The business of charity : the woman's exchange movement, 1832-1900 / Kathleen Waters Sander.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sander, Kathleen Waters, 1947-

Series:

Women in American history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women's exchanges--United States--History.

Women's exchanges.

Women--Employment--United States--History.

Women.

Women--Employment.

History.

United States.

Physical Description:

xi, 165 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Urbana : University of Illinois Press, [1998]

Summary:

One of the nation's oldest continuously operating voluntary movements -- many are still in business after more than a century -- Woman's Exchanges were fashionable and popular shops where women who had fallen on hard times could sustain themselves by selling handiwork on consignment -- without having to seek employment in the public sector.

Since the first shop opened in Philadelphia in 1832, Exchanges have provided an important forum for entrepreneurial growth as women have reevaluated their place in society and their ideas about economic independence. As paid work for women became more respectable, proponents of the Exchanges took up Mrs. George Armstrong (Libbie) Custer's cry, "We are all working women! Not a lady among us!"

Kathleen Waters Sander draws on a wealth of research to demonstrate how women used the voluntary sector -- which had so successfully served as a conduit for their political and social reforms -- to advance opportunities for economic independence.

Contents:

Acknowledgments

Introduction: From "ladies" to "working women"

"To win for themselves that blessed independence": countering the stigma of paid work

"One of the most attractive shops on the street": making self-help fashionable for the genteel poor

"The time was ripe for a change": self-improvement and economic security for all women

"A prosperous existence in every town": the exchange idea spreads throughout the nation

"We sell everything good, from a pickle to a portiere": exchange managers as entrepreneurs

"An excellent way to earn an income": the consignors' alternative to the industrial workplace

Epilogue: the exchange movement continues

Appendix A. Tables

Appendix B. The Woman's Exchange of Cincinnati

Notes

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [131]-158) and index.

ISBN:

025202401X

0252067037

OCLC:

37820145