Typist's License comic certificate, Chicago, 1911

Subjects: Comics & Humor Workers & Occupations
Card type: Lithograph
Date: c. 1911 (Golden Age)

Back of Typist's License comic certificate, Chicago, 1911, c. 1911 lithograph postcard — Back

About this postcard

A spoof diploma headed "Typist's License" certifies that its unnamed holder has passed the exams of the "Illiterate Society and Gum Chewers Association." The mock license grants high-salaried office work, office hours of 12 to 2 every other Tuesday, permission to pet the boss and sass customers, to make typographical errors galore, and to operate any kind of machine, "Packard preferred." It promises a charter to "operate on the finances of all unsuspecting employers" and is issued by the fictitious No-Nothing Correspondence School. Comic licenses like this were a common novelty around 1910, when growing numbers of women entered offices as typists and stenographers. The joke turns office routine into a list of absurd privileges and inefficiencies, aimed at the new white-collar workplace and the stereotypes that followed it.

Postcard Details

Message

No message detected

PublisherEx. Sup. Co.

Typist's License This Certifies that.................................................................... having passed the required examinations of the Illiterate Society and Gum Chewers Association is hereby permitted to accept high salaried positions (position being everything in life). Office hours 12 to 2—every other Tuesday. She is permitted to pet the boss and sass the customers, make typographical errors galore, to operate any kind of machine (Packard pre- ferred) and get out the routine correspondence semi-monthly, never to file copies where they can be found, to ball up records and snub employes. In Witness Whereof, a charter to operate on the fi- nances of all unsuspecting employers is hereby given. NO-NOTHING CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL SEAL Tom Foolery RECORDER Prof. Hunt N. Pick COPYR. 1911 EX. SUP. CO. CHICAGO. W. MADE IN U.S.A.

Addressed to

No address detected

Postcard record

Publisher	Ex. Sup. Co.
Condition	Good
Place mentioned	Chicago, IL
Notes	Ornate engraved-style green border with red halftone background; red starburst printed with "SEAL"; light edge wear and toning; no handwriting on front — the signatures ("Tom Foolery, Recorder" and "Prof. Hunt N. Pick") are facsimile, and a printer's monogram "- W -" is also printed. No postmark, stamp, address, or message — the back is entirely blank, aged tan cardboard with a few creases and stains. The front is a novelty "Typist's License" gag certificate (Copr. 1911 Ex. Sup. Co., Chicago, Made in U.S.A.), not a postcard view; no postal markings anywhere.

Cite this card

Typist's License comic certificate, Chicago, 1911, postcard, c. 1911. PostalPast Collection. https://postalpast.com/postcard/typists-license-comic-certificate-chicago-1911. Accessed November 2, 2026.