I know it can’t be just my specific career in which this is still an issue, but here is an example from my field, emergency medicine:

http://www.epmonthly.com/features/current-features/study-shows-gender-gap-in-starting-em-salaries/

It wasn’t that long ago (about 40 years) that women were paid less than men for the same job, or weren’t hired at all for certain jobs (usually the better-paying ones).

And those colleges and trade schools that did admit women had tiny quotas for the number of women in each class that could not be exceeded.

Women had few alternatives to baking cakes and running tearooms, in other words.

http://www.mrsbeeton.com/

My favourite parts:
- prices indicated for meals (as per mid-Victorian costs);
- the excellent explanation about butchering, and how different butchers can cut meat to benefit the rich, or the middle-income buyers;
- the advice about choosing and training domestic staff.

From the website:
Published in 1861, Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management was a guide to all aspects of running a household in Victorian Britain.
Its 2751 entries include tips on how to deal with servants’ pay and children’s health, and above all a wealth of cooking advice, instructions and recipes. It was an immediate bestseller, running to millions of copies within just a few years.
Perhaps surprisingly, author Isabella Beeton was just 21 years old when she started working on the book, and she died young at 28.
The book gives a charming and historically significant insight into Victorian domestic management.

If you find a dead deer under your deck, guess how much it costs to have it hauled away?

$200.

I found some old newspaper from 1951 in my house while renovating, among them was a great ad for ‘Gothic Bra’ (I’d insert my link here but I’m not sure how kindly people would take that)

I also found a Canadian War-time canning manual which was such an awesome find, I hope to try some canning this year with my family and we intend to go through it to see if any of it can be of use to us 65+ years later.

So cool!

I know a lady that sells old magazine ads from magazine on eBay. She make pretty good money that way too.

Sounds like a very cool book collection that you’re building up! My wife loves old books (and still prefers new hardbound books to devices like the kindle).

Katy

I always love these old ads, and old cookbooks. I have some classic old cookbooks that I inherited from my great-grandmother and grandmother. The measurements and instructions in some of the old recipes are not as precise as they are now. I guess it was assumed you should know what temperature a “hot oven” is and how much “a handful” would be.

The American Frugal Housewife (1832)

The Art of Money getting or Golden Rules for Making Money, by PT Barnum

Everyday Foods in Wartime (1918)

Many Ways of Cooking Eggs

there are a ton more if you search from price low to high– those costing $0 are usually stuff from Project Gutenberg with expired copyrights and generally ancient.

Year of publication is not always listed, but you can figure out by the title

eg:

Mrs. Wilson’s Cook Book Numerous New Recipes Based on Present Economic Conditions

http://www.amazon.com/Wilsons-Numerous-Economic-Conditions-ebook/dp/B004UJBD4Y/

Thanks for the memories.

So Couponing started since 1930′s?

Those get rich from home work ads look an awful lot like what shows up in my spam filter these days. Only the number per month has changed. More evidence that some things are eternal.