Ladies and Gentlemen of the Civil Service: Middle-Class Workers in Victorian America

Aron, Cindy Sondik

ISBN 10: 0195048741 / ISBN 13: 9780195048742

Published by Oxford Univ Pr on Demand, New York, 1995

About this Item

234pp/illus. A study of clerical workers in US federal employment from the Civil War to 1900. Clean.

Seller Inventory # 006056

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Ladies and Gentlemen of the Civil Service: Middle-Class Workers in Victorian America
• Publisher: Oxford Univ Pr on Demand, New York
• Publication Date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195048741
• ISBN 13: 9780195048742
• Binding: Cloth
• Edition: 1st Printing
• Condition: Very Good+
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good+
• Seller catalogs:
  • Americana

About this title

Synopsis

Drawing from workers' applications, testimonies, and other primary documents, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Civil Service recreates the white-collar world of middle-class workers from the Civil War to 1900. It reveals how men who worked in federal agencies moved from being self-employed to salaried workers, in the process placing at risk the independence that lay at the core of middle-class male values; while women assumed the kind of independence that threatened their positions as delicate, middle-class ladies deserving the protection and care of men. Introducing a cast of characters who worked as federal clerks in Washington, Arons examines the nature of being a civil servant--from the hiring, firing, and promotion procedures, the motivations for joining the federal workforce, and the impact of feminization on the workplace to the interpersonal aspects of office life such as attitude towards sex, manners, and money-lending--and provides an imaginative look at what it meant to be among the ladies and gentlemen who formed part of the first white-collar bureaucracy in the United States.

Review

The author's consideration of both male and female workers together provides a unique and valuable perspective on the history of white collar labor and late Victorian society. (Journal of Social History)