Since the advent of television and the movies, Americans have come to love secretarial characters from Miss Hathaway in The Beverly Hillbillies to Mrs. Wiggins in The Carol Burnett Show to Jennifer Marlow in WKRP in Cincinnati.
In the 1950s and ’60s, the number one job for American women was the secretarial occupation. The most common job for American women today is still the same. According to the U.S. Census, 96% of the approximately 4 million people who identify themselves today as secretaries (or something similar) are women.
Below are some of fascinating vintage photographs of secretaries from the 1950s and 1960s.
