Women Working

December 3, 2004 4:19 AM

Harvard's Open Collections program: Women Working, 1870-1930. Includes photos, manuscripts, trade catalogs and books documenting women working in the United States between the Civil War and Depression. Curious about Abercrombie & Fitch's 1913 styles? Or The Working Girls of Boston?
posted by banjo_and_the_pork (4 comments total)

And here I thought A&F was the brainchild of some marketing genius in the 1980s. I love the text of the 1913 styles catalog:

Out-of-Doors Clothes for Fastidious Women
There is no out-of-door sport for which, from JAUNTY HAT to PROPER BOOTS, we cannot prepare you.

Advertising like that just doesn't exist these days. Sure, the claims were over the top and, at least today, seem rather tongue-in-cheek... but, jeez, how'd we go from that to half-naked 13-year-olds plastered across the entranceways to Abercrombie & Fitch stores?
posted by heydanno at 6:26 AM on December 3, 2004

FWIW, the Harvard Libray is the largest University library in the country (and among the world) and probably the second largest library in the US (behind the LOC).
posted by stbalbach at 8:42 AM on December 3, 2004

Thanks so much for this wonderful post. Am rubbing my hands together for the next collection they put online.
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 9:55 AM on December 3, 2004

This is really cool
posted by mai at 11:59 AM on December 3, 2004