American Sayings

Shorpy posted an interesting (to me) photo:

https://www.shorpy.com/node/27916

from the Library of Congress site

Be sure to click the Shorpy link and zoom in for the detailed view.

I have observations:

1) the view is not that great ?  if it were I would point my desk at the window :)

2) considering the president of the agency would have the nicest office, it seems spare / cramped

3) maybe the dropped ceiling (for the sprinklers and ventilation) or possibly the indirect lighting contribute to the cramped feeling

4) it looks like if the president were to be fired, he could make way for the new guy pretty quickly, gather up the books, including American Sayings, the plant and the picture and you're gone !  Sorta like they were renting the office and the real estate agent told them "it'll rent quicker if you add some furniture" !

5) that built-in seating looks too small to stretch out on, I imagine the button on the chair might allow reclining ?  I did a little searching but as is often the case, unless there is a hero blogger or writer the internet is worthless for minor historical searches :(

6) and next to that built-in seating is a little door, if I were there I'd try opening it, probably something boring like a shutoff valve inside :(

7) I imagine that this president used fountain pens due to that rocking ink blotter by the pencils ?

8) there are actually hard to see handles for raising the windows

9) I am reliably informed that the paneling on the right is probably some expensive wood like walnut that has been riftsawn for plywood:

10) I would think an ad man from the 1940s would have a radio in the office, presumably they bought ads on the radio or even produced radio programs ? (see later photo for answer)  After all, President Truman had a Hallicrafters SX-28 in the Oval Office right behind his desk mentioned here:

https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2024/05/the-hallicrafters-sx-28.html

BTW, here are other views taken of these offices available in lower resolution from the Library of Congress:

this is a radio ? (there were several)

a reverse view of the president's office

clerical work station

source: https://www.loc.gov/collections/gottscho-schleisner/?q=federal+advertising+agency

an article on the Federal Advertising Agency using these photos:

https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-of-the-1940s-ad-agency-office-that-created-the-coffee-break-2012-6#this-is-an-ad-from-life-magazine-in-1953-in-which-george-burns-and-gracie-allen-promote-having-a-coffee-break-for-the-pan-american-coffee-bureau-15

here's a video that uses these photos although they don't have a direct connection:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obbCpQwC-O0

One picture raises a thousand questions !

As mentioned, American Sayings is the title of the end book on the shelf - the Shorpy picture has a lot of detail.  An earlier version of this book:

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.60844 

 

Best Regards,
Chuck, WB9KZY
http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm