The Filing Cabinet

Craig Robertson

The filing cabinet was critical to the information infrastructure of 20th-century nation states and financial systems. As a piece of office equipment, it emphasized particular economic and cultural priorities — efficiency, exploitation of gendered labor, anxiety over information loss, and the drive to break down life and its everyday routines into discrete, observable, and manageable parts.

The filing cabinet was critical to the information infrastructure of 20th-century nation states and financial systems. Like most infrastructure, it was usually overlooked or forgotten.

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  • Belmont Freeman
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Gabrielle Esperdy

Gabrielle Esperdy is a professor of architecture at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and a columnist for Places.

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Belmont Freeman

Belmont Freeman is a columnist for Places. He is principal of Belmont Freeman Architects, an award-winning design firm in New York City.

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Sandy Isenstadt

Sandy Isenstadt is a professor of architectural history at the University of Delaware, and a columnist for Places.

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Aaron Rothman

Aaron Rothman is a columnist for Places. A monograph of his artwork, Signal Noise, is forthcoming from Radius Books.

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The Inequality Chronicles

The Inequality Chronicles features detailed explorations of racial, economic, and social inequities — from historical roots to contemporary effects — in major U.S. cities.

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