Women working: trade catalogues at Harvard

Available through the Harvard University Library Open Collections Program, Women Working, 1800-1930 includes (as well as books and pamphets, diaries and memoirs, institutional records, magazines, manuscripts, and photographs) 6,000 pages of materials from from 155 trade catalogs and pamphlets from 70 companies.

©2012 The President and Fellows of Harvard College

 Dating from 1870, the trade catalogues are divided into the following subject sections:

• Beauty Products, Toiletries, and Pharmaceuticals
• Clothing
• Groceries and Recipes
• Home Appliances and Technology
• Household Goods
• Machinery
• Medicine
• Office and School Supplies
• Reading Materials
• Recreation
• Transportation

The trade catalogues are beautifully digitised in full colour. The text can be both viewed and searched (uncorrected OCR).  Related links (from individual catalogues) take the user to the full catalogue record on HOLLIS (the library catalogue for Harvard University) and to relevant external sites, where appropriate. There are also Teacher Resources, arranged by theme and a Timeline.