{"id":243,"date":"2011-06-13T15:09:49","date_gmt":"2011-06-13T15:09:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tmcldev.wpengine.com\/mcgovern\/2011\/06\/13\/the-office-1920s\/"},"modified":"2019-08-30T18:02:00","modified_gmt":"2019-08-30T18:02:00","slug":"the-office-1920s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/library.tmc.edu\/mcgovern\/2011\/06\/13\/the-office-1920s\/","title":{"rendered":"The Office, 1920's"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Alethea Drexler, archives assistant<\/strong>
\nmcgovern@exch.library.tmc.edu<\/a>
\nLet’s take a look at office life, circa 1924.
\nThis is the building that housed the Hermann Hospital estate in the 1920’s.\u00a0 The estate was responsible for the business and funding aspect of running the hospital.
\n

\"\"<\/a>
Estate building<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nHere’s a closer view.\u00a0 It seems that road construction was a favorite local past-time even then.\u00a0 According to a notation on the back, the Estate was on the top floor and the building was later sold to Gordon Jewelry, at which point the Estate moved to the Hermann Professional Building.
\nThis was named the Stewart building.\u00a0 It also has a sign reading “Mack Mfg. Co., Oil Field Supplies” over the front door.\u00a0 According to the lettering in the sixth-floor windows, Guynes & Colgin, lawyers, also rented space here.\u00a0 The building next door may say “The Cargill Co.” along the parapet, but I can’t be sure.
\nArchivist Phil Montgomery brought this to my attention: This photograph was taken by Frank Schlueter, who was well-known in the Houston area.\u00a0 The Houston Public Library<\/a> [1], Rice University, and the University of Texas, Austin, all have collections of Schlueter images.
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Road construction!<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nThe book-like things on the shelf to the right in the picture are actually file boxes.\u00a0 A lot of the material we got from the Hermann archives was still in boxes like those, so I wonder if they’re the same ones.
\nThe clock says “G.A. Pf[??]ffle, Watch Inspector, S.S.&S. RY Co., Greenville, Tex.” below its face.\u00a0 The S.S.&S. was the Sherman, Shreveport, and Southern Railroad[2]<\/a>.\u00a0 Apparently Greenville was, in 1894, a candidate for the location of a new S.S.&S. hospital[3].\u00a0 “Watch inspector[4]<\/a>” sounds like a quaint job now, but accurate timepieces were essential to keep trains running on time and, even more importantly, to ensure that they didn’t run into each other because of discrepancies in timekeeping.
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Clerks<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nThere is a lot of office technology going on here.\u00a0 I see two candlestick telephones[5]<\/a>, and in the right-hand lower corner, out of focus, we can see a box with two rounded bells on top that is probably a wall-mounted intercom telephone<\/a>[6].\u00a0 The small device on the window-sill to the right might be a brad-setter or eyelet press<\/a>[7], which would have been used to fasten papers together in the years before staplers became the standard method.
\nThere’s a safe in the next room; you can see it through the door.
\nThere are lots of small items on the desk: Ink-wells and bottles; glass bowls for small items such as paperclips or paper-pins; and a pull-off calendar.\u00a0 It’s the 25th, but I can’t make out the month.\u00a0 I’m not sure yet of the purpose of the device in the middle front of the photo (directly below the man’s waistcoat buttons): My guesses at this point are that it’s either a pencil sharpener[8]<\/a> or a calculating machine<\/a>[9].\u00a0 I’ll let you know when I find out.
\nUpdate!\u00a0<\/strong> It’s a Protectograph check protector<\/a>[14].\u00a0 Mark [no last name given], the curator at the Early Office Museum online, tells me that this model was very popular and durable, and that examples can be bought for around $25 on eBay, although shipping will cost you about that much, additionally, since they’re quite heavy.
\nThe City of Houston map on the wall is surrounded by advertisements: R.S. Gaut, real estate broker; Jno. [Jonathan] H. Ruby, real estate and loans; and some roofing and lumber companies.\u00a0 He has a lucky horseshoe and what seems to be a framed caricature tacked to the door frame, and it looks as though there’s a framed panoramic photograph to the left of the door.
