Before computers took over every desk, the American office worked in a very different way. People used typewriters that clicked and clacked all day long. Phones had cords and sat right on the desk. Big metal filing cabinets held stacks of paper folders, since there was no such thing as saving a file on a computer. Secretaries wrote notes by hand using shorthand, and machines called mimeographs made copies with a strong smell. It was a slower way of working, but it kept offices across the country running every single day.
The following 18 old photos take you back to that lost world. You’ll see busy rooms full of typists, bosses talking into big recording machines, and workers dressed in the office styles of the time. Men wore suits and ties, and women handled much of the day-to-day work that kept businesses moving. Looking at these photos shows just how much office life has changed since computers arrived.
1. Multitasking, 1970s Style
2. “Before Google, There Was Her”
3. A Hundred Desks, A Thousand Calculations, No Computers
4. Hold the Line: The Office Before Email
5. Every Request Passed Through Someone’s Hands
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6. An Office Worker at Her Typewriter, 1971
7. When the Newsroom Ran on Typewriters and Nerve
8. The Original Water Cooler Break
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9. An Entry-Level Office Floor in the 1960s
University of Waterloo Stratford Campus/via pinterest.com
10. At the Office, 1973
11. One Drawer at a Time, One Detail at a Time
Jonah Booth-Remmers/via pinterest.com
12. Holiday Deadlines, 1960s Style
13. Big Hair, Bigger To-Do Lists
14. Office furniture – Westinghouse 1975
15. One Phone Line, No Voicemail, No Excuses
16. Fashion in the 1970s was about individuality
17. The Office Holiday Party, Before Zoom Ruined Everything
18. The Boss Lady Before “Boss Lady” Was a Thing
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Take a look at 17 Photos That Show How Office Life Changed Since the 1900s for another dose of workplace nostalgia, from switchboards to the first office computers. Next, 10 Forgotten 1990s Appliances That Disappeared rounds up the gadgets that once felt essential but quietly vanished from US homes. And for a look at how entire careers have faded away, 25 Forgotten Jobs That Once Paid a Good Living revisits the switchboard operators, elevator attendants, and lamplighters who once kept everyday life running.
