Because there was so much letter-writing while I was
growing up in 1940s and 1950s Britain, every home had somewhere to store
their stationery, important documents and letters and postcards received
from friends and family. Older people still used the old
portable desks, but younger households turned to a more modern solution - modern that is for the
1940s and 1950s. It was the bureau.
Bureau - a piece of furniture which stored stationery
and documents with a lid that opened to form a flat writing surface.
Photographed in Milestones Museum, Basingstoke.
The bureau was a largish piece of furniture which is difficult to
describer. So please see the photograph. The top part was a sloping cabinet
with compartments for filing papers and storing odds and ends like
ink, pens (dipping pens and
fountain pens) and
paper clips.
The lid of the desk folded down to make a flat writing surface. This was at a height
suitable for writing when a chair was drawn up under it.
The bottom half of the bureau was sometimes cupboards and sometimes
bookshelves. My parents' bureau had shelves on which they stored a set of
inherited encyclopaedia.
Bureaus like all furniture at the time were made of dark wood.
It was a sign of the times that bureaus belonged to the men of the house,
although I am sure there must have been exceptions.
The writing case
If you can add anything to this page or provide a photo, I would be pleased to hear from you.
Pat Cryer webmaster
Most women and young people stored their
writing paper,
envelopes and
pens together in a custom-designed
folding leather
case - often received as a present. There were specially designed
slots on the right for the paper and on the left for the envelopes, with a
loop at the fold for pens.
These writing cases could of course be carried around.
This website Join me in the 1900s is also known as
Join me in the 1900's and is ©
Pat Cryer.
The 1940s and 1950s are also written as the 1940's and 1950's.
