Heger. On the
book-keeper's desk are boxes of Brunswick Inner Tubes. Above that
desk is an advertisement for Red River Special Threshing Machinery made by
Nichols & Shepard Co., Battle Creek, MI. Nichols
& Shepard produced farm machinery in Battle Creek from 1848 to
1929, when the company was purchased by the Oliver Farm Equipment Co.,
Charles City, IA. Above the safe is an advertisement for the La Crosse Plow Co., La Crosse, WI. According to La Cross History Unbound, "Most of the [La Crosse Plow Works} farm implements were designed to turn over the soil and break the sod. Started in 1865, the La Crosse Plow Works was owned and operated by Albert Hirshheimer and was a key manufacturing industry that helped pull La Crosse out of economic hardship following the collapse of the lumber industry. In 1929 the company [by then named the La Crosse Plow Co.] was bought out by Allis Chalmers, and the La Crosse plant closed in 1969." |
Early Office Museum Archives |
 |
Office, Wichita Wholesale Grocery Co., Wichita, KS, 1920. A woman is operating a Rotary Neostyle stencil duplicating machine in the center foreground. The photograph shows what in 1894 was known as the salesroom. "The location of the salesroom is easily determined ... by the decorative pressed metal ceiling, cast-iron columns, and elaborate door and window surrounds." The four story Wichita Wholesale Grocery building was constructed in 1894 "in what used to be...the heart of the old warehouse district.... To the east of the building are the railroad tracks that used to provide direct service to the warehouse. ... The Wichita Wholesale Grocery Company apparently went out of business in 1925." Other wholesale grocery companies continued to use the building until at least 1945, and the building was still being used as a warehouse in 1983. The building is still standing and is now topped by a sign that reads "Spaghetti Works." (Quotations are from a 1983 National Registry of Historic Places document.) | Early Office Museum Archives |
|
|
Tom McKay in his office in Kansas, 1920. Dated by wall calendars, one of which advertises the Geo. D. Barnard Stationery Co., St. Louis, MO. On the desk is a Hotchkiss No. 2 paper fastener and an Adair paperweight and pen rack. At the rear is a Royal No. 10 typewriter. To the right is a metal filing cabinet with five types of drawers. According to the 1920 US Census, a man named Tom E. McKay, who was born in 1866, lived in Decatur, KS, in 1920, when he was 54 years old. That is a pretty good fit. The man in the photo looks about 60 years old. | Early Office Museum Archives |
|
|
The counter and screen indicate that this is a retail office. A sign on the wall advertises the Home Insurance Company of New York, and this photo may show an office of that company. The wall calendar is for September 1920 or 1926. Machinery includes a Burroughs Adding Machine and a Todd Protectograph checkwriter. The later model was introduced in 1913. | Early Office Museum Archives |
|
|
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. |
 |
Office with nine men. The back of this photo is dated 1924 by the Newspaper Enterprise Association. However, the photo was likely taken earlier. We have placed it at 1920, but it may have been taken in the preceding decade. See the style of the high shoes. | Early Office Museum Archives |
 |
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 11 women and 4 men, Brockton, MA. | Early Office Museum Archives |
 |
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 |
 |
Office, Philadelphia Electric Co., Philadelphia, PA, 1921. Two of the desks have Comptometer calculating machines and one has what may be a Burroughs Calculator, suggesting that this is an accounting office. The wall calendar advertises "Wm. F. Ruwell ~ Machinist ~ Engineer." William F. Ruwell had a business in Philadelphia, PA, already in 1908. | Early Office Museum Archives |
 |
Office, Central New England Railroad, Maybrook, NY, 1921. Twenty-nine workers, all men, are visible. | Early Office Museum Archives |
 |
Underwriters' Office, Fireman's Fund Insurance Co., 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, PA, photograph by Theodor Horydczak (1890-1971). Photograph includes an Oliver typewriter and a 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). Photograph shows a typewriter, a candlestick phone, and high-heeled shoes. | Denver Public Library, Western History Collection, codhawp 00186828. |
 |
Office, photograph by Scherer Studio, Washington, DC, 1922. | Early Office Museum Archives |
 |
Office, Detroit News, Detroit. MI, 1922. | Early Office Museum Archives |
 |
Office, Main Branch, Bank of America, Fresno, CA. The Bank of America was formerly the Bank of Italy, and this is the ground floor of the Bank of Italy building. | 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 |
 |
Office, L. Andrew Olsen Lumber Co., Osseo, MN. 1923. Date from calendar on wall. Photograph includes adding machine on stand. | Minnesota Historical Society, Neg. No. 46446. |
 |
