Every Description of Printing Neatly Executed, At The Women’s co-Operative Printing Union

In 1868, Agnes Petereson founded the Women’s Co-Operative Printing Union. This was because at this time print shops were willing to give women work, however they refused to work for less than the union pay rates for men. The Typographical Union permitted paying women the same amount and so therefore, women could not work in print shops. Peterson decided to create her own female business taking on clients like Wells Fargo, printing everything from fiction and nonfiction books, to checks for the bank. 

The advertisement above was created by L. Curtis, a woman who opened her own engraving shop in San Francisco with her sister. The advertisement was displayed in the West Coast Journal in May of 1870. It was then reproduced again in the Sixth Star by Mae Silver. It depicts an image of a woman working at the printing press and the word printing in large bold lettering. The name “Women’s Co-Operative Printing Union” is also in larger letters to capture the attention of the audience quickly. Their ability to use different fonts and images shows the talent of the women working in the industry at this time.