Zettelkasten Furniture: Satelite Combination Card Index Cabinet and Telephone Stand (1906)
A fascinating combination of office furniture types in 1906!
The Adjustable Table Company of Grand Rapids, Michigan manufactured a combination table for both telephones and index cards. It was designed as an accessory to be stood next to one's desk to accommodate a telephone at the beginning of the telephone era and also served as storage for one's card index.
Given the broad business-based use of the card index at the time and the newness of the telephone, this piece of furniture likely was not designed as an early proto-rolodex, though it certainly could have been (and very well may have likely been) used as such in practice.
I totally want one of these as a side table for my couch/reading chair for both storing index cards and as a writing surface while reading! Bonus points for wheels that allow it to travel around the house.
As seen in:
System: The Magazine of Business. Vol. 10. A. W. Shaw Company, 1906. https://www.google.com/books/edition/System/3qvNAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0.
(Original post and aggregated replies at: https://boffosocko.com/2023/03/09/satelite-combination-card-index-cabinet-and-telephone-stand/)
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