These collections document women's contributions to the work force as laborers, entrepreneurs, and organizers. Included are the papers of individual women who were successful in various businesses and professions; plantation, business and corporate records which can be used to study the social history of working women; and records of individuals and groups influential in organizing or educating women workers.

Advertisements and Advertising Agency Records

Advertising richly documents women in popular culture in the 19th and 20th centuries. It offers a window on popular perceptions of gender roles and women's status in society. The administrative records of advertising agencies include market research reports on women as consumers, staff meeting minutes, and company newsletters as well as the advertisements themselves. In addition, agency records also document women working in the field of advertising, which historically has been a profession "friendly" to women. Hartman Center Guide to Women and Advertising

Alliance for Guidance of Rural Youth

Records, 1887-1963 ca. 15,900 items. Richmond, Va. Official correspondence, minutes, speeches and writings, financial statements, research data and photographs of a vocational guidance agency led by educator and social reformer Orie Latham Hatcher. Included are records from predecessor agencies, the Virginia Bureau of Vocations for Women, 1914-1919, and the Southern Women's Educational Alliance, 1920-1936, which document research on women's occupations and training and efforts made to provide vocational guidance to rural girls and college women in the South. Records also document Hatcher's career as a pioneer in vocational guidance research and service and her work with other women's organizations such as the American Association of University Women and the National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs.

Congress of Industrial Organizations

Records, 1909-1957 ca. 142,350 items and 333 vols. N.C., S.C., Tenn., Va. Records of the CIO's Industrial Union Councils, Organizing Committees, Political Action Committees and Publicity Departments for various states contain correspondence, subject files, financial papers, pamphlets, petitions, serials, speeches, and clippings that document the organization's administration and activities in procuring and disseminating information on political issues as well as efforts in organizing and educating workers in Southern industries. Materials contain general information on women in industry as well as information on organizations and unions in which women play a major role such as the Textile Workers Union, the Food, Tobacco, Agricultural, and Allied Workers Union, the U.S. Department of Labor's Women's Bureau, the Southern Summer School for Women Workers in Industry, and the Highlander Folk School.

Franklin, Mary G.

Papers, 1842-1855. 2 vols. Cherokee Co., Ga. Businesswoman. Account book, 1847-1855, kept by Franklin, a widow, concerning a gold mine, sawmill, farm, water-powered mill, and a coal and slate mining business begun by her on a 40-acre lot on the Etowah River which she won in the gold lottery of 1832. Included are entries for work done by hired hands and slaves; work by both women and men is recorded. Second volume includes an account ledger kept by Franklin's son and copies of letters by Ophelia Yearby.

Graves, Elizabeth

Papers, 1828-1839. 3 vols. London, Eng. Domestic worker. Correspondence, journals, and poetry documenting a young servant's travels throughout Europe and the Mediterranean with her employers. Contains detailed descriptions of local customs and a running commentary on the activities of the wealthy class.

Hill, George Nelson

Diary and Account Book, 1869-1872. 1 vol. (156 p.) Brunswick Co., N.C. Farm account book includes entries for women laborers.

Leary, Josephine Napoleon

Papers, 1873-1987. 350 items. Edenton, NC. African American barber, businesswoman, and property owner. Collections contains correspondence, legal and financial papers, maps, architectural drawings, photographs, newspapers, and miscellaneous items of Leary and her daughter Clara Ryan, and other family members.

Lineberry, Betsy

Papers, 1848-1863. 1 vol. Wilmington, N.C. Seamstress. Account ledger recording type of work, materials and fabrics used and payment received for her sewing, as well as other miscellaneous accounts and inventories.

Pinckney, Elizabeth Lucas

Papers, 1741-1763. 28 items. York Co., S.C. Promoter of indigo culture in South Carolina. Included are a letterbook containing both personal and business correspondence, legal papers, and land surveys.

