Office Life in the Twentieth Century
Dr Nicole Robertson, Reader in Modern British History at Sheffield Hallam University tells us about her research into office life in the twentieth century. You can also view the full digital exhibition for this research project here.
The rising prominence of the clerical sector was one of the most important changes in the twentieth-century workplace. Clerical workers became a key component of cityscapes and urban communities. As organisations grew larger and more complex, the need for greater communication and documentation transformed clerical work. The growth of modern corporations necessitated a flood of paperwork and administrative systems. New technologies - such as adding machines, Xerography and electric typewriters - brought greater speed and legibility to the workplace whilst rationalised work procedures transformed offices into nerve centres of business. Yet, we know surprisingly little about the impact this had on the working lives of clerks. My research explores this group of workers, who form a particularly rich aspect of recent British social, economic, gender and business history.
Funded by an AHRC Leadership Fellowship, I worked closely with the Working Class Movement Library (Salford) and the Bishopsgate Institute (London) on several public engagement and impact events. Collaborating with staff at the Bishopsgate Institute, we curated and produced a free, eleven-panel public exhibition entitled ‘Office Life in Twentieth Century London’ at the Bishopgate Institute, which was then digitised for the Institute's website. The exhibition booklet is available here. The exhibition was accompanied by public lectures and a community learning workshop on ‘Office Girls and City Gents’, which enabled the public to handle and work with historical materials in creative ways, and had an online legacy in the form of a Pinterest page.
Image credit: Working Class Movement Library
Dame Beatrice Anne Godwin (1897-1992) joined the AWCS in 1920. She was a trade union organiser, responsible for negotiation and general administration for the AWCS, Assistant General Secretary of the Clerical and Administrative Workers Union, and one of the first women to become President of the Trade Union Congress.
Interpreting and utilising the internationally renowned collections on clerical trade unions at the Working Class Movement Library, we created activities to connect present-day/former office workers with the historical campaigns of their forbears and raised awareness of trade union activism among non-manual workers. This included a public lecture as part of the Library’s ‘Invisible Histories’ series. We showcased items in the Library’s collections to public audiences in the ‘Object of the Month’ series and in the Library’s magazine, Shelf Life which featured the Association of Women Clerks and Secretaries (AWCS).
