30 Vintage Photographs That Show Old Offices and People Who Were Working in the 1920s

American engineer Frederick Taylor is credited with being one of the first people to design a modern office. His primary focus was efficiency, and his office spaces were designed to maximize productivity.

In the 1920s, many American and modern European companies, including insurance agents, mail-order firms and government agencies, adopted Taylor’s office design principles.
In these offices the majority of employees worked together in an open-plan space, each sitting at their own forward-facing desk, while bosses looked on from their own private offices.

Office at an Addressograph sales and repair outlet, 1929.

Office with Burroughs electric bookkeeping machine.

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.

Office in Dexter Horton National Bank, Seattle, WA. There are a number of Burroughs adding machines, c.1920.

Office with 19 men doing paper work on the left and about a dozen women typing on the right.

Filing Section, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, New York, NY., c.1920.

Underwriters' Office, Fireman's Fund Insurance Co., Boston, MA, 1921.

Office of Chas. Rump, Redlands Power and Irrigation Co., Grand Junction, CO, 1921.

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.

Office with sixty-four clerical workers, one of whom (front right) can be seen operating an adding listing machine.

"Three women at desk," Colorado, c.1920. Photographed by Harry M. Rhoads (1880/81-1975). Photograph shows a typewriter, a candlestick phone, and high-heeled shoes.

Office with a man and four women, 1923. One woman appears to be a telephone operator and another is working at a typewriter.

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.

Office, L. Andrew Olsen Lumber Co., Osseo, MN. 1923. Date from calendar on wall. Photograph includes adding machine on stand.

Interior, Bureau of Engraving, Minneapolis, MN, 1925. Stenographers are transcribing using dictating machines and typewriters.

Filing Office, c.1925.

Freight Receipts, General Office Building, Norwalk & Western Railway, Roanoke, VA. Burroughs key-driven calculators.

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.

General Office Building, Norwalk & Western Railway, Roanoke, VA.

General Office Building, Norwalk & Western Railway, Roanoke, VA. Wide carriage Remington typewriters or bookkeeping machines.

Comptometer Bureau, Armour & Co., Chicago, 1926. Armour & Co. was a meat business.

Edison Purchasing Department, West Orange, NJ. Photograph shows Monroe calculating machines.

John Runk's office at his shop, Stillwater, MN, photograph by John Runk. There is an American Adder in the photo.

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.

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.

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.

Photo shows files for metal address plates used in the Addressograph system.

Man with eighteen Bates numbering machines.

Office of Information, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, 1928.

Computing Division, Veterans Bureau, Washington DC, 1929. Three dozen Burroughs adding machines were being used to compute veterans' benefits.

(Photos via Office Museum)