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Swimming in the Steno Pool: A Retro Guide to Making It in the Office
Feed your boss’s ego. Dress for success. And don’t let your heels trip you up on the corporate ladder. Millions of women have held the position of secretary, alternately lauded as a breakthrough opportunity and excoriated as dead-end busy work. From the female pioneers who infiltrated Capitol Hill offices during the Civil War to today’s tech-savvy administrative assistants, secretaries have withstood criticism for abandoning their rightful sphere (the home), weathered the dubious advice of secretarial guide-books, taken hits from feminists and antifeminists alike, and demanded the right to resist making coffee―all while making their bosses look good. In Swimming in the Steno Pool , author-secretary Lynn Peril profiles the various incarnations of the secretary, from pliable, sexy mate of the "office husband" to postfeminist executive-in-training, drawing inspiration from a wide range of "femorabilia" and secretarial guidebooks of yesteryear. Featuring an array of fabulous illustrations promoting office equipment and office girls alike, Peril delivers a feisty, witty celebration of the women who’ve been running the show for decades. 42 black-and-white illustrations
275 pages, Paperback
First published April 25, 2011
17 people are currently reading
336 people want to read
About the author
Lynn Peril
7 books39 followersLynn Peril was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1985. She writes, edits and publishes Mystery Date: One Gal's Guide to Good Stuff, a zine devoted to her obsession with used books (particularly old sex and dating manuals, etiquette and self-help books and health, beauty and fashion guides) and other detritus of popular culture, especially that concerning gender-related behavioral prescriptions. Mystery Date is currently taking a well deserved hiatus, but will return some day (or so she hopes - in the meantime, visit the archives). She further explores these issues in her book, Pink Think: Becoming a Woman in Many Uneasy Lessons (W.W. Norton, 2002), a pop-culture history of the perilous path to achieving the feminine ideal.
A Pushcart-Prize-nominated writer, Ms. Peril's column, "The Museum of Femoribilia," appears in Bust magazine. Her essays and reviews have appeared in London's Guardian newspaper, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, and Hermenaut among other publications. Lynn Peril received her M.A. in History, with a concentration in Gender, from San Francisco State University, 1995. She lives in Oakland, California, with her husband, Johnny Bartlett, and two cats (well, eight if you count the ferals).
A Pushcart-Prize-nominated writer, Ms. Peril's column, "The Museum of Femoribilia," appears in Bust magazine. Her essays and reviews have appeared in London's Guardian newspaper, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, and Hermenaut among other publications. Lynn Peril received her M.A. in History, with a concentration in Gender, from San Francisco State University, 1995. She lives in Oakland, California, with her husband, Johnny Bartlett, and two cats (well, eight if you count the ferals).
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
February 23, 2018
3 and a half stars.
I have been working administrative support jobs for a long time now: it started with a receptionist gig and now I am the executive assistant to a CEO, which is not too shabby. In those years, I have learned that there are two kinds of people: those who think that you are "just a secretary" and those who understand that without administrative support, most executives would be hopelessly lost, perpetually late and disorganized, and would spend most of their days trying to get the printer to work. I am not even exaggerating.
The stereotype of the dumb secretary persists, but it couldn't be further from the truth: it takes a lot of brains, resourcefulness, patience, adaptability and capacity to re-organize everything at the last minute to do this job. And it can often be rather thankless, because you tend to be between the proverbial rock and hard place. I pickd up this book because having always worked in the area of e-mails, digital calendar management and so on, I was curious to know how my job had evolved.
This book had the same effect on me that watching "Mad Men" (which is incidentally one of my favorite shows) does: it made me so glad I wasn't on the job market at that point in history, while simultaneously making me shake my head about the things that haven't changed much since then.
In many ways, there are relics of the antiquated gender divide in the profession: sure, no one tells me to wear shorter skirts, but when my boss leaves dirty coffee mugs laying around, I end up washing them. But (again like "Mad Men") it is interesting to think of the context in which the role evolved. For instance, while I knew that the role of secretary was once a man's job, I had no idea that changed because of a labor shortage during the civil war, when they realized that women could do the same clerical work men did... for much lower salary. It also makes a kind of sick sense to keep people who would most likely quit their jobs as soon as they got married and had children in positions where they could be quickly and easily replaced by the hundreds of girls - either the ones graduating secretarial schools... or toting around a useless college degree.
