The Resource Big bosses : a working girl's memoir of Jazz Age America, Althea McDowell Altemus ; edited and annotated by Robin F. Bachin ; in partnership with Vizcaya Museum and Gardens
Big bosses : a working girl's memoir of Jazz Age America, Althea McDowell Altemus ; edited and annotated by Robin F. Bachin ; in partnership with Vizcaya Museum and Gardens
Resource Information
The item Big bosses : a working girl's memoir of Jazz Age America, Althea McDowell Altemus ; edited and annotated by Robin F. Bachin ; in partnership with Vizcaya Museum and Gardens represents a specific, individual, material embodiment of a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Austin Public Library.This item is available to borrow from 1 library branch.
Resource Information
The item Big bosses : a working girl's memoir of Jazz Age America, Althea McDowell Altemus ; edited and annotated by Robin F. Bachin ; in partnership with Vizcaya Museum and Gardens represents a specific, individual, material embodiment of a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Austin Public Library.
This item is available to borrow from 1 library branch.
- Summary
- Sharp, resourceful, and with a style all her own, Althea Altemus embodied the spirit of the independent working woman of the Jazz Age. In her memoir, Big Bosses, she vividly recounts her life as a secretary for prominent (but thinly disguised) employers in Chicago, Miami, and New York during the late teens and 1920s. Alongside her we rub elbows with movie stars, artists, and high-profile businessmen, and experience lavish estate parties that routinely defied the laws of Prohibition. Beginning with her employment as a private secretary to James Deering of International Harvester, whom she describes as "probably the world's oldest and wealthiest bachelor playboy," Altemus tells us much about high society during the time, taking us inside Deering's glamorous Miami estate, Vizcaya, an Italianate mansion worthy of Gatsby himself. Later, we meet her other notable employers, including Samuel Insull, president of Chicago Edison; New York banker S. W. Straus; and real estate developer Fred F. French. We cinch up our trenchcoats and head out sleuthing in Chicago, hired by the wife of a big boss to find out how he spends his evenings (with, it turns out, a mistress hidden in an apartment within his office, no less). Altemus was also a struggling single mother, a fact she had to keep secret from her employers, and she reveals the difficulties of being a working woman at the time through glimpses into women's apartments, their friendships, and the dangers - sexual and otherwise - that she and others faced. Throughout, Altemus entertains with a tart and self-aware voice that combines the knowledge of an insider with the wit and clarity of someone on the fringe. Anchored by extensive annotation and an afterword from historian Robin F. Bachin, which contextualizes Altemus's narrative, Big Bosses provides a one-of-a-kind peek inside the excitement, extravagances, and the challenges of being a working woman roaring through the '20s
- Language
- eng
- Extent
- xiv, 220 pages
- Contents
-
- Foreword / Joel M. Hoffman
- Big bosses. Wealth ; Chicago ; Pierre Duval ; Sleuths ; Phylander & Company ; Country ; New York ; S.W. Strauss & Company ; Pigeonblood ruby ; Fred F. French & Company ; Miami ; Biscayne Bay
- Afterword: Chronicling the clerical life of Althea Altemus / Robin F. Bachin
- Isbn
- 9780226423623
- Label
- Big bosses : a working girl's memoir of Jazz Age America
- Title
- Big bosses
- Title remainder
- a working girl's memoir of Jazz Age America
- Statement of responsibility
- Althea McDowell Altemus ; edited and annotated by Robin F. Bachin ; in partnership with Vizcaya Museum and Gardens
- Subject
-
- Autobiographies
- BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY -- Business
- BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY -- Historical
- Biography
- Businessmen
- Businessmen -- United States
- HISTORY -- United States -- 20th Century
- Nineteen twenties
- Nineteen twenties
- Rich people
- Rich people -- United States
- SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Women's Studies
- Secretaries
- Secretaries -- United States -- Biography
- United States
- Working mothers
- Working mothers -- United States -- Biography
- Altemus, Althea McDowell, 1885-1965
- Altemus, Althea McDowell, 1885-1965
- Autobiographies
- Language
- eng
- Summary
- Sharp, resourceful, and with a style all her own, Althea Altemus embodied the spirit of the independent working woman of the Jazz Age. In her memoir, Big Bosses, she vividly recounts her life as a secretary for prominent (but thinly disguised) employers in Chicago, Miami, and New York during the late teens and 1920s. Alongside her we rub elbows with movie stars, artists, and high-profile businessmen, and experience lavish estate parties that routinely defied the laws of Prohibition. Beginning with her employment as a private secretary to James Deering of International Harvester, whom she describes as "probably the world's oldest and wealthiest bachelor playboy," Altemus tells us much about high society during the time, taking us inside Deering's glamorous Miami estate, Vizcaya, an Italianate mansion worthy of Gatsby himself. Later, we meet her other notable employers, including Samuel Insull, president of Chicago Edison; New York banker S. W. Straus; and real estate developer Fred F. French. We cinch up our trenchcoats and head out sleuthing in Chicago, hired by the wife of a big boss to find out how he spends his evenings (with, it turns out, a mistress hidden in an apartment within his office, no less). Altemus was also a struggling single mother, a fact she had to keep secret from her employers, and she reveals the difficulties of being a working woman at the time through glimpses into women's apartments, their friendships, and the dangers - sexual and otherwise - that she and others faced. Throughout, Altemus entertains with a tart and self-aware voice that combines the knowledge of an insider with the wit and clarity of someone on the fringe. Anchored by extensive annotation and an afterword from historian Robin F. Bachin, which contextualizes Altemus's narrative, Big Bosses provides a one-of-a-kind peek inside the excitement, extravagances, and the challenges of being a working woman roaring through the '20s
