The History and Renaming of Administrative Professionals WeekSM
Now the largest workplace observance outside of birthdays and major holidays, Administrative Professionals WeekSM began in 1952 as an effort to honor administrative staff for their efforts and attract more people to office and administrative careers.
Mary Barrett, president of the National Secretaries Association (now called the International Association of Administrative Professionals) and C. King Woodbridge, president of Dictaphone Corporation, were serving on a council charged with addressing a national shortage of skilled office workers that existed at the time. Together with Harry Klemfuss, public relations account executive at Young & Rubicam, they originated the idea for a secretaries week campaign.
After months of planning, their efforts came to fruition when U.S. Secretary of Commerce Charles Sawyer proclaimed the first National Secretaries Week held June 1-7, 1952. Wednesday, June 4 was designated National Secretaries Day. Barrett and Woodbridge were invited to Washington, DC for the official announcement, which received widespread publicity. National Secretaries Week was created with two objectives: to recognize "the secretary, upon whose skills, loyalty, and efficiency the functions of business and government offices depend," and to call attention "through favorable publicity, to the tremendous potential of the secretarial career."
In 1955, the National Secretaries Association changed the date of National Secretaries Week to the last full week of April, with Wednesday of that week being designated National Secretaries Day. The name of the observance was changed to Professional Secretaries Week in 1981 when the National Secretaries Association became Professional Secretaries International (PSI). In 1998, PSI changed its name to the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP), to further reflect the expanding role of office staff. In 2000, IAAP changed the name of the observance to Administrative Professionals WeekSM to encompass the expanding responsibilities and wide-ranging job titles of administrative support staff today.
Source: International Association of Administrative Professionals®