Existing comment:
Schooled to be Secretaries (1900-1980)
Girls took advantage of school typing programs because offices paid better than factories and were cleaner too.
But training didn't guarantee a job. Most employers did not hire Latina or African American secretaries.
"I skipped typing class in 1978 because I didn't want to be a secretary. Did you take typing?"
-- Nancy, the curator
1900s
White men performed secretarial duties as clerks through the 1910s. With the typewriter, employers opened office work to lower-paid white women.
1950s
Girls took typing classes in the hopes of finding a job with better wages. Yet employers mostly hired unmarried white women.
1970s
This 1975 classroom is like the one from 1900. Secretarial work promised girls an independent income for almost a century. |