This was a fun and informative read, but I also found it a bit superficial and occasionally repetitive. An interesting book that I am sure everyone who has ever done admin support work would appreciate, if only out of curiosity.
I have been working administrative support jobs for a long time now: it started with a receptionist gig and now I am the executive assistant to a CEO, which is not too shabby. In those years, I have learned that there are two kinds of people: those who think that you are "just a secretary" and those who understand that without administrative support, most executives would be hopelessly lost, perpetually late and disorganized, and would spend most of their days trying to get the printer to work. I am not even exaggerating.
The stereotype of the dumb secretary persists, but it couldn't be further from the truth: it takes a lot of brains, resourcefulness, patience, adaptability and capacity to re-organize everything at the last minute to do this job. And it can often be rather thankless, because you tend to be between the proverbial rock and hard place. I pickd up this book because having always worked in the area of e-mails, digital calendar management and so on, I was curious to know how my job had evolved.
This book had the same effect on me that watching "Mad Men" (which is incidentally one of my favorite shows) does: it made me so glad I wasn't on the job market at that point in history, while simultaneously making me shake my head about the things that haven't changed much since then.
In many ways, there are relics of the antiquated gender divide in the profession: sure, no one tells me to wear shorter skirts, but when my boss leaves dirty coffee mugs laying around, I end up washing them. But (again like "Mad Men") it is interesting to think of the context in which the role evolved. For instance, while I knew that the role of secretary was once a man's job, I had no idea that changed because of a labor shortage during the civil war, when they realized that women could do the same clerical work men did... for much lower salary. It also makes a kind of sick sense to keep people who would most likely quit their jobs as soon as they got married and had children in positions where they could be quickly and easily replaced by the hundreds of girls - either the ones graduating secretarial schools... or toting around a useless college degree.
This was a fun and informative read, but I also found it a bit superficial and occasionally repetitive. An interesting book that I am sure everyone who has ever done admin support work would appreciate, if only out of curiosity.
June 27, 2012
Any woman who earns her living as an administrative assistant/secretary will find that this book really hits home. In many ways, it’s a self-empowerment book for secretaries, especially for those of us who are college-educated (the majority) and feel we should have accomplished more in our careers than being “just a secretary.” But as the subtitle states, the book is also a “retro guide,” a sort of history-lite survey of what the position entailed pre- and post-feminism and pre- and post-computers. The “retro” sources were culled together advice from secretarial training books throughout the first half of the 20th century. Some of it seemed like good common sense, and some of it will make you downright angry. Similarly, some of it is still true today, and some of it will make you glad you're alive and working now instead of 50-100 years ago.
I first learned of this book the way I learn about so many of the others I read: through an author interview on NPR. I was intrigued because of my own mixed feelings about my work. Having been raised in the post-feminist era and enrolled in the honors track in my high school, I disdained secretarial training. As it happens, my mother did suggest it, saying that an executive secretary had to be intelligent, but when I repeated this to my aunt, she said, “Don’t be a secretary. Have a secretary.” So I made a very common mistake, one that was described in ads for secretarial schools in the 1920’s and 30’s. I got a useless liberal arts degree, had to be retrained to gain secretarial skills, and have been working as an office assistant ever since.
I know my work takes brains and is essential to the success of my employer, but the stereotype of the dumb secretary persists. Feminism hasn’t changed that entirely, and in some ways, it’s made things worse. We’re the stragglers who got left behind as the smart ones were getting ahead, breaking through the glass ceiling.
One of the most frequently used terms in the book is “office wife.” I’d never heard anyone else use the term before; I actually thought I’d coined it myself. But the way I meant it was more like “homemaker of the office.” Like a housewife, the secretary does all the important yet undervalued work that keeps the whole thing running. The author, however, stressed a much different connotation: potential mistress to the boss. Hollywood made much of that stereotype, but to paraphrase one woman journalist of 1912, a wife had nothing to worry about from her husband’s secretary. If the secretary wasn’t busy avoiding all the mistakes that would make the boss grumpy, she was wondering how in the world he ever found a woman who could actually stand him.
