Factory Inspectors Past and Present, 1914

Concerns about health, hygiene, and food safety, once confined to the family and left largely to women, became a matter of public concern during the Progressive Era. Given the nature of women’s traditional roles, it is hardly surprising that all of the factory inspectors pictured here are women. They include, from left to right: Miss Ella Haas, State Factory Inspector, Dayton, O. Miss Mary Malone, State Inspector Ten-Hour Law, Delaware. Mrs. Florence Kelley, Chief State Factory Inspector of Illinois, 1893-97. Miss Jean Gordon, Factories Inspector, Parish of New Orleans, 1908. Miss Madge Nave, Factory Inspector, Louisville, Kentucky. Mrs. Martha D. Gould, Factories Inspector, Parish of New Orleans. Location: New Orleans, Louisiana.