Keystone Employment Bureau records, 1897-1898

Summary

Creator:

Bradley, Charles J., 1862-

Abstract:

These two volumes contain records of job seekers that hired the Keystone Employment Bureau of Philadelphia to connect them with opportunities. Proprietor Charles Bradley kept this documentation. Each entry contains one or more of the following types of information: source of the client, address or contact information, age, rudimentary physical description, personality, impression, job experience, type of requested work, type of work not wanted by individuals, desired wage, race, ethnicity, nationality, Christian affiliation, desired geographical location of the job, whether or not the client paid, and other remarks.

Extent:

2 volumes

Language:

English

Authors:

Collection processed and finding aid created by Cheney J. Schopieray, March 2022

Background

Scope and Content:

These two volumes contain records of job seekers that hired the Keystone Employment Bureau of Philadelphia to connect them with opportunities. Proprietor Charles Bradley kept this documentation. Each entry contains one or more of the following types of information: source of the client, address or contact information, age, rudimentary physical description, personality, impression, job experience, type of requested work, type of work not wanted by individuals, desired wage, race, ethnicity, nationality, Christian affiliation, desired geographical location of the job, whether or not the client paid, and other remarks.

Source of Client: Rarely, Bradley would note the names of persons or institutions (like the Christian Association) who referred the job seeker to him or whether they saw his advertising. Some women appear to have been homeless and others specifically noted that they came from foster homes. Each entry includes an address or means of contacting the client.

Women's Age, Physical Descriptions, Personality/Impressions: Terms used by Bradley include young, not young, middle age, oldish, steady, splendid, nice looking, fair haired, tall, settled, green horn, experienced, competent, reliable, willing, good, extra good, affable, strong, stout, neat, tidy, and more.

Men's Age, Physical Descriptions, Personality/Impressions: Terms used by Bradley include young, neat, strong, tall, athletic, willing, honest looking, smooth faced, and others.

Job Experience: Bradley would add "exper" (experienced) to many entries, but occasionally specified the individual's type of work background. Some examples include florist, farmer, cook, "can cook anything that ever was cooked," hotel, dressmaker, gardener, horse tending, mill worker, "handy with tools," cafe, one "Fresco Painter," and others. At times, he also noted if the job seeker had references.

Women's Types of Work Requested: "G.H.W." (general housework), cook, kitchen helper, waitress, chambermaid, "anything useful," "work of any kind," "Institution work," child's nurse or attendant, renting rooms, hotel, linen rooms, laundry, washing, ironing, milk dealer employee, restaurant, "1st class place," "housekeeping for a widower," shoe store, and others.

Men's Types of Work Requested: Bartender, "waiterman," "elevator," coachman, watchman, and gate tender.

Types of Work Not Wanted by Individuals: Examples include "no washing," "not too heavy work," "housework where there is no washing or ironing," "anything but head cook," and "anything except waiterman cooking or milking."

Wages: Rarely, applicants stated the wages they hoped to receive. For women, the ranges mentioned were between $2.00 and $5.00 per week; for men, the ranges were $7.00 to $10.00 per week.

Race, Ethnicity, Nationality: Terms used by Bradley include colored/col'd, German, Pennsylvania Dutch, Irish, Swedish, Polish, Scotch, English, and "American."

Christian Affiliation: Bradley frequently noted "Prot" (Protestant) or "Cath" (Catholic) as part of the descriptions of persons seeking employment.

Desired Geographical Situations: The various locations desired by clients included country, city, seashore, mountains, Atlantic City, "prefer city," "would go out on a farm," "no objection to country," "small farm," "not out of town," and others.

Additional Notes: Other qualifications, desires, and remarks include notes such as "speaks good English," "speaks German," wants to be able to go home at night, wants Sunday's off, "has sore finger," "deaf" (May 27, 1898), wants to work for "American women," marital status, child dependents, one married woman with her husband out of work, and more.

Biographical / Historical:

Charles J. Bradley was born in Pennsylvania in October 1862 to Irish immigrants James and Margaret Bradley. He had at least two siblings, James and Frank Bradley. The family lived in Philadelphia, where patriarch James Bradley worked as a produce dealer.

In the mid-1890s, Charles Bradley took over operations at the Keystone Employment Bureau at 1927 Brown Street, which advertised its services at least as early as 1891. The employment office served individuals seeking employment and attempted to place them in public or private work in the city, in the country, or on the "seashore" (most commonly in Atlantic City, New Jersey). Bradley may have become proprietor in 1896, when he ran into difficulties with the city as he sought the transfer or sharing of an operations license. Dayton C. Rocap, who held the license for the Keystone employment agency, moved to different premises and Bradley attempted to carry on business under the Rocap license (which Bradley had paid for in January of that year). The city affirmed that Bradley had no right to operate as a branch under the issued license.

Charles Bradley ran the business out of the building at the corner of Brown and 19th Street at least between 1896 and 1900, although newspaper advertisements suggested that the organization changed locations briefly a couple of times. In December 1896, it is listed at 120 North 7th Street and at different times between 1897 and 1900, at the N.E. corner of 13th and Arch Streets.

Beginning in 1891, before Charles Bradley took over, the employment agency ran advertisements in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Geared toward either potential employers or individuals in need of jobs, these ads provided a rough scope of the clientele of the business.

"GO TO WORK. What! You can't find any? Call at the Keystone Employment Bureau and let us find it for you; that is our business, and an interview with us will convince you that we can be of service to you." (December 24, 1896, p. 10).

"We make a specialty of Germans, Swedes, Pennsylvania Dutch and Southern colored help. Prefer good references." (December 9, 1897, p. 17).

"Scotch Protestant, best reference, wants situation, city or country; three experienced reliable cooks want places in country; three German-Protestant girls want chamberwork or child nursing." (May 7, 1899, p. 18).

"Colored chef, head waiter, three colored waitresses, four white waitresses, two laundresses, bell boys, colored chambermaids, two women with children, four colored waiters, all want positions." (August 12, 1900, p. 17).

Acquisition Information:

2022. M-7447 .

Arrangement:

The collection is made up of two bound volumes.

Rules or Conventions:

Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Related

Additional Descriptive Data:

Bibliography

"Opinions of the City Solicitor from January to December, 1896" in Ordinances of the City of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: Dunlap Printing Company, 1897: 211-212.

Subjects

Click on terms below to find any related finding aids on this site.

Subjects:

African American girls.
African Americans--Employment.
Employment agencies--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia.
Germans--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia.
Immigrants.
Irish--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia.
Job hunting--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia.
Men--Employment.
Polish people--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia.
Scots--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia.
Swedes--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia.
Wages.
Women--Employment.

Formats:

Business records.

Names:

Keystone Employment Bureau (Philadelphia, Pa.)

Places:

Atlantic City (N.J.)
Philadelphia (Pa.)