#officeassistant

Personality Quiz, Secretarial Training Program in Waco, TX, 1959 (NARA ID 7280725), shared in session on self-analysis/improvement. 

Happy secretaries at a 1959 Dallas conference (NARA ID 7280640).

Don’t forget the importance of “good-grooming”! From The Modern Secretary, Dept. of Labor, (NARA ID 7280719).

“The Modern Secretary,” Dept. of Labor, (NARA ID 7280719).

The TYPEWRITER was essential to the “emancipation of women.” Really??? Not the right to vote? Not birth control? Not the equal rights movement? From “The Modern Secretary,” Dept. of Labor, (NARA ID 7280719).

Proper folding technique is essential!  From The Modern Secretary,

“An Ode to the Secretary,” FAA record (NARA ID 7280704).

PANDEMIC PERSONALITY QUIZ!  Do YOU have what it takes to be a 1950s secretary?

Another post by Miriam Kleiman, Program Director for Public Affairs, who failed the test (see below). Huge thanks to her colleagues at the National Archives at Fort Worth, archivist Ketina Taylor and education specialist Jenny Sweeney. who shared this great quiz and beautiful tribute in their Text Message blog posts: “Flashback! Secretaries of the 1950s and 1960s: Do You Have What it Takes to be One?” and “An Ode to the Secretary. “

The pandemic offers each of us the opportunity to reflect on who we are, reassess, and make needed personal and professional changes.  We offer this quiz and additional info as both a humorous reflection and an important reality check. As we mark this year’s Women’s Suffrage Centennial (see our amazing Rightfully Hers: American Women and the Vote exhibit) we reflect on what’s changed... and what hasn’t. 

Background: The Labor Department’s Manpower Division, Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training, offered helpful tips to federal administrators through secretarial and clerical training programs in a number of cities. The National Archives at Fort Worth holds this Bureau’s records (RG 300) dating from the late 1950s to the late 1960s.

In the 1950s, the #1 job for American women was secretary, and that (rebranded as “admin assistant”) is the same today. Women still comprise more than 93% of the field. 

From CNN Business.  

Do YOU have what it takes to be a 1950s secretary?  Take the quiz and share your score!  

Miriam’s test: