Small Files & Filing Devices

[ Home ] [ Up ] [ Next ]

Early Filing Devices

Small Antique Files & Filing Devices

This exhibit has two parts: (1) Letter and Document Files and (2) Data Files.

Letter and Document Files

Desktop Devices	.	.
Letter Clips Earliest patent 1843 (England) Earliest advertisements c. 1814-26? (England), 1848 (U.S.) The John Johnson Collection Exhibition 2001, Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, included a c. 1814-26? advertisement by W. Davison, Alnwick, for letter clips. In the late 1860s, Wm. Staehlen, New York, NY, advertised letter clips in the form of a hand, a wheatsheaf, a shield and flag, and a scroll. Letter clips were still advertised in 1919.	Merry Phipson & Parker's Letter Clips, patented 1843 & 1845. These are fairly common, so it is reasonable to infer that they were sold for many decades.	Left: Patented 1872 Right: Van Horn Clip, patented 1876, advertised 1881
The base of the Novelty Paper Fastener, patented 1880, was offered separately as the Novelty Paper Clip in 1881.	Clips, patented 1877 & 1878	Novelty Clip, patented 1880
Regarding the clip to the right, notice that the clip is in the shape of a keystone (the stone at the top of an arch). The company that produced Blair's Keystone office supplies operated from 1880 to 1865. As of 1888-90, J.C. Blair was the proprietor of Blair's Keystone Stationery Manufactory, Huntingdon, PA. As of 1917, the company name was J. C. Blair Co.	Blair's Keystone Clip, Blair's Keystone Stationery Manufactory, Huntingdon, PA, patented 1885 & 1886	.
Auto Files Earliest patent 1889	Patented 1889
Paper Weights Earliest advertisement 1847 Earliest patent 1876 (combination paper weight and pen holder) In the late 1860s, Wm. Staehlen, New York, NY, advertised oval, round, and stork paper weights.	Combination Paper Weight and Clip, patented 1876, advertised 1885-87, 1911.	Advertised 1878-1911
	Advertised by A C McClurg & Co, 1891. Similar octogonal paperweights were advertised in 1878-1911
Straight Files (a.k.a. Paper Files, Stick Files, Spear Files) Earliest patent 1878 Earliest advertisement 1869 Grigg & Elliot, Philadelphia, PA, advertised "paper files," c. 1850-60, but there is no illustration. In the late 1860s, Wm. Staehlen, New York, NY, advertised "straight wire" bills files.	Image coming Patented 1878	Zodiac pattern, Tiffany Studios, NY, NY, c. 1900-20
Hanging Files (a.k.a. Harp Files) Earliest patent 1872 Earliest advertisement 1878. However, in the late 1860s, Wm. Staehlen, New York, NY, advertised "long hook" bills files. These may have been hanging files, but the advertisement was not illustrated.	Patented 1872	Patented 1903
Paper Files Earliest patent 1870 Earliest advertisement 1886 Hustler Duplex File, Advertised 1910	Laphan's Paper File, Patented 1870	Keep's Transfer File, patented 1883. Advertised by Wm. H. Woglam, NY, NY, 1886. Shannon Clip, Yawman & Erde, Rochester, NY, patented 1878. Advertised as Shannon Single Arch File No. 1, Office Specialty Mfg. Co., Rochester, NY, 1897.
Accumulator Bill File Earliest patent 1880 Eastlist advertisement 1885	Image coming P.N. H Advertised 1885. Device is 15.75" long including loop.	.
Paper Hook	Loftin's Convenient Hook, F.T. Loftin & Co., Huntington, IN. Courtesy of the Museum of Business History and Technology	.
Book and Binder Files	.	.
Letter Copying Book Earliest advertisement 1847	Letter Copying Book with copies of typed letters, 1905	Yates (Ch. 4-5) reports that the Illinois Central Railroad used copying presses to make copies of outgoing letters in press books at least from the late 1850s to 1894 .
