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Office workers
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Charlotte Crawford interview

The item consists of an audio interview with Charlotte Crawford recorded in Victoria, B.C. on June 1, 1983.

Tape summary:
Track 1: Charlotte Crawford was born in Victoria in 1915. Her father died when she was very young, leaving her mother with 5 children to support on a widow's pension. Talks about home and appliances. Daily diet. Took home economics in grade 7 and 8 (around 1926). Teacher was Miss Blackenbaum. Talks about female roles -- girls were expected to be gentle, feminine things, who could sew and cook and do very few sports. Very obvious to her that boys and girls had very different roles.

Track 2: Worked at Spencer's Store during the Depression. In 1937 she went to the Motor Vehicle Branch to work and stayed there until 1977. Became the first female administrator of the Motor Vehicle Branch in 1974. In 1955 had her own home built. Could have had financial assistance from the national housing scheme if a male co-signed. Purchased the home on her own.

Dinner for Miss Creeden

The item is an Industrial film on colour print made in 1947. It is a film about the growth of B.C. Electric from 1906 to 1946, built around the story of stenographer Flossie Creeden, the first female office employee of the company. Footage includes: Goldstream power plant, Vancouver natural gas facilities, BC Electric Railway lines in Fraser Valley, Stave Falls generator plant, Alouette Lake and Ruskin plants, 1939 royal visit, BCE employee's newsletter, A.E. Grauer family at home, office scenes, plans & construction at Bridge River project, BCE employee's service in World Wars I & II and BCE streetcar and trolley bus services.

Phyllis Hamilton interview

The item consists of an audio interview with Phyllis Hamilton recorded in Victoria, B.C. on July 11, 1983.

Tape summary:
Track 1: Phyllis Hamilton was born Phyllis O'Reilly in 1913, an only child. She attended Esquimalt High. Describes home: 8 rooms, kitchen etc. Home deliveries included ice, milk, vegetables, groceries, bread, meat, and fish. A wood stove was eventually converted to gas -- appliances were an electric iron and hot plate, and a telephone. Describes diet -- she enjoyed cooking, learned on her own, although her mother stressed sanitation. Prepared all their own food except bread and cereal. Garbage collection once a week. Started home economics in grade 5 with sewing. Made pillowcases and eventually a dress. Describes home economics room -- teacher demonstrated from the centre, girls followed suit. Enjoyed the class, thought the recipes were good (white sauce, stew), and learned a lot about nutrition which she still remembers. After grade 11 she went to Sprott-Shaw business school, took bookkeeping, typing, dictation, shorthand, spelling, law. They taught the women "not to be conspicuous". A lot of men took accounting there. The banks would hire these graduates until they reached a level of seniority where they could earn more, then they laid them off. Most tellers were men. When her cousin married she had to keep it a secret or she would have been forced out of her job. Discusses the Depression in Victoria -- no work, closed stores, soup kitchens, and work camps for single males. A friend of hers in Saskatchewan often taught for free, just room and board.

Track 2: Entertainment in Victoria. Fruit picking in Saanich.

Valerie MacDermot interview

The item consists of an audio interview with Valerie MacDermot recorded in Metchosin, B.C. on June 25, 1984.

Tape summary:
Track 1: Valerie MacDermot was born in Vancouver in 1919 and grew up in the Kitsilano and Shaughnessy area. Describes the home she grew up in. Reveals some of household chores her mother carried out -- canning, baking, laundry, etc. Also talks about childhood duties. Attended General Gordon School, Prince of Wales School, and Point Grey Junior High School in Vancouver. Talks about her domestic science class and what the students made in her cooking class.

Track 2: Continues discussion of her domestic science class. Went to UBC after high school and took a degree in Economics. Then took a business course and worked in an office. Talks about sexual discrimination experienced in different jobs. Worked in Seattle during the Japanese evacuation and for Boeing on Sea Island in Vancouver. Also joined the U.S. Marines and was trained in Meteorology Later moved back to Vancouver and raised her two children as a single parent living in her parents' home.