Bureaucracy Collection

The White House, Washington D.C. (District of Columbia), United States of America, North America

Library of Congress, Washington D.C. (District of Columbia), United States of America, North America

The State House, Annapolis, Maryland, United States of America, North America

Dublin Castle, Dublin, County Dublin, Republic of Ireland (Eire), Europe

City Hall on Marienplatz, Munich, Bavaria, Germany, Europe

Eagle and American Flag Date: 1915

Government House, Peshawar, Pakistan
Government House (British) at Peshawar, Pakistan Date: 1924

River Danube and Parliament building, Budapest, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Hungary, Europe

Statement of Poor Relief in St Lukes Parish, 1854
A printed summary statement of the poor relief statistics for the London parish of St Luke for the week ending 5 August 1854

Collective Letter
Anastasiia Grygorieva

Presidential Office
Anastasiia Grygorieva

Newcomers lining up for mail at the Gold Rush, San Francisco. Colour engraving of the 19th century
NWI4964504 Newcomers lining up for mail at the Gold Rush, San Francisco. Colour engraving of the 19th century.; (add.info.: Newcomers lining up for mail at the Gold Rush, San Francisco)

The Laughter, Satirical in Colors, 1908_11_28: Flipcharts - Fashion, Hat, Administration
ICA4862891 The Laughter, Satirical in Colors, 1908_11_28: Flipcharts - Fashion, Hat, Administration, Flowers - Illustration by Andre Wely (1873-1910); (add.info.: The Laughter, Satirical in Colors)

Indians of America: Inca teacher giving lessons to learn to keep accounts (compatbilite) with the help of a Quipu
NWI4900546 Indians of America: Inca teacher giving lessons to learn to keep accounts (compatbilite) with the help of a Quipu

Eulogy of the typewriter, Office, Secretary, 1913 (engraving)
PCT4256974 Eulogy of the typewriter, Office, Secretary, 1913 (engraving); (add.info.: Typing Catalogue de la Manufacture Francaise d'armes et cycles de Saint-Etienne 1913)

The British Admiraut's administration room. Coloured etching published on January 1, 1808
MMM5480635 The British Admiraut's administration room. Coloured etching published on January 1, 1808, after Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827) and Augustus Charles Pugin (1762-1832). by Rowlandson, T

History of Immigration in America: Immigration Queue at Ellis Island, New York Harbour, circa 1905
NWI4890150 History of Immigration in America: Immigration Queue at Ellis Island, New York Harbour, circa 1905. Reproduction of a photograph.; (add.info.: History of Immigration in America)

Female civil servant: Residents of a city accusing the new post office employee, circa 1905
NWI4957995 Female civil servant: Residents of a city accusing the new post office employee, circa 1905. Reproduction of an illustration from 1905.; (add.info.: Female civil servant)

Male and female Mandarins (magistrates) in summer dress, imperial court of China
FLO4590223 Male and female Mandarins (magistrates) in summer dress, imperial court of China. Embroidered square on their tunic reveals their rank and type: bird for civil, animal for military

"Reel" Money (litho)
8663497 "Reel" Money (litho) by Poy (Percy Hutton Fearon) (1874-1945); Private Collection; (add.info.: "Reel" Money)

Portrait of Camille Pelletan (1846-1915), French politician, Minister of Marine in 1902
JAB5036275 Portrait of Camille Pelletan (1846-1915), French politician, Minister of Marine in 1902.; (add.info.: Portrait of Camille Pelletan (1846-1915), French politician

Chamber of Accounts of Colonial Maritime Affairs, United States, 18th century. Colouring engraving of the 19th century
NWI4881614 Chamber of Accounts of Colonial Maritime Affairs, United States, 18th century. Colouring engraving of the 19th century.; (add.info.: Chamber of Accounts of Colonial Maritime Affairs)

American Hispano War (1898, or Desastre of 98): Theodore Roosevelt (1898-1919), assistant secretary to the Navy
NWI4934214 American Hispano War (1898, or Desastre of 98): Theodore Roosevelt (1898-1919), assistant secretary to the Navy, in his office

Common Councilman of the Council of London. In purple robe lined with fur and holding a bicorn
FLO4688624 Common Councilman of the Council of London. In purple robe lined with fur and holding a bicorn. Handcoloured copperplate engraving from William Henry Pyne's The World in Miniature

Where the Feathers Go (litho)
8663503 Where the Feathers Go (litho) by Poy (Percy Hutton Fearon) (1874-1945); Private Collection; (add.info.: Where the Feathers Go)

First World War: France, Postcard showing women at work in all the jobs left by men, 1917
LUX4734831 First World War: France, Postcard showing women at work in all the jobs left by men, 1917, the women of France show by their work

