In conjunction with the introduction of the Olympian and Columbian in 1911, the Chicago, Milwaukee and Puget Sound Railway issued this gorgeous booklet filled with both sepia-toned and beautifully hand-colored pictures of a trip on the new rail line. The booklet was written by Isabelle Carpenter Kendall, and therein lies a tale.
Click image to download a 19.5-MB PDF of this 68-page booklet.
When Isabelle Kendall was born in about 1864, women weren’t expected to work after they got married. Her father was the St. Paul Railway’s general passenger agent, and she aspired to a career with the railroad, but he didn’t want to hire her, perhaps because he figured she would quit when she got married. So instead she went to work as a stenographer in one of the railroad’s freight offices in 1884. Continue reading