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Home >
Filing
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About Filing Cabinets
About Filing
Cabinets - The History of Filing Systems
- The early days of document
filing
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Prior to the manufacture
of filing drawer systems,
it's believed paperwork
was filed on shelves, in
desk drawers, and in boxes.
Increasing volume and expansion
of business environments,
banking, educational, and
transportation systems continually
called for more capable
and organized filing systems
to handle stored files allowing
ready access to specific
information.
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Prior to the creation
and manufacture
of organized file
systems, important
paperwork would
often be gathered
together, bound
in some manner and
stored in boxes
or on shelves. In
the early 1800s,
shelves and dividers
were built inside
wooden safes so
they could accommodate
ledgers and stacks
of papers as well
as funds and safeguard
them from theft.
Bundling paperwork
proved less than
adequate when a
person wanted quick
access to specific
pieces of information.
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Safe, circa 1841,
National Museum
of American History.
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A variety of filing
cabinets began to
be crafted in the
mid-1800s, steadily
evolving to meet
the needs of newly
burgeoning businesses.
Letter cabinets
had flat file drawers
with alphabetical
dividers and a metal
device meant to
hold the papers
in place.
The Amberg Peerless
Cabinet Letter File,
pictured at right
from an 1881 ad.
Amberg made their
first letter files
in 1868, and by
1881 over 1000 firms
were using its cabinets!
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These were
advertised
"for folded
legal documents"
and proved
very popular
with lawyers,
railroads
and others"
(at least
according
to period
advertisements),
because
it was standard
business
practice
at that
time to
fold such
documents
twice before
filing.
Patented
by Woodruff
manufacturers
in 1868,
this document
file box
(left) is
on display
at the National
Museum of
American
History
in the Smithsonian
Museum in
Washington,
D.C.
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The precursor
to our modern
carousel
storage
systems
can be seen
in the cabinet
at the left
which combined
pigeon hole,
flat drawer
files, bookcases
and a revolving
stand for
easy access.
Pigeon-hole
files had
doors. To
open a door,
one lifted
its handle
and slid
the door
forward,
which pushed
all doors
above it
upward also.
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Filing systems began to be designed out of metal. So far, the earliest ads found for these are dated 1886, though product could have been on the market for a few years before that.
Then, the late 1890s witnessed the mass marketing of Sectional Filing Cabinets (a.k.a. Elastic or Expansion Filing Cabinet) that the customer could assemble from modules, rearrange and expand as the need arose. The earliest advertisement uncovered for this type is from 1897.
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 Fred Macey Co., 1902 Michigan advertisement.
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His creation revolutionized
record-keeping in all venues
of society. Until then,
businesses had folded papers
in envelopes and placed
them in pigeon-hole or drawer
file drawers. The genius
of Seibel was in recognizing
that finding and opening
envelopes was wasteful and
that folding wasn't even
necessary if the papers
could be kept in large envelopes
standing on end vertically
in each filing cabinet drawer.
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Siebels acted on his idea,
presented specifications
to Globe-Wernicke Company
of Cincinnati on his filing
system and had them make
five wooden filing boxes
before applying for a patent.
His patent application was
turned down because his
sample was more of an idea
than a product invention.
Siebels later explained,
"It was pointed out that
by simply varying the size,
a filing box could be made
which would not infringe
my patent. Unfortunately,
I overlooked the part played
in setting the envelopes
upright, and separating
them with guide cards. This
device, of course, could
have been patented." Decades
later Globe-Wernicke presented
Siebels with a bronze plaque
of recognition for what
they termed his "pioneering
work" in developing the
filing cabinet concept.
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Edwin G. Seibels
(1866-1954)
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(The images and much of
the historical information
on this web page are used
courtesy of the Early Office
Museum /
www.earlyofficemuseum.com.
Visit their site for fascinating
photos and well researched
information on filing systems
office evolution and office
accessories.)
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Selecting Filing Cabinets
About 3 Ring Binders
About Office Organization
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