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Working Women of the Old Port

Eastman Bros. & Bancroft Department Store, Portland, ca. 1910

Eastman Bros. & Bancroft Department Store, Portland, ca. 1910

Item 26153 info
Maine Historical Society

Employees included "cash girls" who made $2 a week through the most desirable job, department head, where women earned $20 to 25 a week.

The position of buyer also was sought after. And, it might lead to other things.

Anita Files, for instance, started work as a milliner's apprentice, then became a salesclerk, moving up to buyer and head of the millinery department the J.R. Libby store. In 1927, she opened her own shop.

While a buyer, she went to New York every three weeks to learn about the latest fashions and buy materials for the department store.