Interior, Bureau of Engraving, Minneapolis, MN, 1925. Stenographers are transcribing using dictating machines and typewriters. | Minnesota Historical Society, Neg. No. 17217. |
 |
Filing Office. | Charles Babbage Institute, Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Burroughs Corp. Collection, cb000181. |
 |
Accounting Office, Brooklyn, NY, 1925. | Early Office Museum Archives |
|
Office with four women, including one using a typewriter and one using an adding-listing machine; one man; and one customer. | Early Office Museum Archives |
|
|
"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 |
 |
Federal Government Office, Washington DC, photograph by Scherer Studio. On desk in foreground is a Woodruff file, and to the left is a cabinet with Woodruff files. The Federal Government used a vast number of Woodruff files, and did so for a long time, which explains why these files are now common. | Early Office Museum Archives |
 |
Office with clerical workers using calculating machines, photographer Irving Underhill, New York, NY, 1925. In the foreground are 17 workers using calculating machines, probably made by Monroe. Most of these workers are women but a few are men. In the background are many other workers, perhaps on the order of 50. | Early Office Museum Archives |
 |
Freight Receipts, General Office Building, Norwalk & Western Railway, Roanoke, VA. Burroughs key-driven calculators. | Virginia Tech ImageBase, Norfolk & Western Hist. Photo. Coll., No. ns5398 |
 |
Freight Receipts, General Office Building, Norwalk & Western Railway, Roanoke, VA. 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, VA. | Virginia Tech ImageBase, Norfolk & Western Hist. Photo. Coll., No. ns5423. |
 |
General Office Building, Norwalk & Western Railway, Roanoke, VA. 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, VA, 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. |
 |
Office with 21 women. These women appear to be typing addresses on envelopes and stuffing them with advertising that includes a picture of a woman.. | Early
Office Museum Archives |
 |
Edison Purchasing Department, West Orange, NJ. Photograph shows Monroe calculating machines. | Edison National Historic Site, 10.365/1. |
 |
John Runk's office at his shop, Stillwater, MN, photograph by John Runk. 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 |
|
The two photos to the left were taken at the same company. The top photo shows a large number of women typing addresses onto stencil cards for use in addressing machines. A few other women are filing the cards. Cases in the back left and right of the photo hold large numbers of trays (or drawers) full of address cards. The bottom photo shows a large number of women filing the type of address cards that are being typed in the top photo, supervised by a man (standing just right of center). Cases behind the women hold large numbers of trays full of address cards. These photos were evidently taken at a company that used an extremely large mailing list. This may have been an insurance company with a large number of policy holders, a mail order house with many customers, or a periodical with many subscribers. |
Early Office Museum Archives |
|
These two photos were taken at the same company. The top photo shows an office with thirteen Graphotype machines. Graphotypes, which were produced by Addressograph Co., Chicago, IL, embossed letters on metal plates that were used to print addresses on letters and envelopes. 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. The bottom photo shows files for metal address plates used in the Addressograph system. |
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, Home Office Building, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., Springfield, MA. The candlestick telephones and the center part in the hair of the man front center suggest that this photo was taken in the 1920s. | Early Office Museum Archives |
 |
Bureau du Courrier et du Classement (Mail and Filing Office), Etablissements Houpin et Compagnie, Clermont-Ferrand, Puy-de-Dôme, Auvergne, France. Houpin & Cie. manufactured tin products. | 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. |
|
Office with one 9-column and one 12-column Burroughs adding machine. On the wall is a Missouri Pacific Lines map of the US. Missouri Pacific had railroad lines in 10 states, most importantly Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana, but also in Nebraska, Illinois, and Mississippi. This office was almost certainly in one of those 10 states. | Early Office Museum Archives |
 |
"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 that had been recorded with a dictating machine. | Private collection |
 |
Office with Burroughs electric bookkeeping machine. | Early Office Museum Archives |
 |
Several men working in an office. Scanned from a glass negative. | Early Office Museum Archives |
Photographs are copyrighted. All rights are reserved by the copyright holder, the owner of the photograph, and the Early Office Museum.