In Honor of Secretary's Day: Great Secretaries of the Past 100 Years

Tillie the Toiler
Stenographer, secretary and part-time model, Tillie Jones was thoroughly modern. First appearing in a daily comic strip in 1921, Tillie the Toiler, a newspaper staple for nearly 40 years, she became an icon of the working woman. The character inspired two Hollywood films of the same name, including the 1927 silent version with Marion Davies, above.

• America's Hidden Workforce