Adhesive Stub Files Robert T. Young's Improved Adhesive Letter and Invoice File was a book into which letters were glued to narrow paper stubs. "The prepared surfaces [of the studs, which were 'gummed'] only require to be well moistened, and the paper immediately adheres." Earliest patent 1853 Earliest advertisement 1874 Books of this general type are reported to have been used by the 1820s at certain government offices in the U.K., but they were not adopted by private businesses at that time. (Yates, Ch. 2, note 29.)	Improved Adhesive Letter and Invoice File, Robert T. Young, New York, NY, patented 1853, and subsequently by Asa L. Shipman & Sons, New York, NY, patented 1853-71. In 1874, Asa L Shipman & Sons advertised Shipman's Adhesive Letter File. In 1878, the latter was advertised in sizes from 6" x 9" to 12.5" x 17.5" for notes, bills, letters, invoices, price lists, and manifests. Adhesive stub files patented in 1876 were advertised in 1883-84 (above) for the same purposes as well as for postal cards. Shipment's Patent Gummed Letter and Invoice Files were still advertised in 1911.	Yates reports that the Illinois Central Railroad stored incoming letters in bound volumes from at least the late 1850s until 1896. In the late 1850s, "letters were pasted chronologically into bound books of blank pages or of adhesive stubs." "Clarke's in-letters, for example, are pasted into a bound book of gummed one-inch stubs, 'Smith and Butler's Improved Adhesive Letter, Invoice, and Music File.'" (pp. 116 including n. 56, 131, 155)
Portfolio Binders The Hawkins instant binder consists of a portfolio a, having a double back b, containing a flat needle c, with a sufficient quantity of thread wound around its length to enable any person instantly to bind each sheet in succession, so as to form a volume. This was marketed for organizing and preserving individual papers and pamphlets. Portfolio Paper Files or Self-Binding Letter Files Two cords attached to the inside right edge of the front cover were passed through holes made near the left edges of letters and other papers. When the file was full, it had the appearance of a bound book.	Hawkins Patent Instant Binder, made by H. Flowers, Borough, UK, patented 1828 in the UK	Portfolio Paper File, 1860 patent illustration. U.S. Patent No. 28,755 was awarded to J. Nelson Jacobs. This illustration was also used in an 1866 ad by manufacturer John C. Koch, New York, NY.
Binder Earliest patent 1859. Click to see Patent No. 23,506, awarded to Henry T. Sisson in 1859. Earliest advertisements 1878 (Sisson's Improved Magic File and Binder) and 1881 (Keech's Patent Index Book and Perpetual Binder). Sisson's binder, which secured papers that were punched with four holes, was advertised for letters and invoices. Common Sense Binders were still advertised in 1911.	Russell's Common Sense Binder, Asa L. Shipman's Sons, New York, NY, patented 1877, advertised 1883.	Shipman's Common-Sense Binder, Asa I. Shipmen's Sons, New York, NY, patented 1883-92.
.	Goldman's Automatic Binder, 1892 ad. Advertised as Automatic Binder in 1891. "For permanently filing and binding Bills, Orders, Papers, etc. Self-Locking and Self-Opening."	.
Loose Leaf Filing System (two-ring binder) Earliest advertisement 1899	Loose Leaf Filing System, Chicago Binder and File Co, Chicago, IL, 1899 ad.	. S&T No. 2 Unimatic Two-Hole Punch, advertised 1910.
Board Clips and Files	.	.
Board Clip Earliest patent 1870-71 Earliest advertisement 1876	Emerson's Clip & File, J. R. Barrett & Co., Chicago, patented 1870-71. Advertised by Henry Bainbridge & Co., New York, NY, in 1876. Pack & Vanhorn, patented 1875	Eagle Clip, Clague, Schlicht, & Field, Rochester, NY, c. 1885 Philadelphia Novelty Mfg. Co., Philadelphia, PA, patented 1889. Image shows back of board clip.
