as seen in the GPO Photograph Collection 

GPO History Talk 

March 20, 2013 

George Barnum, Agency Historian 

Women in the GPO Workforce 
 

Women in the GPO Workforce 

When we recently posted a photo of the bindery in about 1930, a viewer 

wrote, “Interesting that there are no women in this photo; 

secretaries only at the time I would guess.” A wrong guess, in fact. 
Women in the GPO Workforce 

There were probably relatively few female secretaries and clerks at 

that time, but many women at GPO. But let’s back up . . . 
 

 

Women in the GPO Workforce 

Among the350 

employees who 

came from the 

Cornelius Wendell 

shop to become 

GPO, half were 

women. 

Most were probably 

in the bindery, 

but . . . 
 

Women in the GPO Workforce 

. . . not all. 

Women were 

employed as press 

feeders. Look 

closely at the 

engraving. This 

would have been 

considered a step 

below pressmen and 

compositors, but 

was nevertheless a 

job that required 

skill. Unfortunately 

it paid less. 
Women in the GPO Workforce 

This early 

photograph 

(probably around 

1900) shows women 

in the job section as 

press feeders. 
Women in the GPO Workforce 

And well into the 

20th century (at 

GPO’s branch at the 

Library of Congress) 
Women in the GPO Workforce 

The bindery also 

remained a 

significant employer 

of women 
Women in the GPO Workforce 

And it was in the bindery 

that the landmark 1973 

class action case 

originated, in which 

Dorothy Thompson 

and over 300 other 

women bindery workers 

argued that they were 

systematically paid less for 

doing equivalent work to 

men. It was the largest 

gender bias settlement to 

that time, and it opened 

the door to equality of pay 

at GPO and elsewhere 
Women in the GPO Workforce 

Dorothy Thompson 

said: 

“For years they told 

me the big industrial 

sewing machines I 

operate were 

woman’s work. But I 

knew all along I was 

doing the same work 

as men, and not 

getting paid the 

same.” 
Women in the GPO Workforce 

There were other 

pioneers. 

In 1895 the first 

Superintendent of 

Documents, Francis 

Asbury Crandall, hired a 

young librarian from Los 

Angeles to be the first 

librarian in the newly 

created Public Documents 

Division. 
Women in the GPO Workforce 

Adelaide Hasse was 

the living definition of 

the turn of the 

century “new woman” 

– educated, 

ambitious, and 

passionate about her 

career in a growing 

new profession. Her 

time at GPO was 

brief, but she was the 

vanguard of a host of 

female professionals 

in non-printing 

occupations, and 

librarians specifically, 

of which there have 

been hundreds. 
Women in the GPO Workforce 

Her particular 

legacy includes the 

magnificent Public 

Documents Library, 

which until it was 

disbanded in the 

1970s, held nearly 2 

million documents. 

She also created the 

basis of the 

Superintendent of 

Documents 

classification, which 

remains in wide use 

today. 
 

Women in the GPO Workforce 

Meanwhile women’s inroads elsewhere were more sporadic. 

Apprenticeship was expanded in the 1920s and 30s under Public Printers George Carter and 

Augustus Giegengack.Women weren’t specifically excluded, but itwasn’t until 1931 that two 

began the program, Blanche Boisvert and Beulah Fairell. 
Women in the GPO Workforce 

Four women entered in the class 

of 1940, including Mary King and Elinore Nugent 
Women in the GPO Workforce 

World War II 

suspended 

apprentice training, 

and when it began 

again women were 

not recruited until 

1970. 
Women in the GPO Workforce 

Women made other 

forays into formerly 

all-male areas in the 

1970s & 80s: 

Carpenter Shop 

Police 

Messengers 
Women in the GPO Workforce 

The first female toplevel manager was 

Lois Schutte who 

became Director of 

Personnel in the 

1980s 

The first female 

Superintendent of 

Documents was 

Judy Russell in 2001 

The first female 

Acting Public 

Printer is Davita 

Vance Cooks