Performing independence : male clerks, bookkeepers, and stenographers from 1820 to 1870 -- Treasury girls and the masses : from degraded women workers to employees -- Stepping-stones and short ladders : men's faltering independence -- The male stenographers' solution : the language of professionalism -- Typewriter girls and lady stenographers : the challenges of respectability -- "My fondest hopes will have been realized" : independence, ambition, and the new woman -- Performances of professionalism
Summary
Examines the historical roots of clerical work and the role that class and gender played in determining professional status