Married Women Unwelcome at the Mint

While it is well-known that the U.S. Mint employed women as adjusters from its earliest days, it seems that this practice was limited to unmarried women only. An 1880 letter from Mrs. A. C. D. Lewis to the Philadelphia Mint Superintendent A. Louden Snowden notes that Lewis is resigning her adjuster position, as “it is against the rules of the Mint for any woman to be employed there who is living with her husband.” Lewis notes that she had been warned accordingly and submits a forwarding address for any past due wages. Link to July 9, 1880 letter from Lewis to Snowden: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/611680Link to U.S. Mint general correspondence (National Archives record group 104, entry 1) on Newman Portal: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/archivedetail/515202