Plantation and Slave Records

Information on the labor and working conditions of slave women is often fragmented and hard to find. Plantation records and the papers of slave traders and families owning slaves can sometimes help to document the working conditions of slave women. Plantation lists and ledgers may contain names, physical descriptions, and work loads of field slaves and house servants. Receipts, bills, and runaway notices may describe an individual's work habits or the conditions under which women were bought, sold, and traded. Examples of collections containing information on slave women's work include:

William T. Bain

Papers, 1850-1865. 89 Items. Raleigh, N.C. Correspondence that discusses slavery provides information on the training of servants and the practice of "hiring out" female slaves for punishment.

Archibald Boyd

Letters, 1841-1897. 46 Items. Lenox Castle, N.C. Includes the letters from a slave trader which report on the health of the slaves, the conditions of the market and the effect of a Cholera scare on his sales. One letter describes a woman who gave birth while being marched about by the trader.

George Bradley

Letters, 1845-1868. 6 Items. Powhatan Co., Va.. Includes a letter dated January 10, 1868 relating to another white man's attempt to entice Martha, a cook in Bradley's service, into his own employment. In Bradley's repudiation he addresses the issue of employing blacks vs. whites as well as Martha's monthly contract which she was at liberty to break.

Robert Carter

Papers, 1772-1794. 18 Volumes. Westmoreland Co., Va. Details of the lives, training, and hiring of 2400 slaves as well as the management of overseers.

Francis Porteus Corbin

Papers, 1662-1885. 719 Items. Philadelphia, Penn. Slave lists ca. 1712 from Ripon Hall Plantation in York County, Virginia are extensive and document family ties between slaves and list clothing and supplies distributed to approximately 60 slaves.

McDonald Furman

Papers, 1883-1903. 36 Items & 1 Volume. Privateer, S.C. Furman's record keeping reflects a recognition of family groups and slave marriages and provides insight into planter rules and slave productivity. Of note are his rules concerning pregnant slave women, and a runaway woman whose mother apprehended her and returned her to the plantation.

Haller Nutt

Papers, 1848-1911. 722 Items 1 Volume. Natchez, Miss. Plantation journal for 1843-1850 includes lists of slaves, treatment for sick slaves, rules for overseers, charts of amounts of cotton picked per male and female field slave.

Louis Manigualt

Papers, 1776-1883. 2,038 Items & 4 Volumes. Charleston, S.C. Work schedules, slave lists, instructions to overseers on the care of slaves, and the management of plantations includes itemized listings of slaves and their prices. An 1852 prescription book lists medicine given to slaves on the plantation.

Henry McPherson

Papers, 1801-1826. 3 items and 1 volume. Charles County, Md. Plantation accounts include entries related to the hiring of slaves and women for weaving, farm labor and granny (midwifery) services.

Jacob Rhett Motte

Papers, 1743-1902. 305 Items & 4 Volumes. Charleston, S.C. Included is the Exeter Plantation Book, 1846-1871, which lists slaves, provisions issued to them, occupation, ages, births, deaths, names of parents and prices.

Negro Collection, 1757-1980

315 Items. Included are miscellaneous slave sale receipts, free papers and clippings of black women. Of particular interest is a bill of sale, in which a black woman sold two slave children.

Joseph Westmoreland

Papers, 1780-1865. 1 Volume. Edenton, N.C. Journal entries for the selling, hiring and activities of slaves, usually specified by name. In addition there are household accounts kept by a woman for the issuance of cotton, wool and cows hair to slaves and neighbors for spinning, weaving, and knitting cloth.

Ross, Hattie

Papers, 1894-1909. 68 items. Charlotte, N.C. Account book, receipts, memoranda, a letter, clippings, mostly 1901-1909, that primarily record household accounts, especially expenditures for food, goods, and services. Includes payment to black men and women for work in the house and on the grounds. Members of the extended family are occasionally included in the records.

Rosser, Fannie B.

Papers, 1867-1973. 622 items. Durham, N.C. Black businesswoman. Employed by North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company for 32 years, Rosser acquired several pieces of rental property in Durham and her hometown, Lynchburg, Va. Legal and financial papers document rental and maintenance of the properties; personal loans to individuals; and her investments in stocks and government bonds. Correspondence also relates to rental property but is chiefly personal and contains several letters to foster-daughter Mattie Meyers, who was a leader in the San Francisco chapter of the NAACP. Photographs of family date back to the mid-1800s.