Shannon File Shannon Arch Files were attached to boards and, alternatively, they were attached inside flat file drawers in letter filing cabinets According to a 1909 history of the Yawman & Erbe Mfg. Co., "About 1877 a contrivance called the Shannon Arch File, for filing letters, bills, and other papers, was invented, patented, and put on the market by a Mr. James Shannon...consisting of a board, an arch, a compressor cover, an index, and a perforator. During the year 1883, the Shannon Arch File, with all its patents and other rights, was purchased by a Rochester concern known as the [Clague, Wegman, Schlicht & Co.], who had only a selling organization, possessing no manufacturing facilities. Yawman & Erbe [which had been founded in 1880] were negotiated with in reference to making the Shannon Arch File. [In 1884, Clague, Wegman, Schlicht became Clague, Wegman, Schlicht & Field; soon it became Clague, Schlicht & Field; and in 1886 it became Schlicht & Field.] In 1888 the Schlicht & Field Co. was reorganized as The Office Specialty Mfg. Co....But...their entire [U.S.] business was sold, in 1898, to Yawman & Erbe." However, The Office Specialty Mfg. Co. had a factory in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, at least as late as 1913. Yawman & Erbe was still in business in 1932. An 1899 article on modern banking methods stated that "in the filing away of deposit tickets the old custom of tying them into packages daily, or holding them together with rubber bands--the bands rotting and breaking and the tickets becoming scattered, much to the discomfort of the bookkeeper or clerk--has been superseded by a very neat plan." The plan was to file deposit tickets on a board clip with a Shannon arch file, like that in the middle photograph to the immediate right. "Between each day a card can be slipped on the file. At the close of the month open the hooks and insert the ends of a piece of copper wire, about a foot long, into the hollow spindles, then lift off the tickets from the spindles and the ends of the wire can be brought together and twisted. If a piece of heavy manilla paper be put on the spindles at the bottom and one at the top, and thus bound with the tickets, it will protect them and they can be filed away on shelves like books." (Bankers' Magazine, Dec. 1899) Shannon Arch Files attached to boards were advertised at least as late as 1928. Patented 1879 (arch file pictured immediately to the right) Earliest advertisement 1881	Standard Arch File, Whiting Stationery Co., Buffalo, NY, undated, identical to Shannon File, patented 1879 Coming soon: Shannon Letter and Bill File, Schlicht & Field, 1888 ad. Yawman & Erbe board clip with arch file at top and two-hole punch at bottom. Globe Union File board clip with 2-hole punch at bottom, patented 1890	Shannon Letter and Bill File and Binding Case, Clague, Schlicht & Field, Rochester, NY, c. 1885. Foster's Business File, 1881 ad Two-hole punch, patented 1891 Samson Punch, sold by Levy Brothers & Co., Bank Supplies, Indianapolis, IN
Bill File (a.k.a. Bill Holder) Earliest patent 1865 Earliest advertisement 1878 John W. Clothier, Philadelphia, PA, advertised "bill files," c. 1858, but there is no illustration, and the date may be later than 1858. (Hagley Museum and Library)	L. M. Olmstead's Improved Bill File No. 1, L. H. Olmstead, New York, NY, patented 1868	Bill & Paper File, H. Baldwin, patent model, 1878 Bill-File, W. R. Clough, patent illustration, 1875 Clough's Improved Bill File, W. R. Clough, Newark, NJ, patented 1882
Account File These were used by retailers for keeping small accounts. Earliest patent 1895 Advertised 1901 ("Ledgerette," W.R Adams & Co., Detroit, MI, $2.25-$2.75.)	National Account File Co., Fremont, OH, patented 1895 Fremont Account File Co., Fremont, OH	Weiss Account File, advertised in 1903
Box Files	.	.
