Adding machines were too big for a desk. They had a small desk for several people to use. Then they started taking punch cards. That was programming. You could actually use them for Trig. functions. Adding machines were also noisy. They clicked like the first printers.
Oh, yeah, I loved those date stamps with the little rotating belts of numbers! At my last job, I was assigned to clean out somebody’s office and throw out everything. I came home with a rubberstamp that says OBSOLETE.
I’d like to have one, a la Firesign Theater, that says, AFTER FOUR YEARS, PAINT BROWN.
Most of that stuff was INSIDE a desk drawer, not on one’s desk. The stuff on an executive’s desk could include the phone, intercom, blotter, pen stand, in and out boxes, various rubber stamps, lamp, photos, that’s about it. For non-execs, desks are generally quite bare as they’re usually in open office environments and some firms even had rules about keeping one’s desk clear and tidy at the end of the day.
You forget the Rolodex. Since 1958.
There were plenty of cluttered desks in the past. Stuff piled 6 inches deep is not new.
Holy Cow, we still have an Addressograph machine in our office! I work at a small local savings & loan and for some of our older accounts we still have the addressograph plates for them! Sometimes I use it to stamp the return address on their payment envlopes, the older folks love it.
OMG, that’s what those are? And that’s what a spindle is??!!
Thank you for the education.