Though there was a lot more about boss/secretary dalliances and sexual harassment than I really wanted to read about, I thought the book was excellent. The tone was light and often funny, and yet the author was as thorough as a scholar. She covered everything from the politics of making coffee to massaging the boss’ ego. Especially interesting to me were the bios of the famous secretaries: Katherine Gibbs, divorcee and founder of the Harvard of secretarial schools; Rose Mary Woods, secretary to Richard Nixon whose loyalty was so strong that she claimed responsibility for erasing the tapes subpoenaed by Congress; and Bette C. Graham, inventor of that multi-million dollar item, Liquid Paper. I can see why other reviewers found parts of the book repetitive, but mostly, I was either laughing out loud or thinking, “Ain’t that the truth.” For that reason, I’ve already recommended the book to my classmates at paralegal school and may just email all my old co-workers about it. As the author says in her intro, “Here’s to us! Without us, none of the work would ever get done!”
I first learned of this book the way I learn about so many of the others I read: through an author interview on NPR. I was intrigued because of my own mixed feelings about my work. Having been raised in the post-feminist era and enrolled in the honors track in my high school, I disdained secretarial training. As it happens, my mother did suggest it, saying that an executive secretary had to be intelligent, but when I repeated this to my aunt, she said, “Don’t be a secretary. Have a secretary.” So I made a very common mistake, one that was described in ads for secretarial schools in the 1920’s and 30’s. I got a useless liberal arts degree, had to be retrained to gain secretarial skills, and have been working as an office assistant ever since.
I know my work takes brains and is essential to the success of my employer, but the stereotype of the dumb secretary persists. Feminism hasn’t changed that entirely, and in some ways, it’s made things worse. We’re the stragglers who got left behind as the smart ones were getting ahead, breaking through the glass ceiling.
One of the most frequently used terms in the book is “office wife.” I’d never heard anyone else use the term before; I actually thought I’d coined it myself. But the way I meant it was more like “homemaker of the office.” Like a housewife, the secretary does all the important yet undervalued work that keeps the whole thing running. The author, however, stressed a much different connotation: potential mistress to the boss. Hollywood made much of that stereotype, but to paraphrase one woman journalist of 1912, a wife had nothing to worry about from her husband’s secretary. If the secretary wasn’t busy avoiding all the mistakes that would make the boss grumpy, she was wondering how in the world he ever found a woman who could actually stand him.
Though there was a lot more about boss/secretary dalliances and sexual harassment than I really wanted to read about, I thought the book was excellent. The tone was light and often funny, and yet the author was as thorough as a scholar. She covered everything from the politics of making coffee to massaging the boss’ ego. Especially interesting to me were the bios of the famous secretaries: Katherine Gibbs, divorcee and founder of the Harvard of secretarial schools; Rose Mary Woods, secretary to Richard Nixon whose loyalty was so strong that she claimed responsibility for erasing the tapes subpoenaed by Congress; and Bette C. Graham, inventor of that multi-million dollar item, Liquid Paper. I can see why other reviewers found parts of the book repetitive, but mostly, I was either laughing out loud or thinking, “Ain’t that the truth.” For that reason, I’ve already recommended the book to my classmates at paralegal school and may just email all my old co-workers about it. As the author says in her intro, “Here’s to us! Without us, none of the work would ever get done!”
May 29, 2011
a cultural & political history of secretaries in the united states. i love lynn peril's books. this is the same woman who write pink think & bluestockings, about prescriptive literature for young women & the history of women & higher education, respectively. she also wrote the zine "mystery date" back in ye olde day. her books are always funny, well-researched, informative, & super feminist.
i actually learned a few things about the history of women & feminism that i had not previously known before i read this book. when talking about proper dress in the office, peril writes about some businesses forbade women from wearing pants to work well into the 1980s. when talking about the divisions between women working & women who get married & become homemakers, peril writes about how many states introduced legislation prohibiting married women from continuing to work outside the home. legislation to this affect was even introduced at the federal level before world war two. just think about that for a second. it kind of blew my mind.
i just can't say enough good things about peril's books--& i'm not even a secretary! never have been! this book is fascinating reading for anyone who cares even a little about the history of women in the workplace.
i actually learned a few things about the history of women & feminism that i had not previously known before i read this book. when talking about proper dress in the office, peril writes about some businesses forbade women from wearing pants to work well into the 1980s. when talking about the divisions between women working & women who get married & become homemakers, peril writes about how many states introduced legislation prohibiting married women from continuing to work outside the home. legislation to this affect was even introduced at the federal level before world war two. just think about that for a second. it kind of blew my mind.
i just can't say enough good things about peril's books--& i'm not even a secretary! never have been! this book is fascinating reading for anyone who cares even a little about the history of women in the workplace.
