Abstract:
Beginning in 1883 and for nearly three-quarters of a century, Harvey Girls worked as waitresses in the chain of Fred Harvey eating houses that operated along the Santa Fe Railroad. Billed at the height of its fame as "the greatest civilizing force of our generation," Harvey's operation ranked a step above the average in dining experience and 'level of service. As the chief representatives and ultimate product of the Harvey system, the Harvey Girls functioned as front line service agents with responsibility for upholding and reinforcing the public image of wholesome goodness with which the Fred Harvey Company identified.
The Harvey system's reliance on the Harvey Girl image exacted some costs. For Harvey Girls, this meant a loss of personal identity as they subsumed their own individuality to the corporate image, offering up on the altar of conformity those parts of themselves not compatible with the public's conditioned expectations.
The ideal Harvey Girl persona existed in a kind of comforting stasis, despite time or social reality. Simply put, a Harvey Girl is a Harvey Girl, now, then, and forever.
The goal of this paper is to explore how these women fit into the larger world and the degree to which they were individually exceptional or typical in their role as working women, in the process providing the legacy of the Harvey Girl mystique with some measure of substance. Augmented by a series of oral interviews, this study attempts to dispel the "cookie cutter" image by reclaiming the real life experiences of those women known as Harvey Girls.
