This series partially documents the early years of William Pahlmann's interior design career between the 1920s and World War II. The series consists of Pahlmann's business and personal files, which mainly contain correspondence and financial documents, including statements, invoices, and receipts. Other miscellaneous materials, including but not limited to notes, drawings, rough sketches, newspaper and magazine clippings, and paint samples are also found in these files.

Most of the files in the Early Career series concern Pahlmann's interior design activities prior to his joining Lord & Taylor in 1936. A significant portion of them are devoted to individual interior design projects he worked on during the early and mid 1930s, most notably the Neal residence in Houston, Texas and the Rogers River House apartment in New York City. A small amount of materials pertaining to several other of his other pre-Lord & Taylor projects, including the Paley apartment in New York City and Leon Levy house in Germantown, Pennsylvania, are scattered throughout the series. A handful of files concerning Pahlmann's business dealings with a few of his vendors are in this series as well.

In addition to documenting Pahlmann's pre-Lord & Taylor activities, the Early Career series also contains three files concerning his World War II military service. Commissioned as an officer in the United States Army Air Forces, Pahlmann served as director of the Jefferson Barracks Camouflage School in St. Louis, Missouri.

Materials are arranged by topic.