On the Job: Using the Slipboard

On the Job: Using the Slipboard

In this video, Janie Golightly and Fred Bass describe how the slipboard was used at The Washington Post.

Zilvinas Paludnevicius

Drs. John S. and Betty J. Schuchman Deaf Documentary Center Collection

2022

This Item has been made available for educational and research purposes by the Drs. John S. and Betty J. Schuchman Deaf Documentary Center at Gallaudet University. This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You may need to obtain permission for your intended use if your use is otherwise not permitted by the copyright and applicable related rights legislation. For specific information about the copyright and reproduction rights for this Item, please contact the Schuchman Deaf Documentary Center: https://www.gallaudet.edu/drs-john-s-and-betty-j-schuchman-deaf-documentary-center

American Sign Language

A video featuring ASL interviews with several subjects. Janie Golightly, a white older woman seated in a darkened studio, and Fred Bass, a white older man seated at home. The video begins with a still black and white image of the Composing Room at The Washington Post featuring a row of linotype machines with fair-skin white men seated at each machine, with the text Using the Slipboard.

Janie Golightly: So I started working as a sub. Not a permanent worker. A sub was matched with work using a slipboard I would walk in, it was really neat, I would walk in and let them know I was there on the board, by flipping my name over. So it would be closed, and if I was here, I flipped it open to show Jane Golightly. And then I would cover whoever was gone that day. There was no need to call out sick or let them know you’d be absent. There was a line of subs ready to take that job. There were plenty of us. The Washington Post ran 24/7, 365 days a year. They never missed one day. Not one day. They had to print a paper. People depended on newspapers at that time. There was no technology, so all the news was read. Anyway, I would join the line of subs, and they would tell me there was a place available in proofreading, I’d go, or they needed someone in paste-up and I would work that, or they needed me for TTS, or replacing slugs in classifieds. So we moved around a lot, and I really enjoyed it.

Fred Bass: So, my name is Fred Bass. There would be a list of names on the board. The names were listed in order. First a list of situation holders, the permanent workers. Those names were listed in order on the board. It went on and on, there were over 200 or 300 names. I was in another section, the sub list. That’s where I would indicate that I was there to work. My name was inserted there on the board. There were other subs there too, after me. Remember, this was priority-based. If my name was there on the list, a new employee’s name would come after mine. Another new employee would be after them. So I was in the middle of the sub list, mostly. Ahead of me, there were about 30 or 40 others. In terms of priority, I was roughly in the middle. Maybe, 20th or so. So, if I wanted to work, I’d take my name and flip it up on the list. The chairman, looking at the list, would see my name flipped on the board and know I was there to work. If those before me in priority weren’t there, their names were closed, then I’d get hired. That's how it worked. Closed meant no work, open meant you were there to work. Sometimes, the entire list would be there to work all the way down. I’d see the people before me get hired in order one after another, before I was hired. Once hired they’d tell me, okay go to linotype. I’d told the chairman my specialty was linotype. There were other areas of work - make-up, floor work. Paste up - no, not paste-up. Make-up. Putting together ads in make-up. In the case, adding the page components. It’s - ads, or other kinds of things, those were put into the case. That was called floorwork. Make-up. I did linotype. So copy, the print text, I’d read that and type it up. The linotype machine would create the slugs. Once the galley tray was full, they’d take it away for a test print. That went off to proofreaders in the office. They’d read through and mark up the mistakes or changes. That would come back to me, the corrections. And I’d type up the changes. And another test print was taken. If it was good, it was sent off to the floor. They’d take the galley and add the blocks of text to the case. Creating the pages; page 1, page 2, and so on. I don’t know much about what they did on the floor. Some of them worked on ads. Some worked on pages for the rest of the paper. Everything needed to be ready by tomorrow, to be sent out. That was make-up. I was a linotype operator. I produced the galley of slugs. That’s what I did for work.

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