- Biography type
- autobiography
- Cataloging source
- ICU/DLC
- http://library.link/vocab/creatorDate
- 1885-1965
- http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
- Altemus, Althea McDowell
- Dewey number
-
- 651.3/741092
- B
- Illustrations
- illustrations
- Index
- no index present
- Literary form
- non fiction
- Nature of contents
- bibliography
- http://library.link/vocab/relatedWorkOrContributorName
- Bachin, Robin Faith
- http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
-
- Altemus, Althea McDowell
- Altemus, Althea McDowell
- Businessmen
- Rich people
- Nineteen twenties
- Secretaries
- Working mothers
- BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY
- BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY
- HISTORY
- SOCIAL SCIENCE
- Businessmen
- Nineteen twenties
- Rich people
- Secretaries
- Working mothers
- United States
- Label
- Big bosses : a working girl's memoir of Jazz Age America, Althea McDowell Altemus ; edited and annotated by Robin F. Bachin ; in partnership with Vizcaya Museum and Gardens
- Bibliography note
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 187-220)
- Carrier category
- volume
- Carrier category code
-
- nc
- Carrier MARC source
- rdacarrier
- Content category
- text
- Content type code
-
- txt
- Content type MARC source
- rdacontent
- Contents
- Foreword / Joel M. Hoffman -- Big bosses. Wealth ; Chicago ; Pierre Duval ; Sleuths ; Phylander & Company ; Country ; New York ; S.W. Strauss & Company ; Pigeonblood ruby ; Fred F. French & Company ; Miami ; Biscayne Bay -- Afterword: Chronicling the clerical life of Althea Altemus / Robin F. Bachin
- Control code
- 1794626
- Dimensions
- 23 cm
- Extent
- xiv, 220 pages
- Isbn
- 9780226423623
- Lccn
- 2016014271
- Media category
- unmediated
- Media MARC source
- rdamedia
- Media type code
-
- n
- Other physical details
- illustrations
- System control number
-
- (Sirsi) i9780226423623
- (OCoLC)944087516
- Label
- Big bosses : a working girl's memoir of Jazz Age America, Althea McDowell Altemus ; edited and annotated by Robin F. Bachin ; in partnership with Vizcaya Museum and Gardens
- Bibliography note
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 187-220)
- Carrier category
- volume
- Carrier category code
-
- nc
- Carrier MARC source
- rdacarrier
- Content category
- text
- Content type code
-
- txt
- Content type MARC source
- rdacontent
- Contents
- Foreword / Joel M. Hoffman -- Big bosses. Wealth ; Chicago ; Pierre Duval ; Sleuths ; Phylander & Company ; Country ; New York ; S.W. Strauss & Company ; Pigeonblood ruby ; Fred F. French & Company ; Miami ; Biscayne Bay -- Afterword: Chronicling the clerical life of Althea Altemus / Robin F. Bachin
- Control code
- 1794626
- Dimensions
- 23 cm
- Extent
- xiv, 220 pages
- Isbn
- 9780226423623
- Lccn
- 2016014271
- Media category
- unmediated
- Media MARC source
- rdamedia
- Media type code
-
- n
- Other physical details
- illustrations
- System control number
-
- (Sirsi) i9780226423623
- (OCoLC)944087516
Subject
- Autobiographies
- BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY -- Business
- BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY -- Historical
- Biography
- Businessmen
- Businessmen -- United States
- HISTORY -- United States -- 20th Century
- Nineteen twenties
- Nineteen twenties
- Rich people
- Rich people -- United States
- SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Women's Studies
- Secretaries
- Secretaries -- United States -- Biography
- United States
- Working mothers
- Working mothers -- United States -- Biography
- Altemus, Althea McDowell, 1885-1965
- Altemus, Althea McDowell, 1885-1965
- Autobiographies
Genre
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<div class="citation" vocab="http://schema.org/"><i class="fa fa-external-link-square fa-fw"></i> Data from <span resource="http://link.library.austintexas.gov/portal/Big-bosses--a-working-girls-memoir-of-Jazz-Age/o0Tk2KjrXko/" typeof="Book http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/Item"><span property="name http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/label"><a href="http://link.library.austintexas.gov/portal/Big-bosses--a-working-girls-memoir-of-Jazz-Age/o0Tk2KjrXko/">Big bosses : a working girl's memoir of Jazz Age America, Althea McDowell Altemus ; edited and annotated by Robin F. Bachin ; in partnership with Vizcaya Museum and Gardens</a></span> - <span property="potentialAction" typeOf="OrganizeAction"><span property="agent" typeof="LibrarySystem http://library.link/vocab/LibrarySystem" resource="http://link.library.austintexas.gov/"><span property="name http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/label"><a property="url" href="https://link.library.austintexas.gov/">Austin Public Library</a></span></span></span></span></div>
