Information can be analyzed.<\/span><\/p>\n It can be manipulated<\/span><\/p>\n But, for those activities to take place, something else is necessary:\u00a0 Information has to be stored.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n For which purpose, the three mid-1918 advertisements below – promoting The Dictaphone sound recording machine – are examples.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n The Dictaphone Company was founded by Alexander Graham Bell, the name – Dictaphone – being trademarked by the Columbia Graphophone Company in 1907.\u00a0 The technology of the device was based on the use of wax-coated cardboard cylinders for sound recording.\u00a0 The Dictaphone company existed through 1979 (!), when it was purchased, though retained as an independent subsidiary, by Pitney Bowes.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n ______________________________<\/span><\/p>\n Though the advertisement uses different images – the Dictaphone itself; a “boss” or manager surveying inefficiency in an office setting; a generic office setting – and the “copy” also differs, the fundamental thrust of the ads is identical:\u00a0 More efficient use of the employee labor, greater output of correspondence, and supplanting activity of absent employees. As per August 20, 1918: “No wonder that every stenographer away on her vacation adds greatly to the burden or short help, mail congestion and overtime work.”\u00a0 (Uh-oh!)\u00a0<\/em> <\/span>Each advertisement closes with the suggestion that the prospective client should obtain a copy of Dictaphone Company’s booklet, “The Man at The Desk”. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The full text of the three advertisements is presented below.<\/span><\/p>\n July 8, 1918<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n The Dictaphone keeps the mail going out on time in spite of summer vacations.<\/p>\n The Dictaphone is the easiest, the most comfortable, the nerve-saving method of hot-weather dictation.<\/p>\n Two Dictaphone operators can write more letters per day than four able stenographers.\u00a0 Dictaphone operators can wrote from 50% to 100% more letters per day, better letters, too.<\/p>\n Convince yourself with a demonstration in your<\/em> office, on your work.\u00a0 No obligations.<\/p>\n Secretaries and Stenographers<\/strong><\/em>: Send for free book, \u201cOne Way to Bigger Pay.\u201d<\/p>\n Phone, Worth 7250\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 280 Broadway<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe Shortest Route to the \u201cMail Chute\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Write for \u201cThe Man at the Desk\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n It is not a Dictaphone unless trade-marked \u201cThe Dictaphone,\u201d made and merchandised by the Columbia Gramophone Company.<\/span><\/p>\n ______________________________<\/p>\n August 13, 1918<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Four of his stenographers are spending two hours apiece per day taking dictation, and the fifth is on her vacation.\u00a0 No wonder that much important dictation must wait until tomorrow.<\/p>\n Install the Dictaphone in his office, and he would not miss the girl on her vacation.\u00a0 The other three girls would easily turn out more letters per day than all four when they have to write each other in shorthand as well as on the typewriter.<\/p>\n And with the Dictaphone right at his elbow all the time, he could dictate his important mail at the hour most convenient to him.<\/p>\n You need the Dictaphone as much as he.\u00a0 Phone or write today for a demonstration in your o<\/em>ffice, on your<\/em> work.<\/p>\n THE DICTAPHONE<\/span><\/strong><\/span> It is not a Dictaphone unless it is trade-marked \u201cThe Dictaphone,\u201d made and merchandised by the Columbia Graphophone Company.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Shortest Route to the Mail Chute\u201d<\/p>\n ______________________________<\/p>\n August 20, 1918<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Look at the waste!\u00a0 The typewriter is absolutely idle.\u00a0 One stenographer has been taking dictation continuously for nearly two hours.\u00a0 The second stenographer is puzzling over her shorthand notes.\u00a0 And all this time, not one letter is actually being written<\/em>.<\/p>\n No wonder that every stenographer away on her vacation adds greatly to the burden or short help, mail congestion and overtime work.<\/p>\n What is the remedy?\u00a0 Stop writing each letter twice.<\/em>\u00a0 The Dictaphone makes it necessary to write each letter only once \u2013 on the typewriter.\u00a0 Result \u2013 from 50% to 100% more letters per day \u2013 better letters, too, and at one-third less cost.\u00a0 Phone or write for demonstration in your office, on your work.<\/p>\n To Secretaries and Stenographers<\/strong><\/em> THE DICTAPHONE<\/span><\/strong><\/span> It is not a Dictaphone unless it is trade-marked \u201cThe Dictaphone,\u201d made and merchandised by the Columbia Graphophone Company.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Shortest Route to the Mail Chute\u201d<\/p>\n ______________________________<\/p>\n References<\/em><\/p>\n Dictaphone<\/a> (at Wikipedia)<\/span><\/p>\n Dictation Machine<\/a> (at Wikipedia)<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Information can be transmitted. Information can be analyzed. It can be manipulated But, for those activities to take place, something else is necessary:\u00a0 Information has to be stored.\u00a0 For which purpose, the three mid-1918 advertisements below – promoting The Dictaphone sound recording machine – are examples.\u00a0 The Dictaphone Company was founded by Alexander Graham Bell, … Continue reading The Dictaphone: July and August, 1918<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4,7,2],"tags":[386,387,350,388,389],"class_list":["post-2531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advertising","category-art","category-sociology","category-technology","tag-alexander-graham-bell","tag-columbia-graphophone-company","tag-dictaphone","tag-dictation-machine","tag-recording-machine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thepastpresented.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thepastpresented.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thepastpresented.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thepastpresented.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thepastpresented.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2531"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/thepastpresented.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2886,"href":"http:\/\/thepastpresented.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2531\/revisions\/2886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thepastpresented.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thepastpresented.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thepastpresented.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/thepastpresented.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Dictaphone-New-York-Times-1918-07-08.jpg\")
<\/a>Why The Dictaphone for you?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>\u201cIf I Only Had the Dictaphone!\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
\nRegistered in the U.S. and Foreign Countries<\/span>
\nPhone 7250 Worth\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Call at 280 Broadway<\/strong><\/span>
\nWrite for the booklet, \u201cThe Man at the Desk,\u201d Room 224, 280 Broadway, New York<\/p>\n<\/a>The Dictaphone solves vacation troubles<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
\nYou have to pay for the time you lose going back and forth to take dictation \u2013 and waiting to take dictation \u2013 with overtime work and constant strain and anxiety.\u00a0 Send for free book \u201cOne Way to Bigger Pay.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nRegistered in the U.S. and Foreign Countries<\/span>
\nPhone 7250 Worth\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Call at 280 Broadway<\/strong><\/span>
\nWrite for the booklet, \u201cThe Man at the Desk,\u201d Room 224, 280 Broadway, New York<\/p>\n