Historical Timeline 1900-1909
Decade overview	Corporate milestones
At the turn of the century, the average workweek consists of ten-hour days, six days a week. The new century brought important changes in the demographics of the office workforce. More than one hundred thousand women are employed as secretaries, stenographers, and typists. The growing number of offices requiring staff for routine dictation, typing, and filing skills encourages potential employees to supplement their general education with specialized training. Employers emphasize the high status appeal of "office work," as opposed to "factory labor," while reducing the salary levels for office work.	1900 Paper clip patented 1901 First transatlantic telegraphic radio transmission   First numerical keyboard for punching cards for tabulating machines developed by Herman Hollerith 1902 Arthur Pitney, a founder of Pitney Bowes Inc., received a U.S. patent on the world's first postage meter approved for use by the U.S. Postal Service in 1920   First electric typewriter to be sold worldwide--the Blickensderfer Electric--produced 1903 Clipper Manufacturing Company formed to manufacture paper-fastening devices (incorporated as ACCO in 1922)   L. C. Smith and Brothers Typewriter Company formed (became Smith Corona Company in 1926) 1904 Three-ring binder patented by Irving Piff Manufacturing Company   Human speech transmitted via radio waves by scientist R. A. Fessenden 1905 Star Furniture Company founded in Zeeland, Michigan (renamed Herman Miller in 1923) 1906 Stenotype machine invented by Ward Stone Ireland   Photostat developed   The Haloid Company founded to manufacture and sell photographic paper (name changed to Xerox Corporation in 1961) 1907 Telephotography inaugurated when Arthur Korn telegraphed a photograph from Munich to Berlin, Germany 1908 Olivetti founded by Camillo Olivetti 1909 Bakelite, the first totally synthetic plastic, patented
1900-1909 || 1910-1919 || 1920-1929 || 1930-1939 || 1940-1949 1950-1959 || 1960-1969 || 1970-1979 || 1980-1989 || 1990-
This material was generously provided by the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.

Introduction	Birth and Growth of the American Office	Office Equipment	Office Organization	Global Office
Conclusion	Historical Timeline	Lesson Plans	Resources	Site Contents
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