Sixty years ago this month, this stenographer dutifully takes down a verbatim transcript of her boss’s telephone conversation, thanks to a Lafayette telephone amplifier. The amp is connected to the phone through a telephone pickup coil, still readily available today. With it plugged into the amp, she can easily hear both sides of the conversation.

The unit was actually a kit. While it is not specified, we suspect that the secretary put it together herself, since it freed her of the need to use a headphone for such tasks, and probably made her work much easier.

The photo appeared in the December 1960 issue of Popular Mechanics, which highlighted a number of available kits, and pointed out how many, such as this one, could make things run more smoothly at the office.