File Box (or pigeon-hole for folded papers) Patent 1866 Earliest advertisement 1877 "Bill head boxes" were advertised by William H. Maurice, Philadelphia, PA, in 1847, but without an illustration. "Bankers' cases" were advertised by John W. Clothier, Philadelphia, PA, c. 1858, but without an illustration. (Hagley Museum and Library) In 1866, T.K. Sterrett & W.R. Ferrell were granted a US patent for a letter file-box or pigeon-hole, shaped like those in the images to the right, with an internal mechanism for holding folded letters in place.	C. C. & A. L. Chamberlain Document and Box Envelope, 1877 ad	Paper Files, John Polhemus, New York, NY, 1886 ad
Amberg Self-Indexing File and Binder "Patented in 1869, a mere wooden tray containing loose sheets indexed from A to Z, with a pressing bar to hold the contents securely. When this File became full of letters a means of binding the volume with wires was provided. A crude device, yet it was much better than any method then used." Patented 1869 Advertised 1876	Amberg's Self-Indexing Letter File and Binder	Amberg's File and Binder, 1876 ad
Letter File Earliest patent 1877 Earliest advertisement 1878 The John Johnson Collection Exhibition 2001 (see above) included a c. 1814-26? advertisement by W. Davison, Alnwick, for "letter files," but there is no illustration.	Brown's Letter File, Culver, Page, Hoyne & Co., Chicago, IL, patented 1877, advertised 1878. Letter files of this style were advertised as least as late as 1928.	Improved Letter and Invoice File, J. W. & Co., patented 1883
Tapley's Self-Indexing Letter Files, Milton Bradley & Co., Springfield, MA, patented 1879, advertised 1883-87	Tapley's Self-Indexing Letter Files, Milton Bradley & Co., Springfield, MA, patented 1879	Du Bois Bill or Letter File, Frank G. Du Bois, New York, NY, patented 1884
C. J. Letter File, Brown & Besly, Boston, MA, 1890 ad	Leader File, John Polhemus, New York, NY, 1886 ad. Same illustration used in 1883 ad. Amberg's Patent Transfer Case, advertised in 1881, is similar	Victor letter file with one-hole punch, 1886
File Holders Woodruff's File-Holder was patented in 1868 and advertised in 1876. Woodruff's Improved File-Holder was patented in 1884-89 and advertised in 1887-99. The original and improved file-holders were similar in appearance. In addition to these file-holders for folded papers, by 1903 the Woodruff Mfg. Co., Washington, DC, was also selling vertical file-holders for folders containing unfolded letters. In 1903, Woodruff claimed that 90% of the file holders used by the US government in Washington DC were Woodruff File Holders. Files holders of this style were advertised at least as late as 1928. Earliest patent 1868 Earliest advertisement 1876	Woodruff's Improved File Holder, E.W. Woodruff, Washington, DC, "for filing letters, bills, deeds, wills, vouchers, briefs, pamphlets &c.," patented 1884-89.	Woodruff's Improved File Holder, patented 1884-89
Folders The John Johnson Collection Exhibition 2001 (see above) included a c. 1814-26? advertisement by W. Davison, Alnwick, for "ivory folders." Holden & Cutter, Boston, MA, advertised "paper folders," c. 1845-60; Grigg & Elliot, Philadelphia, PA, advertised "ivory folders," c. 1850-60. (Both Hagley Museum and Library) None of these ads is illustrated.	.	.
Document Envelopes Earliest Patent 1864 Earliest advertisement late 1860s	Document Envelopes, patented 1864	Document Envelopes, patented 1867 Congress Tie Envelopes, advertised 1878-84
Bellows Files Earliest advertisement 1878 Earliest patent 1883 An 1884 advertisement states: "Alphabetically indexed, suitable for letters, notes, drafts, postals, or miscellaneous papers."	1883 ad	Falcon File, Patented 1895. When closed, this looks like a letter file box.
Document Files	The Handy Document File, A. C. Barler Mfg. Co., Chicago, IL, used in 1899	.
Letter Trays Earliest advertisement 1887 Earliest patent 1885	Advertised by Geo. D Barnard & Co., St. Louis, MO, 1887	Globe Desk Tray, Office Specialty Co., Pittsburgh, PA, patented 1885 Acme Wire Letter Tray, patented 1890
Office Baskets Earliest advertisement 1883	1883 ad	.

