Company Men: White-Collar Life & Corporate Cultures in Los Angeles, 1892-1941

By Clark Davis

“Company Men” explores the history of the development of the white-collar worked from the onset of large corporations through the Great Depression.  As we examine history at the Homestead Museum, we begin with the subsistence agriculture of the native Americans, continue with the barter economy of the “rancho era” and finish with the incredible wealth of Walter Temple generated by a large corporation.

The book traces the history of five corporations and their struggle to find and keep competent employees.  It is interesting to note that SoCal Edison and Pacific Mutual Life exist today whereas Pacific Electric, Security First National Bank and Union Oil have either been absorbed by another corporation or has gone out of business.  While corporations were maturating, America was changing from a rural society to an urban society.  American workers had to learn to work together in large companies, to set aside their personal goals and to focus on corporate goals.

Of course, during this earlier period, employees meant “white employees”.  It took another 20 to 30 years for that paradigm to change to include a more “diversified” employee base.  Early employees struggled to find their new identity within the large corporation and within the newly developing suburbs of Los Angeles.  The struggle was both work-related and social as the corporations stratified its workforce, especially separating jobs for men and women.  This book provides a good insight into management’s view of work and workers.