Scarborough, Clydie Fullwood

Papers, 1923-1983. 950 items. Durham, N.C. Chiefly personal and professional papers of Clydie Scarborough, manager of the Scarborough Nursery School in Durham for over fifty years. Includes scrapbooks, clippings, printed material, and photographs relating to the nursery school. Also letters from her husband, John Clarence Scarborough (1877-1972) founder of the black Scarborough-Hargett Funeral Home in Durham, her mother, family photographs, and other genealogical information about the Fullwood family.

Southeast Women's Employment Coalition

Records, 1979-1991. 63,900 items. Restricted. Founded in 1979, the Coalition's primary concern was expanding the limited employment opportunities for women in the rural South. Correspondence, project files, research files, subject files, personnel records, legal and financial records, photographs, video and audio tapes, and publications document the organization's activities from its inception to its demise. Project files document various programs designed to challenge institutional discrimination, open up jobs for women and people of color, support women organizing to improve working conditions, and help women develop the skills necessary to control their own economic circumstances. Administrative files include minutes of board meetings, grant proposals, mailing lists, and internal memorandum which show how the organization was run.

Stephenson, Elizabeth

Letters, 1787-1800. 33 items. Hereford, England. Chiefly letters from Stephenson to her brother William, describing her life as a domestic servant in the service of Abraham Whittaker of Lyson House.

Textile Mill Records

Administrative files, financial ledgers and production records of mills can contain information on wages and working conditions of the mills' labor force which included a large percentage of women. Timebooks give names, wages and hours of workers and administrative files may contain information on hiring practices, accident reports, and layout of the plant facilities. Examples of collections containing information on mill workers include:

Durham Hosiery Mills

Records, 1887-1962. 5,427 items, 50 vols. Durham, N.C.

Duff Green

Papers, 1817-1894. 1,795 items, 160 vols. Falmouth, Va.

Leward Cotton Mills, Inc.

Records, 1881-1935. 41 items, 51 vols. Worthville, N.C.

May McEwen Kaiser Co., Inc.

Records, 1913-1948. 80 vols. Burlington, N.C.

Royal Cotton Mill Company

Records, 1899-1954. 2,348 items, 37 vols. Wake Forest, N.C.

William Alexander Smith

Papers, 1765-1949. 11,573 items, 101 vols. Ansonville, N.C.

Underwood, Ruth Elizabeth Newton

Papers, 1926-1942. 27 items and 4 vols. Atlanta, Ga. Correspondence, minutes, financial papers, reports, and pamphlets relating to the Southern Conference on Women and Children in Industry which Underwood chaired.

Warburton, Amber Arthun

Papers, 1917-1976. ca. 31,400 items. McLean, Va. Teacher, librarian, New Deal administrator. Correspondence, financial statements, writings, interviews, research reports, printed materials, photographs, diaries, and scrapbooks comprising Warburton's personal and professional papers. The bulk of the collection consists of the records of the Alliance for Guidance of Rural Youth, 1946-1963, of which Warburton was the executive secretary. Also included is material for other organizations and institutions such as Brookwood Labor College, Columbia University, Southern Summer School for Women Workers in Industry, Spelman College, Atlanta University, Affiliated Schools for Workers, and the U.S. Children's Bureau. Topics include workers in the North and South during the 1920s; workers' schools and training unemployed teachers in the 1930s; and migrant farm laborers in the South.

Williamson, Isabelle Perkinson

Papers, 1885-1930. 2,520 items. Charlottesville, Va. Papers of Williamson and her mother, Isabelle Holmes Perkinson, including letters to Perkinson from former students of the University of Virginia who patronized her boardinghouse; notes and bills reflecting frequent financial difficulty; letters from Williamson to her mother while attending the Georgetown Visitation Convent, Washington, D.C., visiting the Panama Canal Zone, and working in the Navy Department in Washington, 1913-1917. Additional correspondence relates to World War I, early moving pictures, life during the Roaring Twenties, and the beginning of the Depression.

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