In the personal papers of Hannah Claire Haines is a document with Haines's reflection on “sixty years of progress for women,” from 1913 to 1973. In it, she humorously contrasts the women of the two eras, clearly portraying an upward path. In 1913, for instance, a woman “may have earned as little as $10 a week, and $100 a month was a good salary”; but in 1973, “the sky is the limit and no self-respecting secretary would accept less than $400 a month.”1 Haines herself had lived through those decades of change as she forged her own remarkable path in the business world. As the first female Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in Utah and later as the director of Salt Lake City's Union Bank and Trust Company, she was highly successful in challenging commonly accepted ideas about what a woman's place in society should be. Haines repeatedly broke through...
Hannah Claire Haines, 1891–1974: Not the Average “Militant Female”
ALISON MCNEAL is professor emeritus, Slippery Rock University. She holds a PhD in American Literature from Kent State University. At Slippery Rock, she helped to establish two interdisciplinary minors, one in Asian Studies and another in European Studies through the support of federally funded NEH grants. She has reviewed scores of books for Choice, ranging from critical theory to Gender Studies. McNeal taught in China and went to the Middlebury Language School for Mandarin Studies in 2012. Currently, she facilitates a community book group for her local public library and belongs to a poetry circle.
DAVID A. HALES is the former director and librarian of Westminster College's Giovale Library. He is professor of Library Science emeritus, University of Alaska Fairbanks. He holds a bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University, a Master of Library Science from Drexel University, and a master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He has been active in many professional organizations and has served as president of four associations. Hales has delivered papers at library science and history conferences and has published extensively in library science, genealogy, and history journals, including UHQ and Alaska History. He is the co-author of Alaska Sources: A Guide to Historical Records and Information Resources.
Alison McNeal, David A. Hales; Hannah Claire Haines, 1891–1974: Not the Average “Militant Female”. Utah Historical Quarterly 1 October 2022; 90 (4): 312–326. doi: https://doi.org/10.5406/26428652.90.4.04
Download citation file:
Advertisement