Data Filing Systems

Filing systems that were used for data were also used as indexes for other filing systems

Ledgers & Blank Books Earliest English advertisement for account books c. 1742, for copy books, ledgers, and other account books c. 1814-26? Earliest US advertisement for account books 1831, for blank books 1847. Earliest exhibition of blank books 1837. The John Johnson Collection Exhibition 2001 (see above) included a c. 1742 advertisement by Samuel Harding, London, for account books; a 1783-85 advertisement by Abel Sweetland, Exeter, for account books; and a c. 1814-26? advertisement by W. Davison, Alnwick, for copy books, ledgers, and other account books. In 1831, John March & Co., Boston, identified itself as an account book manufacturer. Exhibitors of blank books at the 1837 Exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, Boston, MA, were B. Loring & Co., J.P. Fairbanks, and T Groom, all of Boston, MA.	Doubleday & Latimers, New York, NY, 1855 Ledger used in 1860	Cameron, Amberg & Co., Chicago, IL, 1887
Loose-Leaf Ledgers Loose-leaf ledgers offered flexibility that bound ledgers did not, e.g., a new account could be inserted in alphabetical order without leaving blank pages for this possibility. Earliest invention 1894 (See Gerri Flanzraich, "The Library Bureau and Office Technology," Libraries & Culture, 1993, pp. 403-29.) Earliest patent 1896 Earliest advertisement 1896	Tengwall Continuous Loose-Leaf Ledger, 1898 ad Dade Improved Loose Leaf Ledger, Wm. G. Johnson & Co., Pittsburgh, PA, 1900 ad	Jones Perpetual Ledger, Jones Perpetual Ledger Co., Chicago, IL, patented 1899, 1905 ad
Card Index Files and Card Ledgers Card files were in use at the Bank of England in 1852, at the Harvard University Library in 1860, and in a US bank in 1884. (See Flanzraich) Sherwood's Patent Check Sorter and the Globe Banker's Case, which were similar to card index files but used to organize and store checks, were advertised in 1887. (Geo. D. Barnard & Co., Price List and Catalogue: Stationery and Office Supplies, St. Louis, MO.) Earliest patent 1887 (See Flanzraich) Earliest advertisement 1890 (Library Bureau)	1897 ad Webner's Card Ledger, Frank W Webner, Chicago, IL, 1898 ad	Globe Co., 1896-99
Visible Indexes Visible indexes came in several styles -- swinging panel, flat book, drawer. Earliest advertisements: 1905 (Revolving Directory & Register, shown to right), 1909 (Rotary Instantaneous Index, The Time Saver Co., Boston, MA. S-11-09), 1910 (Rand Revolving Index, Time-Saver Co., Boston, MA, S-4-1910).	Revolving Directory & Register, Mail Order Mfg. Co., Chicago, IL, 1905 ad	File, John A. Manson, 1913
Acme Visible Record Keeping Equipment, 1920s .	Acme Visible Records Book, Acme Visible Records Co., Chicago, IL	Acme Visible Records, 1921 ad
Rotary Reference File, Postindex Co., Inc., Boston, MA	Kardex, 1923 ad	Click on the two links (1, 2) to view c. 1940 photos of a visible card index from the Multimedia Archives, Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah. Then click the "Back" button on your browser to return here.
Sortergraph	Sortergraphs used to organize accounts, Canadian National Railways. Canadian Science & Technology Museum, CN003802.	.

© 2000-2016. All material on the Early Office Museum web site is copyrighted. All rights are reserved.

First, you must not plagiarize our material. Plagiarism is the act of passing off as your own the words, photographs, or other work of someone else. That is, not giving appropriate credit. Second, you must not violate our copyright, which means you may not use any images or text from the Early Office Museum web site in publications, in direct mailing material, on web sites, in auction listings, or anywhere else without written permission from the Curator. In some cases, images belong to someone else, and we cannot give permission. If you make a non-infringing use of information from this web site, please cite the Early Office Museum and provide a link or our web address (www.officemuseum.com or www.earlyofficemuseum.com). If you believe that we have not given appropriate credit for your work or have violated your copyright, please email the curator so we can resolve the matter.