Labor | Page 19 | MNopedia

Dressmakers in Owatonna

Dressmakers (Ida Larkey, Etta Annis Teachout, and Orena Elnora Teachout) in Owatonna. Photograph by Fred Mueller, ca. 1890

Wedding cape

Wedding cape worn by Adda Thompson Clements in Winona, Minnesota. Made by St. Paul dressmaker Mary G. Worley, 1879.

Reception gown worn by Mary LeDuc

Gown worn by Mary LeDuc at a White House reception in October 1877. Made by dressmaker Jane E. Turner in September 1877.

Throughout the nineteenth century, custom dressmaking was one of the few socially acceptable professions for women of multiple ages and classes, including immigrants, young farm girls, wives, and widows. Dressmaking establishments—run and staffed primarily by women—provided creative labor, living wages, and career advancement opportunities for businesswomen and skilled workers alike.

CCC-ID crew at Mille Lacs

Possibly a crew of Civilian Conservation Corps-Indian Division (CCC-ID) work workers from the Nett Lake Indian Reservation (one of the reservations of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa) stationed at Mille Lacs, ca. 1938.

CCC-ID lifesaving class at Red Lake

A CCC-ID lifesaving class at Red Lake Agency, 1939.

CCC-ID worker from Red Lake

A CCC-ID worker from the Red Lake Indian Reservation (Red Lake Band of Chippewa) stands beside a kitchen cabinet frame that he has built as part of a CCC-ID training initiative. Printed in Indians at Work 7, no. 12 (August/September 1940): 17. Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington. DC. Photograph by G. B. Arthur, supervisor of project training for the Department of the Interior. Bureau of Indian Affairs, Smithsonian Collection, Washington DC.