I just asked a friend on facebook. Can't wait to see what he thinks it is.

Couple more suggestions:
She is moving the floor, as in a new car demonstration, where the cars go around so spectators can see all sides. Floor moves like on the Rachael Ray show.
and this comes from my aunt: A toilet paper 'roller'. You put the Sears catalogue in the 'mailbox' and roll it around a cardboard tube. It is now a roll of toilet paper...

Could it be a high-density filing system? They open and close to use much less space than conventional filing systems. Could she be in uniform and doing war work? I have pictures of my DM in DC during WWII when she worked for the FBI and the hair style is identical.

The picture 'feels' posed to me, as if it were taken to demonstrate the contrivance she is operating, which would explain her apparently awkward stance....

It is a stamp machine. Go to antique stores and you are likely to find one. I'm retired postmaster. :p

LOL on second look it looks like a crank for a camping trailer, or an air raid siren, a pasta machine, a bosom developer, or an awning. Seriously, if we could get a better look at what's in the rack behind her, that would help. Can you do a larger picture?

That is what I suggested that it was due to the background looking as if there are mail boxes on the wall behind her.

Thanks everyone. I kinda go with the stamp machine too. DDILs friend was going through old photos and found this. She has exhausted any info from whatever family is left; so DDIL thought that maybe since I have been around for so long (:D) I would recognize it. And since I didn't, I decided to call on all my expert friends here on the QB.

I love the Sears catalogue turned into toilet paper idea. When I was a kid and visited my grandparents, there was always a Sears catalogue in the outhouse alongside a basket of corn cobs. I asked my dad why, and he told me. YUK!