Martha Matilda Harper and the American dream : how one woman changed the face of modern business / Jane R. Plitt.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Plitt, Jane R.

Series:

Writing American women

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Harper, Martha Matilda.

Beauty shop supplies industry--Management.

Beauty shop supplies industry.

Businesswomen--United States--Biography.

Businesswomen.

United States.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xviii, 184 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Edition:

1sr edition.

Place of Publication:

Syracuse : Syracuse University Press, 2000.

Summary:

The story of how entrepreneur Martha Matilda Harper created America's first retail franchise network, a radical new business model that encouraged other women to own businesses, to enrich themselves spiritually and financially, and even to marry -- all on their own terms.

Bold, ambitious, but born poor and female in Ontario, Canada, Martha Matilda Harper struggled twenty-five years as a servant to change her life and that of other working-class women. In 1888, after immigrating to the United States, she pioneered the idea of a public hairdressing salon based on health-conscious precepts. Within three years, her concept was enthusiastically embraced by both the social elite and suffragettes across the country, including Susan B. Anthony and Mrs. Alexander Graham Bell.

In the first biography of Harper, Jane R. Plitt shows how Harper advocated practices that were progressive even by today's standards. She urged her franchisees to be accommodating to their customers and employees, to establish childcare centers in their shops, and to pursue principled endeavors. She fought an industry intent on encouraging the purchase of dangerous beauty aids and processes. Instead, Harper preached that people were naturally beautiful and her world-wide network of five-hundred shops provided skin and scalp treatments to help release a customer's inner beauty.

The book will be of interest to historians and a general audience with a special interest in women's studies and business.

Contents:

1. Vanishing 3

2. Uncovering Martha's Roots 8

3. Choosing Rochester and Christian Science 22

4. Launching Her Business 39

5. Franchising Her Concept 56

6. Expanding the Business 67

7. Pursuing Robert, for Business and Pleasure 88

8. Roaring Growth 103

9. Changing Times 127

10. Letting Go 148.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 169-177) and index.

ISBN:

0815606389

OCLC:

43095734