• Women and children entered the factories in large numbers as soon as the industrial revolution began. By 1900 half the employees in paper mills in the U.S. and Britain were women, and their wages were less than half of men’s for a day of typically 10 hours. Sharp division of labor left women and children sorting rags or in the finishing room—all unskilled labor without opportunity for promotion. Rag pickers earned 80¢-$1.00 a day, below half what was considered a living wage. Lint and dust from the chopping machines and filth of rags presented great risks to health.
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Rag Pickers postcard on handmade paper

From Women Making History: The Revolutionary Feminist Postcard Art of Helaine Victoria Press by Julia M. Allen and Jocelyn H. Cohen

  • Part of Women & Paper: A Postcard Collection Recounting Women’s Involvement in a Variety of Trades & Crafts in the Fabrication of Paper. A set of 4 postcards, 4 ¼” x 6”, printed letterpress on handmade paper in sepia. This card printed on white cotton rag paper with lavender corner pieces couched onto the sheet, using a Chandler and Price Platen Press. Edition of 60. This set was a small edition on handmade papers enclosed in a T-shaped folding handmade paper album.
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  • HISTORY / Women
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