Desks in Context

This is the first scene in the New Testament parable of the Prodigal Son updated to 1800. Here, the younger son asks for his share of his father's fortune and is in the process of receiving it, in the father's comfortably furnished study. The father is counting out his legacy, earned as a merchant. We see his large desk and bookcase at the left, complete with a quill and inkwell.

A fashionably dressed young lady is shown in the process of sealing a letter to a loved one, perhaps a relative, or a gentleman friend. She is embossing melted wax with a seal. The young lady sits in front of her portable writing desk. Within it, she can store stationery, pens, and other needs. The top is covered in green felt to provide a comfortable writing surface.

From the 1840s into the early 1900s, some people sent inexpensive Valentine's Day greetings that chided, warned, or insulted the recipient. An exaggerated, often garish cartoon and short verse described and dismissed someone's looks, intelligence, personality, or behavior. Within the atmosphere of a festive holiday, under the cover of humor, these "vinegar valentines" were acceptable critiques of behaviors that deviated from social norms.

In the last third of the nineteenth century, an unprecedented variety of consumer goods and services flooded the American market. Advertisers, armed with new methods of color printing, bombarded potential customers with trade cards. Americans enjoyed and often saved the vibrant little advertisements found in product packages or distributed by local merchants. Many survive as historical records of commercialism in the United States.

In 1891, Henry Ford left his small lumber business to work for the Edison Illuminating Company in Detroit. He was hired on by the general manger, Charles Phelps Gilbert (pictured here). Ford's work impressed his superiors, and by early 1894 he was promoted to chief engineer. While working at the Edison Illuminating Company, Ford also built his first horseless carriage, the Quadricycle.

In the last third of the nineteenth century, an unprecedented variety of consumer goods and services flooded the American market. Advertisers bombarded potential customers with trade cards. Americans enjoyed and saved the often illustrated little advertisements found in product packages or distributed by local merchants. Many survive as historical records of commercialism in the United States.

This photograph shows 21 telephone operators working at a wall switchboard. The chief operator and supervisor, Amanda Hitchcock, is seated at a desk, speaking into a phone; telephone exchanges were predominantly run by female employees. Before direct-dialing was possible, callers would dial the operator, who would then assist by using cords or switches to manually patch their destination connection.

Women found new employment opportunities as the industrial and managerial revolutions of the late 19th century increased the need for office workers. There were few job opportunities in the professions, outside of nursing and teaching, so literate women often turned to office work. By 1900, women made up more than a third of clerical workers. Still, opportunity was limited--very few female office workers became office executives.

Women found new employment opportunities as the industrial and managerial revolutions of the late 19th century increased the need for office workers. There were few job opportunities in the professions, outside of nursing and teaching, so literate women often turned to office work. By 1900, women made up more than a third of clerical workers. Still, opportunity was limited--very few female office workers became office executives.

Henry Ford strikes a regal pose in his office at Ford Motor Company's Piquette Avenue Plant around 1908. Ford was probably working on the design of the new Model T at this time. Henry's offices were always neat and tidy because Henry was rarely in them. He spent most of his time out in the factory.

This photograph shows prolific inventor and American entrepreneur Thomas Edison around age 60. By this time, Edison had invented and built entire industries around the phonograph, the incandescent electric lamp, and the Kinetoscope. Though he continued important work at his vast West Orange, New Jersey, laboratory and elsewhere, Edison was beginning to oversee fewer of his companies' daily operations.

Henry J. Heinz founded his first processed food business in Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1869. Heinz soon moved the booming operation to downtown Pittsburgh. In 1905, now headquartered in a large factory complex on the city's North Side, the H.J. Heinz Company officially incorporated with its founder as president -- a position Heinz would hold until his death in 1919.

By the twentieth century, fans could be inexpensively produced as souvenirs or advertisements. Funeral homes were among the businesses that commonly distributed advertising fans, often to local churches. This example advertises services offered by the Jacobs Brothers Funeral Home in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Jacobs brothers were active in nearby African-American congregations whose members likely identified with Booker T. Washington, featured on the front.

John Burroughs (1837-1921) was an internationally known naturalist and writer whose nature essays were well-received in both literary and scientific circles. From his home in the Catskills of upstate New York, Burroughs wrote mostly about what could be found in accessible and familiar landscapes. He wanted his readers to appreciate the natural world that surrounded them.