August 21, 2011
Although its an entertaining and thorough book, by the time I reached the final chapter of Swimming in the Steno Pool, I was left with a sense of sadness. I expected nothing more than a witty retrospective of "How Bad Things Used to Be." But what I ended up with was "Things Are Bad Now for Everyone, Not Just Secretaries." It's depressing that equality in the workplace now means everyone is treated with equal dismissiveness and cruelty.
Author Lynn Peril, a working secretary herself, has gathered a number of print sources for her history of the profession, and she quotes liberally from all. There's not a lot of personal detail, however, from the author or from other secretaries, and the book suffers somewhat from that omission. Despite the amused tone of much of the prose, and the retro illustrations, it's still a bit dry.
Author Lynn Peril, a working secretary herself, has gathered a number of print sources for her history of the profession, and she quotes liberally from all. There's not a lot of personal detail, however, from the author or from other secretaries, and the book suffers somewhat from that omission. Despite the amused tone of much of the prose, and the retro illustrations, it's still a bit dry.
July 9, 2015
I look forward to reading Lynn Peril's "The Museum of Femoribilia" in every issue of Bust Magazine, and I loved her earlier book "Pink Think", but I found "Swimming in the Steno Pool" to be rather dull and repetitive. I found the chapter dealing with the social history behind women and secretarial world to be worth while, but most of the following chapters seemed to be the same topic phrased in different manners. I think the fact that the subject is close to the authors heart (she is a secretary herself) distracted her from the fact that there just wasn't enough interesting history on the subject to fill a book. SITSP could have been a fun little read if it had been edited down to 150-200 pages instead of 300.
October 1, 2012
3.5
From a scholarly point of view, I'd have to say that wasn't a bad read at all. I am most impressed with the author's feat of primary research (not sure how I wouldn't have wanted to burn a few of those mid-century secretary guide books, if I'd been the one doing the research). But for an entertainment read, it was a bit of a slog. Yes, it has lots of great quotes, images, and information on the topic which went down easy. But it was actually pretty grim. And, apparently, still remains that way.
From a scholarly point of view, I'd have to say that wasn't a bad read at all. I am most impressed with the author's feat of primary research (not sure how I wouldn't have wanted to burn a few of those mid-century secretary guide books, if I'd been the one doing the research). But for an entertainment read, it was a bit of a slog. Yes, it has lots of great quotes, images, and information on the topic which went down easy. But it was actually pretty grim. And, apparently, still remains that way.
October 29, 2012
Light, interesting social history of secretarial work in the US, drawing heavily on guides and magazine articles for women about secretarial work, advertising and popular culture depictions of secretaries, and so on. Quite well done. I think the author took some time and care with it but suspect the publisher churned it out quickly to take advantage of any potential Mad Men-related lift - the subtitle and cover are very jokey and don't fairly convey the nature of the book, and there are some sloppy typos (my favorite was referring to a 'tenant of humanity' rather than a 'tenet').
August 29, 2011
This book was fantastic, like all of Peril's books. The pictures were great, and I learned quite a bit about secretaries. It's quick to read- I finished most of the book while riding the bus to work and back.
May 17, 2012
As I said in a comment, not as funny as I expected it to be, but once I realized it was a pretty straightforward history of secretaries, quite interesting. Worth reading, good subway material, not much more.
September 8, 2011
SUMMER READING REVIEW: "A thorough history of women and their place in the workforce as secretaries." -Carla Sherman
October 16, 2011
Thought Pink Think was her best work to date. Perhaps it would have been more well rounded to include women in the work force rather than just secretarial posts?
November 18, 2011
this was an interesting read to be sure, but i found it to be a bit repetitive in some parts. a quick and breezy read.
September 12, 2012
This book makes me so thankful that I started work after the invention of the word processor and that I've never had to get someone coffee.
July 12, 2017
A bit too specialized to be as good as Peril's Pink Think or College Girls. Even so it's a good look at how "secretary" became one of the definitive female occupations (originally it was a male profession) and the various ways secretaries were stereotyped in the media: seductive vamp, husband-hunter, cold career woman and "office wife." Plus of course the nuts and bolts of the job, from shorthand and making coffee to running the boss's errands to surviving sexual harassers. Interesting.
