Once upon a time, when our government distibuted its papers among depository libraries, I worked at one in a well-known university. We recorded the receipt of periodicals by hand, on Acme cards.

Much faster than typing catalog cards!

It was used as a means of stopping a pane of glass from breaking into dangerous shards and was, in fact, the first type of universally-used safety glass.

It was widely used in shower screens, louvred-window panels and, as one Shorpyan has noted, in the vision panels of elevator doors. (I worked for Otis here in Australia for almost 30 years and can clearly recall as an apprentice replacing broken panels, particularly those used in freight elevators).

Interestingly enough, "mind numbing" and "boring" can be found on the same index card.

Everyone seems to be into the hair fashion of the day. Was Mary Pickford the influence?

In this case, I'd like a bottle of 1000 Instant Martians and a dozen Illudium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulators.

Would Acme Card Systems by any chance be a subsidiary of the Acme Hole Co.?

The 1910 era hotel I grew up in had some windows with chicken wire embedded in the glass. Our vintage Otis elevator had large windows in the doors on every floor. Inside the elevator was a brass accordion door. The elevator windows were made of really thick plate glass with hexagonal woven wire embedded in it. They were sort of like safety glass - the wire apparently made them harder to shatter. The doors weren't automatic - when the elevator reached your floor, you had to manually slide them open. And you could reach through the accordion door and touch the shaft while the elevator was moving (not that *I* ever tried such a thing). But we were safe, because our elevator windows had reinforced glass!

We had that type of glass in my jr high school. I don't know if it was a pre-safety glass thing to avoid large nasty shards of broken glass, a security measure to resist popping out a whole pane, or both.

I would (figuratively) kill for that coat with the buttons on the woman in the middle! Also: nice hair.

Or we'll transfer you to the rocket-propelled unicycle division.

This photo was taken on a different day from the one below. The calendar is gone, and the fan has that cross below it.

[It's the same day. But not the same wall. - Dave]

Ms. Oyl may not have her mind on her work.

The gal at the back desk is scowling because her operation was not chosen to benefit from the state-of-the-art Acme system, forcing her to deal with that disorganized paper haystack the old fashioned way. Also: another bottle of ink.

Why is there chicken wire over the windows? To prevent birds from coming through an open window? Or perhaps to protect the pedestrians below from whatever suddenly gets ejected from the office?

[Another possibility is that the wire is embedded in the glass. - Dave]

I like that each chair and table is different.

Also, don't look directly at the woman with the print shirt; you will turn to stone.