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Hard at work<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nThere are a lot of interesting details in the next picture.\u00a0 I like the ceiling fan.\u00a0 You can also see that the bell-shaped lamps appears to be strung on cords, possibly so they could be raised and lowered.\u00a0 There are two MKT railroad<\/a>[10] calendars on the far wall.\u00a0 The man standing at left, next to the huge log-book, is wearing buttoned shoes.
\nI’m not sure what all the things are on the table.\u00a0 That’s a bottle of ink on the center-right.\u00a0 The other things look like either weights or large stamps.
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Office space<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nSome things never change.\u00a0 Like in-boxes.\u00a0 I bet they filled up as quickly then as they do now.\u00a0 I have two in-boxes myself.\u00a0 I converted my out-box to an auxiliary in-box, because I never seemed to have much use for an out-box.
\nI think the typewriter might be an L.C. Smith, a company that later became half of Smith-Corona.\u00a0 This one<\/a>[11] has a similar cut-out pattern on its side.
\n
\"\"<\/a>
The latest technology<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nThis was in the folder but there wasn’t any notation on it so I’m not sure what connection it has to the Estate.\u00a0 It may have been one of the rental properties.\u00a0 The building was located at Dallas and Main Streets and says “Conway Automobile Company” above the door.\u00a0 I think it might be a couple of years later than the photos of the Estate office, since more of the cars in the picture are closed (have windows).\u00a0 I’m not sure exactly which corner this was on, but it is now the site of either Macy’s or Starbucks.
\nStar<\/a>[12] cars were manufactured by Durant Motors<\/a>[13] between 1922 and 1928, as competitors for inexpensive Fords and Chevrolets.\u00a0 Durant went out of business around 1931, probably a victim of both its relatively small size and of the Depression, which killed off a lot of early American automobile brands.\u00a0 If you drive a Saturn, a Hummer, or a Pontiac, you know how that feels.
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Star cars<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nThis staged tourist photo-postcard was in the folder, too.\u00a0 It was taken in Hot Springs, Arkansas–the scribble in the upper right says “Htspgs 4\/26\/23”.\u00a0 The license plates on the cart are from 1921.
\nIt was never mailed but the inscription on the back says, “This is to show you that I can drive the Bull as well as to throw it.\u00a0 My son Walter seems to enjoy my driving. RSS[?]<\/em>”
\nI’ve got friends in Arkansas so I’m not going to crack any jokes about the “summer home” in the background or about Arkansas limousin<\/a>[e]s[13].
\n
\"\"<\/a>
What happens in Hot Springs, stays in Hot Springs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\n[1] Houston Public Library digital archives<\/a>
\n[2] Handbook of Texas<\/a> Online: Sherman, Shreveport, & Southern Railroad<\/a>
\n[3] Hunt County, Texas, Newspaper Index Project<\/a>: Greenville Messenger, 19 Dec 1894<\/a>.
\n[4] Wikipedia: Railroad chronometer<\/a>
\n[5] Early Office Museum<\/a>: Communications equipment<\/a>
\n[6] Early Office Museum: Communications equipment<\/a>
\n[7] Early Office Museum: Eyelet presses<\/a>
\n[8] Early Office Museum: Pencil sharpeners<\/a>
\n[9] Early Office Museum: Adding & Calculating Machines: Stepped-drum, pinwheel, and direct multiplication calculating machines<\/a>
\n[10] Katy Railroad Historical Society<\/a>
\n[11] Typewriter<\/a>.be
\n[12] Wikipedia: Star (automobile)<\/a>
\n[13] Durant Cars<\/a>.com
\n[13] Oklahoma State University<\/a> Department of Animal Science: Limousin<\/a>
\n[14] Early Office Museum: Check protectors<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alethea Drexler, archives assistant mcgovern@exch.library.tmc.edu Let’s take a look at office life, circa 1924. This is the building that housed the Hermann Hospital estate in the 1920’s.\u00a0 The estate was responsible for the business and funding aspect of running the hospital. Here’s a closer view.\u00a0 It seems that road construction was a favorite local […]<\/p>\n

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