Costume d'un notaire officier d'etat, Italie, 15eme century - Costume of an Italian state notary
FLO4676467 Costume d'un notaire officier d'etat, Italie, 15eme century - Costume of an Italian state notary, 15th century - He wears a violet hood

Transport (litho)
8663504 Transport (litho) by Poy (Percy Hutton Fearon) (1874-1945); Private Collection; (add.info.: Transport. Eric: "I don't see why it shouldn't work)

What are "The Middle Classes?" (litho)
8663498 What are "The Middle Classes?" (litho) by Poy (Percy Hutton Fearon) (1874-1945); Private Collection; (add.info.: What are "The Middle Classes)

Large room of a bank with safes, 1890 years
NWI4827984 Large room of a bank with safes, 1890 years.; (add.info.: Large room of a bank with safes, 1890 years.); Photo © North Wind Pictures

History of the emperors: Napoleon I Bonaparte (1769-1821) dictating to his secretaries
NWI4943896 History of the emperors: Napoleon I Bonaparte (1769-1821) dictating to his secretaries. Colour engraving of the 19th century.; (add.info.: History of the emperors)

Letter-writers and dealers in cigar-ends at Rome, 1864. Creator: Unknown
Letter-writers and dealers in cigar-ends at Rome, 1864. Engraving from a sketch by M. Mariani....especially on Sundays after mass

Horace Mann Date: 1950

Forbidding sign DP233552
Lanercost Priory, Lanercost, Burtholme, Carlisle, Cumbria. Detail of a Ministry of Works sign reading Visitors are forbidden to climb on the walls on the side of the priory

Les Soubresauts de la Russie; Un bureau de recrutement pour engages volontaires... 1917. Creator: Unknown
Les Soubresauts de la Russie; Un bureau de recrutement pour engages volontaires a Petrograd, en juillet et aout 1917: tandis que l'armee reguliere se desagregeait

La Nouvelle Europe; Le regime communiste a Budapest; distribution des cartes de vivres... 1919. Creator: Unknown
La Nouvelle Europe; Le regime communiste a Budapest; distribution des cartes de vivres dans un bureau d'alimentation, 1919

Commr. Cato Sells, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior Department, with Spodee, 1914. Creator: Harris & Ewing. Commr
Commr. Cato Sells, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior Department, with Spodee, 1914. Native American man known variously as Spodee or Spo Pee

Cato Sells, Commr. Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior Department, 1914. Creator: Harris & Ewing. Cato Sells, Commr
Cato Sells, Commissioner, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior Department, 1913

Cato Sells, Commr. Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior Department, 1914. Creator: Harris & Ewing. Cato Sells, Commr
Cato Sells, Commissioner, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior Department, 1913

House Office Building - Interior, 1913. Creator: Harris & Ewing. House Office Building - Interior, 1913
House Office Building - Interior, 1913. Portrait of President Woodrow Wilson on far wall. Board at right reads: Bill No. 1472: Clark, Champ; J.G. Cannon; Ben. Johnson; Kitchin, G.; J.T. Lloyd; J.R

Dept. Of Labor - Sign On Door For Newly Created Office of Sec. of Labor, 1913. Creator: Harris & Ewing. Dept
Dept. Of Labor - Sign On Door For Newly Created Office of Secretary of Labor, 1913. Temporary sign pasted over Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization - Law Division

Int. Pension office, between 1910 and 1920. Creator: Harris & Ewing. Int. Pension office, between 1910 and 1920
Int. Pension office, between 1910 and 1920.. [Inteior, USA]

Int. Pension office, between 1910 and 1920. Creator: Harris & Ewing. Int. Pension office, between 1910 and 1920
Int. Pension office, between 1910 and 1920. [Inteior, USA]

Supply Personnel, between 1910 and 1920. Creator: Harris & Ewing. Supply Personnel, between 1910 and 1920
Supply Personnel, between 1910 and 1920. Women office workers, USA. Note electric fans. Sign reads: Deposit file papers from executive section here

Training Division, between 1910 and 1920. Creator: Harris & Ewing. Training Division, between 1910 and 1920
Training Division, between 1910 and 1920. Women office workers, USA. Note electric fans. Notice reads: Instructions for Care and Maintenance, Globe Automatic Sprinkler Company'

Procurement Personnel, between 1910 and 1920. Creator: Harris & Ewing. Procurement Personnel, between 1910 and 1920
Procurement Personnel, between 1910 and 1920. Women office workers, USA. Note electric fans

Governor Thompson(?), Treasury Department employee, half-length portrait
Gov. Thompson(?), Treasury Department employee, half-length portrait, seated at desk, facing left, between 1884 and 1930

