The Employments of Women: A Cyclopædia of Woman's WorkPenny, Virginia
General
The Employments of Women: A Cyclopædia of Woman's Work
Penny, Virginia
Women -- Employment
excellent teacher in that art. His forte is heads. A few strokes from
his pencil always give a beautiful finish to a piece of work.
=58. Map Makers.= Women could not well travel about to obtain
information of localities for the making of maps, but nearly all the
manual labor connected with the business would be very suitable for
them. Lithographing maps is said to be a profitable branch of the art,
and opens a field to competent women. Attending the machines for making
impressions from the stones might very well be performed by women. "In
Philadelphia, map coloring gives employment to about 175 females, some
of whom display exquisite taste in this delicate art." There used to be
150 girls in New York painting maps, but there are very few now.
Freedley tells of a map-manufacturing establishment in Philadelphia that
"turns out 1,200 maps weekly. Connected with it are two lithographic
printing offices, having twenty presses, and coloring rooms, in which 35
females are employed." I was told by a lady who had colored maps, that
it is trying on the eyes and poorly compensated. A map maker said he was
always most busy in the fall, and then employed from 12 to 16 women. In
winter he employed about half that number, and they principally married
women, who have worked for them several years. Mr. W. pays two of his
best and most experienced lady workers a certain sum by the week, and
they hire girls and women to work for them. The profits of these
forewomen, aside from their own work, amount to $1.50 to $2 a week the
year round. Girls receive $1.50 a week while learning. It requires from
six months to one year to become proficient. Neatness, a steady hand,
knowledge of colors, and fineness of touch, are the principal requisites
for a good map colorist. It requires no artistic knowledge. An
expeditious and experienced hand can earn $1 a day. There is at present
a need of hands in New York, and a surplus in Philadelphia. All seasons
are alike in this business, except as monetary affairs are concerned.
All Mr. W.'s hands work in the house. They work about nine hours a day
all the year, and never take maps home with them, as they are mostly
large and heavy maps. Map making is mostly confined to Philadelphia and
New York. None are made in the South and West. There is one map
publisher reported in Richmond, but he has his maps made in New York.
Mr. C. gives his maps to a map mounter, who employs a girl to sew the
bindings on with a sewing machine. She is paid at the same rate as any
other operator. The paper bindings are of course pasted on. Mr. C.
employs one girl to paint the outlines, but all the other painting is
done by stencil plates. Map coloring formerly gave employment to many
females, but now it is very rare that a map is colored by hand. The
stencilling process introduced by the Germans has superseded it, as they
are thereby rendered cheaper. Girls used to earn 75 cents to $1 a day
for painting maps. If girls would learn stencilling and work on their
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