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- Baldwin 62303
- Baldwin VO-1000
- Cold
- No expense spared
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- Lost in Toyland
- And without gloves
- If I were a blindfolded time traveler
- Smoke Consumer Also Cooks
- Oh that stove!
- Possibly still there?
- What?!?
- $100 Reward
- Freeze Frame
- Texas Flyer wanted
- Just a Year Too Soon
- WWII -- Replacing men with women at the railroad crossing.
- Yes, Icing
- You kids drive me nuts!
- NOT An Easy Job
- I wonder
- Just add window boxes
- Icing Platform?
- Indiana Harbor Belt abides
- Freezing haze
- Corrections (for those who care)
- C&NW at Nelson
- Fallen Flags
- A dangerous job made worse
- Water Stop
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The Deep State: 1942
October 1942. Washington. D.C. "Clerical workers processing forms for production requirement plan -- Priorities Division, War Production Board." Medium format acetate negative by Howard Liberman for the Office of War Information. View full size.
Ah, Fate!
In the lower left front of this photo, that young lady in plaid skirt, sweater, and pearls is a dead ringer for my mom, who was hired for a similar job in Washington in early 1942. But her parents had a fit: "Washington D.C. is no place for a young woman on her own! Why, just think what could happen!" So she stayed home in the Midwest. If she'd gone, her life would have taken a different path, and I probably wouldn't be sitting here writing this.
Are any of these ladies still with us?
What stories they could tell!
If 18 was the minimum age to work there, those ladies in the picture would be
age 96 on up.
Must be a few.
Integrated workforce.
Pleased to see that, and that the "colored" ladies (to use 1940s terminology) aren't forced to the back of the room. Woodrow Wilson re-segregated the Federal workforce in the early teens, so not sure when it was desegregated or if this is special wartime action.
Also salute the headline.
"Hey Sweetie,
I know you gals are a little cramped back there, but is it okay if I park my hat here? Thanks."
Like a parking garage
I like how the columns are numbered, to help you find your desk.
The thousand-yard stare
What did I get myself into?
Hubba Hubba
A single GI discharged because of some minor physical ailment ( ie a missing trigger finger or big toe) after fighting through the horrors of the South Pacific would think he died and went to heaven after he found out he had gotten the job of assistant office manager here.
The two ladies bottom left would have caught his eye I'm sure plus there are quite a few other hubba hubbas as the vernacular of the day went spread around the office.
They also serve
Who are all those yardbirds standing around in the back? Get to work.
Sound, among other things
What did that room sound like?
Why only three men at a desk?
Who runs the sandwich. shoe, or coffee concession?
Where are the cups, ashtrays, and telephones?
We've come quite a long way.
First thing a modern office worker would notice?
No cubicles.
Contrast
Looking at this photo about 80 years later and thinking about the changes.
-For obvious starters: electronic processing
-Energy savings (how many watts of power are going into that lighting?)
-Covid 19 distancing
And when is the last time you saw a wooden office chair?
The young lady at the very front
Just left of the Shorpy watermark is going to have to use a needle and thread on her dress tonight.
May I help you with something, sir?
Nothing gets past this one.
Let there be light!
Interesting light fixtures, and plenty of them.
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