Three Treasury Department employees in office, between 1884 and 1930. Creator: Frances Benjamin Johnston
Three Treasury Department employees in office, between 1884 and 1930

Dr. Miller, Treasury Department employee, half-length portrait, seated at... between 1884 and 1930
Dr. Miller, Treasury Department employee, half-length portrait, seated at desk, facing left, between 1884 and 1930

Dr. Miller, Treasury Department employee, half-length portrait, seated at... between 1884 and 1930
Dr. Miller, Treasury Department employee, half-length portrait, seated at desk, facing left, between 1884 and 1930

Opening of bids, Navy Dept. Bureau of Accts, between 1910 and 1920. Creator: Harris & Ewing
Opening of bids, Navy Dept. Bureau of Accts, between 1910 and 1920. USA

General Shelley, Treasury Department employee, half-length portrait... between 1884 and 1930
Gen. Shelley, Treasury Department employee, half-length portrait, seated at desk, facing left, between 1884 and 1930

Mr. McClelland(?), Treasury Department employee, half-length portrait, seated at desk, facing front, between 1884 and 1930

General Shelley, Auditor Navy, Treasury Department employee... between 1884 and 1930
Gen. Shelley, Auditor Navy, Treasury Department employee, half-length portrait, seated at desk, facing left, between 1884 and 1930

Three Treasury Department employees, Mr. Steele(?) and two other men... between 1884 and 1930
Three Treasury Department employees, Mr. Steele(?) and two other men, posed in office, between 1884 and 1930

Two Treasury Department employees seated at desk in office, between 1884 and 1930. Creator: Frances Benjamin Johnston
Two Treasury Department employees seated at desk in office, between 1884 and 1930

Jasper Baker, Assistant Director of The Mint, 1913. Creator: Harris & Ewing
Jasper Baker, Assistant Director of The US Mint, 1913

Clyde Bruce Atchison, Comm, I.C.C. 1917. Creator: Harris & Ewing. Clyde Bruce Atchison, Comm, I.C.C. 1917
Clyde Bruce Atchison, Interstate Commerce Commissioner, 1917

Clyde Bruce Atchison, Comm, I.C.C. 1917. Creator: Harris & Ewing. Clyde Bruce Atchison, Comm, I.C.C. 1917
Clyde Bruce Atchison, Interstate Commerce Commissioner, 1917

War Council, 1917. Creator: Harris & Ewing. War Council, 1917. Creator: Harris & Ewing
War Council, 1917. Maj. Gen. George Barnett, Commandant, U.S.M.C; Blue, Victor, Rear Admiral, U.S.N.; Chief Bur. Nav.; Josephus Daniels, Secretary of The Navy, 1913-1921; Captain A.F

War Council, 1917. Creator: Harris & Ewing. War Council, 1917. Creator: Harris & Ewing
War Council, 1917. Maj. Gen. George Barnett, Commandant, U.S.M.C; Blue, Victor, Rear Admiral, U.S.N.; Chief Bur. Nav.; Josephus Daniels, Secretary of The Navy, 1913-1921; Captain A.F

War Council, 1917. Creator: Harris & Ewing. War Council, 1917. Creator: Harris & Ewing
War Council, 1917. Maj. Gen. George Barnett, Commandant, U.S.M.C; Blue, Victor, Rear Admiral, U.S.N.; Chief Bur. Nav.; Josephus Daniels, Secretary of The Navy, 1913-1921; Captain A.F

Bakersfield, California Applications for "grants" during cotton pickers strike, 1938
Bakersfield, California. Applications for "grants" during cotton pickers strike

Night meeting in the FSA office, Visalia, Tulare County, California, 1938. Creator: Dorothea Lange
Night meeting in the Farm Security Administration (FSA) office, Rural Rehabilitation Division, Visalia, Tulare County, California

Night meeting in the FSA office, Visalia, Tulare County, California, 1938. Creator: Dorothea Lange
Night meeting in the Farm Security Administration (FSA) office, Rural Rehabilitation Division, Visalia, Tulare County, California

The Prerogative Court, Doctors Commons, 1850. Creator: Unknown
The Prerogative Court, Doctors Commons, 1850. Illustration to an article by Thomas Miller and Godfrey Malvern. Interior of...the chambers where the wills of the dead are deposited [near the corner of

Havas Publicity Agency, Paris, c. 1900
3785059 Havas Publicity Agency, Paris, c. 1900.; (add.info.: Havas Publicity Agency, Paris, c. 1900. Adminstration department ('service d'Execution').); Lebrecht History