Luther Burbank (1849-1926), an American plant breeder, naturalist, and author, was especially noted for his experiments with plants, fruits, and vegetables. After developing the influential Russet Burbank potato in his native Massachusetts, Burbank established a large experimental garden in Santa Rosa, California. When not working outdoors, Burbank spent time carrying on his nursery business, keeping accounts, researching, and writing.

The Magnavox telephone in this image was celebrated for its "anti-noise" capabilities. Its electro-dynamic receiver was unparalleled at the time, eliminating all interfering sounds besides the voice of the speaker. Available in several models, these Magnavox telephones were used in extremely noisy environments--on ships, in aircraft and factories--or in domestic and office environments, pictured here.

In 1901, Dr. Clara Barrus - one of few women to graduate from medical school in the late 19th century - wrote a fan letter to nature writer John Burroughs. The pair became close, and Burroughs relied increasingly on Barrus as his secretary and nearly constant companion until his death in 1921. Burroughs ultimately named Barrus his literary executor and official biographer.

In 1924-25 the Ford Motor Company ran a series of sixteen dramatic advertisements in the Saturday Evening Post and Country Gentleman magazines. The effectiveness of the ads was due in large part to the specially commissioned artwork that accompanied the descriptive text. This painting appeared as two segments -- losing some of its content in the process -- when reproduced as part of the 15th ad.

This photograph shows Henry Ford's office in the Ford Engineering Laboratory when it was completed in 1924. Mr. Ford rarely worked at the desk, preferring to spend his time on the go between factories, the Museum, Greenfield Village, and a number of Ford office buildings. The office was mainly used to receive visitors and meet with employees.

George Matthew Adams (b. 1878) was a well-known newspaper columnist and syndicator. Adams launched a successful service in 1907 that distributed popular columns and comic strips to newspapers nationwide until his death in 1962. Adams's own short column, "Today's Talk," ran for more than 20 years and featured positive affirmations and self-help philosophies that inspired many Americans.

This interior view of the telegraph department at the Ford Administration Building shows several employees working at their desks. The variety of devices they are using--including typewriters and telegraphs in "sounder boxes"--captures evidence of a "connected" workforce--constantly receiving, processing, and exchanging information.

Though new communications technologies -- including telephones, typewriters, and telegraphs -- had emerged by the 1930s, many Americans still sent handwritten letters to distant family and friends.

Henry Ford purchased vast amounts of land around present-day Richmond Hill, Georgia, beginning in the 1920s. After acquiring the property, Ford became interested in the economic and civic improvement of the area. This photo shows the poor learning conditions faced by many students in the area. In 1940, Ford opened the new George Washington Carver School for the African-American community.

During the Second World War, government organizations and private companies alike produced posters that aimed to influence consumers on the home front by appealing to patriotic sentiment. Eberhard Faber, America's oldest pencil manufacturing company, produced this example that depicted the stationery business' important contributions to the war effort.

Ford Motor Company and its employees contributed to Allied efforts in World War II in numerous ways. The company built trucks, tanks, aircraft engines, gliders, and B-24 bomber airplanes. Ford workers purchased war bonds with their earnings, either independently or through a payroll deduction program.

From the late 1800s through the 1950s, open plan work environments were typical. Most workers sat in long rows of desks that filled large hallways. Ford Motor Company used an open plan to accommodate its growing staff in 1945. Henry Ford II, who assumed the presidency from his ailing grandfather that year, modernized Ford with a corporate structure modeled after General Motors.

This photograph shows an office of the Montgomery (Alabama) City Bus Lines. The company became well known in 1955, when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man despite existing segregation laws. Her arrest led to a city-wide bus boycott by the African-American community that ended up lasting 381 days.

William Clay Ford (1925-2014) was Henry Ford's grandson and the youngest of Edsel and Eleanor Clay Ford's four children. After graduating from Yale University in 1949, he started work at Ford Motor Company. William Clay Ford played a lead role in setting Ford's design direction and helped to steer his grandfather's company into the modern era.

Action Office, conceptualized by Robert Propst with final design by George Nelson, was rooted in Propst's research into office function and worker behavior. The system was not a commercial success: manufacturing costs were high, and it was, in Propst's words, "too showy and bright for serious consideration as a middle management tool." Propst went on to design the hugely successful Action Office 2 cubicle-based system.