ABA Banking Journal - June 2008 - (Page 10)

briefing Then & Now 100th Anniversary 1908-2008 When women–and machines– served support roles L ooking at issues of ABA about monthly in these BJ from the 1930s and pages—computerization of 1940s a couple of things banking is the obvious differstand out. First is the equipence between then and now. ment that looks like it could These days, the bank is less a have born witness to the Civil glorified fortress and more a War (a Comptometer specifisafe haven where information cally for banks!). about money is transacted, Then there’s the matter of amassed, and evaluated. cheesecake in both photo In a column called “Talking essays and ads, which porShop,” that appeared in the trayed women in ways that November 1939 issue, writer Yes, a little cheesecake found its way into our pages back in the day. No, not can most neutrally be called ES Wolley marveled at the these photos. This was 1939’s Miss Banking Progress on Parade. “quaint.” In the July 1939 great changes in banking issue, for instance, an ad for through the introduction of Beneficial Savings Fund of Philadelphia was analyzed in one of business machinery. Wolley might well have been shocked and the magazine’s columns by a public relations expert of the day, awed to see just where the machines—now mostly digital— Milton Wright. As he described it, the ad featured one pretty took banking and continue to take it. girl telling another, “He’s the Man for Me…I wouldn’t Marry a In the two decades after 1930, the familiar names of IBM and Grouch.” It then goes on to say, “He smiles easily and often, NCR were still among those “antique makers,” which, of for his Beneficial Savings Account keeps him free from worry.” course, were the vital support systems of pre-digital times. One staff favorite? Miss Banking Progress on Parade, pic“Big Blue,” founded by Herman Hollerith in Broome County, tured above, from the July 1939 issue. New York in 1888, began its life as the Tabulating Machine ComMind you, we’re not oblivious. Skin has never been more in pany. It was incorporated on June 16, 1911 and was listed on the demand in the consumer ad world than now. And pretty, hang- New York Stock Exchange in 1916. IBM adopted the Internaer-thin, vividly symmetrical people tend to get play in the tional Business Machines name in 1924, when it became a Fortrades, too, although they are usually dressed in variations of tune 500 company. In the 1950s, of course, IBM would become the three-piece suit. the dominant vendor in the emerging computer industry. Still, these days, you won’t find Miss Banking Progress here, NCR, (then known as National Cash Register), began in although you may see some version of her in the occasional trade 1879 on the heels of the invention of the first mechanical cash show booth. At least women now have more options to live how register by James Ritty. In 1884, the company was taken over they’d like and go where their aptitude and enthusiasm takes them. by two brothers who brought it firmly into the modern era of On the generally more staid subject of technology—written the time. In more recent times, NCR was acquired by AT&T in 1991. In 1997, NCR became re-established as a separate compaBy Lauren Bielski, senior editor ny following AT&T’s restructuring. BJ C-Notes ☞ The American National Bank of Kalamazoo considers its lobby bulletin board one of its most effective methods of public contact. The Board stands in the lobby of the office building where the bank occupies the main floor, but outside the doors to the banking quarters proper. Accordingly, it is working before and after banking hours, and reaches the two to three thousand people who daily enter the building, even if they may not go into the bank. — From “Letters to the Public” by Dunlap C. Clark, president of the American National Bank of Kalamazoo, Mich., August 1939 each caller [visitor to the bank] ☞ Givelook and a cheerful smile. Address a direct him or her by name whenever possible. Usually you can ascertain it from the passbook or check presented. — From “Good Business Manners,” February 1940 10 JUNE 2008/ABA BANKING JOURNAL Subscribe at www.ababj.com http://www.ababj.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of ABA Banking Journal - June 2008

ABA Banking Journal - June 2008 Contents Editor’s Column Do Fee-based Services Have an Edge? Snapshot: Net Interest Margins Vary Sharply with Size 100th Anniversary: Then & Now Letters ABA Resources ABA Chairman’s Position "What? No Annual Surprise Bonus?" Pass the Aspirin Cover Story: Top Community Banks: How They Did... ...And How They Did It Charter Bank First East Side Savings Bank Mackinac Financial Corp. The Peoples Bank Managing the E-mail Monster In Brief Handling PEPs in the Age of "L'affaire Spitzer" Mailbox Banker’s Mart To Advertise/Index of Advertisers The Economy

ABA Banking Journal - June 2008

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