Turkey, Constantinople (Istanbul). Public office
Ottoman Empire. Turkey. Public office. Engraving by Lemaitre, Lalaisse and Branche. Historia de Turquia by Joseph Marie Jouannin (1783-1844) and Jules Van Gaver, 1840

Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). War correspondent card of the Popular Army (1938) and identity card issued by the Generalitat of Catalonia (1937). SPAIN. Monistrol de Montserrat

The Peasant Lawyer (oil on panel)
490284 The Peasant Lawyer (oil on panel) by Brueghel, Pieter the Younger (c.1564-1638) (after); 54.7x87.5 cm; Groeningemuseum, Bruges, Belgium; © Art in Flanders

The other enemy: paperwork. New French Minister of War Joseph Gallieni starting work, World War I, 1916 (colour litho)
6000387 The other enemy: paperwork. New French Minister of War Joseph Gallieni starting work, World War I, 1916 (colour litho) by Damblans

Manager of mobile unit (FSA), on day camp opened... Merrill, Klamath County, Oregon, 1939. Creator: Dorothea Lange
Manager of mobile unit (FSA - Farm Security Administration) on day camp opened, in registration tent. Merrill, Klamath County, Oregon

L Assiette au Beurre, number 164, Satirique en Couleurs, 1904_5_21: Republican, Administration
ICA4890409 L Assiette au Beurre, number 164, Satirique en Couleurs, 1904_5_21: Republican, Administration, Courier La Poste - Marianne (lithograph) by Hradecky

Foreigner Checking Documents at a Merchant House in Yokohama (Yokohama shoka komojin)
Foreigner Checking Documents at a Merchant House in Yokohama (Yokohama shoka komojin sho mitomu no zu), 1861

One hour: visits, lunch tasting, dinner invitations - in "
LSE4082538 One hour: visits, lunch tasting, dinner invitations - in " Administrative mores" by Henri Monnier, 1828 by Monnier

Nine hours: arrival of employees, change of costumes, small stove tour - in "
LSE4082533 Nine hours: arrival of employees, change of costumes, small stove tour - in " Administrative mores" by Henri Monnier, 1828 by Monnier

Sous chef - in "Administrative mores"by Henri Monnier, 1828
LSE4082515 Sous chef - in " Administrative mores" by Henri Monnier, 1828 by Monnier, Henri Bonaventure (1799-1877); Bibliotheque Historique de la Ville de Paris, Paris

The grand hall on the first floor of the new central telegraph station in Paris in 1884
XEE4407981 The grand hall on the first floor of the new central telegraph station in Paris in 1884. Engraving from 1884. in " La Nature

Midi, illustration from Moeurs Administratives, Dessinees D apres Nature
740215 Midi, illustration from Moeurs Administratives, Dessinees D aprAs Nature by Henri Monnier, lithographed by Delpech, pub

Huit heures, illustration from Moeurs Administratives
740211 Huit heures, illustration from Moeurs Administratives, Dessinees D aprAs Nature by Henri Monnier, lithographed by Delpech, pub

Chef de division, illustration from Moeurs Administratives
740210 Chef de division, illustration from Moeurs Administratives, Dessinees D aprAs Nature by Henri Monnier, lithographed by Delpech, pub

Chef de bureau, illustration from Moeurs Administratives
740209 Chef de bureau, illustration from Moeurs Administratives, Dessinees D aprAs Nature by Henri Monnier, lithographed by Delpech, pub

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Bureaucracy: The intricate web of administrative systems that governs nations and shapes societies. From the iconic White House in Washington D. C to the grandeur of the Library of Congress, these institutions symbolize the power and complexity of bureaucracy. Even State Houses like Dublin Castle or City Hall on Marienplatz stand as testaments to its influence worldwide. Throughout history, it has left its mark on countless events and individuals. In 1936, Abraham Lincoln's legacy echoed through time, reminding us of how even great leaders were bound by bureaucratic processes. Government House in Peshawar, Pakistan witnessed the ebb and flow of policies shaping a nation's destiny. But bureaucracy is not limited to grand structures alone; it permeates every aspect of society. A simple Statement of Poor Relief in St Lukes Parish from 1854 serves as a reminder that even basic services are governed by complex rules and regulations. As we gaze upon the River Danube flowing beside Parliament building or witness public office routines in Turkey's Constantinople (Istanbul), we realize that they are be both awe-inspiring and frustratingly slow-moving, and is during times like the Spanish Civil War when war correspondents navigate bureaucratic hurdles to report truth amidst chaos. Yet within this labyrinthine system lies order - an eagle soaring above an American flag reminds us that despite its flaws, bureaucracy strives for stability and progress. So let us appreciate this intricate tapestry woven into our lives while also seeking ways to streamline it for a more efficient future.