September 12, 2017
This was a really interesting look at secretaries and how their job has changed (or not changed) over the years. Like her other books it's easy to read and entertaining while still being informative.
January 7, 2017
oh how I love Lynn Perils books! Informative, funny and no nonsense, great books on feminism and history. I only wish she had more books.
August 2, 2025
I've loved all her books and somehow missed this one. Answers all the questions about the history of secretarial work you had after watching Mad Men.
January 20, 2016
This very interesting book discusses the history of female secretaries and stenographers in the United States work force. Due to a shortage of male workers due to the Civil War the first female office workers were hired in 1862 by the Treasury Department to trim paper money. Women have "dainty fingers, can use scissors better than a man and will do it cheaper". How prophetic those last few words would prove to be for decades to come. In those early days of women working outside the home they were viewed as unsavory characters because they were stealing jobs from men. The protestations grew so strident that several states tried to pass legislation that would ban married women from working outside their homes, because, it was believed that once a woman was married the man would provide everything she would ever need. The author includes many quotes from business journals and magazine advertisements from the 20th century an abundance of which depict the steno as a gold digger and a homewrecker.
At first when I began the book I thought these quaint stereotypes of the working woman were rather funny but it did not take long for me to be both angry and sickened by what women were forced to put up with in order to make their way in business. Want ads from the early years of the last century plainly asked for beautiful women under the age of 30 to apply for the jobs. An advertisement as late as 1970 for a new calculator stated that the ultimate test for their product was the "dumb blonde" secretary who was depicted filing her nails. Thank heaven there were women, and some men of course, who stood up for the females in the workforce and helped ease the road for their daughters and granddaughters to be able to achieve the amazing things that woman of today have accomplised. My only problem with this book is that it became very repetitive after awhile but other than that it was a good read.
At first when I began the book I thought these quaint stereotypes of the working woman were rather funny but it did not take long for me to be both angry and sickened by what women were forced to put up with in order to make their way in business. Want ads from the early years of the last century plainly asked for beautiful women under the age of 30 to apply for the jobs. An advertisement as late as 1970 for a new calculator stated that the ultimate test for their product was the "dumb blonde" secretary who was depicted filing her nails. Thank heaven there were women, and some men of course, who stood up for the females in the workforce and helped ease the road for their daughters and granddaughters to be able to achieve the amazing things that woman of today have accomplised. My only problem with this book is that it became very repetitive after awhile but other than that it was a good read.
February 25, 2012
I've enjoyed Lynn Peril's other books (College Girls: Bluestockings, Sex Kittens, and Co-Eds, Then and Now and Pink Think: Becoming a Woman in Many Uneasy Lessons) and I enjoyed this one as well. This book takes a look at women in the office and how the role of secretary worked both as an opportunity and ultimately, a glass ceiling. Peril's survey of secretarial guide books and mid-century ads adds to the narrative about how the terms "career girl," "office wife," and "career woman" were perpetuated and how things have and haven't changed since the 1970s. Highly recommend this book for anyone who works in an office, enjoys Mad Men or mid century Americana.
October 20, 2011
Reads like a term paper at times, but a fun one. Especially in the early chapters, I'm not sure if Peril always sticks to her chapter theme; it gets a bit repetitive and sounds like a multi-book review of secretarial of advice manuals. Still, it's an interesting topic on a field that has definitely evolved over the years; while I'm not sad that the "women libbers" stopped with the coffee-getting, I sort of wish that positions like existed. I might like being an "office wife". Guess I'll have to keep that to roleplay. 3.5 stars.
June 13, 2011
I love Peril's writing so much. I have read all three of her books, and while I don't think the other two can compare with the brillance of her first book, "Pink Think," I still highly recommend her work to anyone looking for an understanding of how it is that we come to view what it means to be a woman in today's world. It helps that she's funny as hell.
June 29, 2011
Thought I would just scan this book, but I actually read straight through it. The main question that really interested me was whether office work liberated women (introduced them into the business world) or pigeon-holed them into dead-end work (the glass ceiling, etc.). I don't think this really answered that question, but it was intriguing enough to keep reading.
January 25, 2016
Another book that makes me happy to live in a time after the women's movement. Thank you feminists! An interesting read, but a little on the dry side.
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January 4, 2019I found this book too depressing to finish. In this case, I'm very grateful for how far we've come and I really do not want to look back.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews