Student Paper 

‘Til the Boys Come Home?
Camas women working in the mill during WWII

History 469
Washington State University Vancouver

By Elizabeth Young

I was impressed by the large proportion of women employed — doing skilled manual (work) labor running machines. As time goes on, and many more of our men enter the armed forces, this proportion of women will increase. Within less than a year from now, I think, there will probably be as many women as men working in our war production plants. … In order to keep stepping up our production, we have had to add millions of workers to the total labor force of the Nation. And as new factories came into operation, we must find additional millions of workers. This presents a formidable problem in the mobilization of manpower. It is not that we do not have enough people in this country to do the job. The problem is to have the right numbers of the right people in the right places at the right time. … In some communities, employers dislike to employ women. … We can no longer afford to indulge such prejudices or practices.(1)

In President Roosevelt’s Columbus Day of 1942 Fireside Chat he solidified the position of the government under his administration to the necessity of a paradigm shift (no matter how temporary) in the labor market. The government expected women to work wherever they could to free men to fight for the country.(2) Jobs which were previously seen as inappropriate for women became “patriotic duties for which women were perfectly suited.“(3) The percentage of jobs for which women were considered acceptable increased between January and July of 1942 from twenty-nine to fifty-five.(4) Women had in fact, done factory work for a long time. In 1890 over one million factory workers were women, although most of them were unmarried.(5) “By 1900,one-fifth of America’s 25 million women were in the work force.“(6)

The work women did, however, was generally “unskilled” labor, with little opportunity for education or advancement.(7) President Roosevelt’s comment about the good work being done by the women in skilled labor positions reflects the commonly held belief that women were unable to do such tasks. The war would change that. As a result of their work in the war, many women discovered that they liked working outside the home, especially with the extra income.(8) As one of the Camas mill workers stated, “We were doing our duty and buying war bonds, but in the break rooms we would talk about the holidays we could go on, or the extra clothes we could buy for the children… It was nice to imagine life without scrimping.“(9) Women who had previously worked realized they enjoyed the challenge of skilled labor, and women who had never worked outside the home enjoyed the camaraderie and adult companionship.(10)

Even before the war, Camas women worked at the Crown Willamette paper mill, doing primarily clerical work or lighter manufacturing duty. Typical factory work for the women was in the bag factory, converting and napkin plants, and the finishing room.(11) In September of 1941(before the war began) there were 400 women working at the mill.(12) As the war progressed, women were moved to machines in these divisions which had been formerly operated by men13 . Women worked as machinists, finishing room balers, bag bundling pressmen, napkin wrapper operators, rewinder operators, sulphite testers, roll towel and roll toilet windermen, and bag machine operators.(14)

As the war and the labor shortage continued, more women changed jobs and new women were recruited,(15) with mill personnel director Vic Gault reporting that an additional one hundred women were needed to fill vacancies.(16) Soon the mill had to import women from as far away as Missouri (17) and Kentucky.(18) As women filled men’s jobs, more women were needed to fill the traditional women’s jobs.(19) By April of 1943, 101 women were doing men’s work at the mill.(20) By August of that year thirty percent of the total employees at the mill were women.(21) The need became acute by 1944, when in September the company put out an appeal for anyone who could spare a little time to help out, particularly “girls to work even half-shift, who might possibly be working the same at another factory or in the shipyards.“(22) Despite this desperation, however, the mill still insisted on requesting specific numbers of men and women for job openings in their advertisements, illustrating the persistence of the gendered roles at the mill.(23)

In addition to the nationwide dilemma of men entering the military and causing a labor shortage, the Camas mill had additional need for women workers. A book on the Pacific Northwest’s wartime activities published during the war praised the Camas mill for “helping the United Nations wrap up triumph over triumph in the fight against Germany and Japan … their contribution to Allied ascendancy is a story that can’t be revealed at the present time because of military restrictions, but it is by no means small.“(24) These secret projects turned out to be building rudders, cranes, and other war time materials which the company sold to the government at cost.(25) “The Kaiser Shipyards at Vancouver testified that they were able to launch three more carriers in 1943 than the contract called for, due to the high production at Camas.“(26) The number of men who changed positions within the mill to help in the defense work increased the need for women in their former positions.

Additionally, because of the nature of the production, mill workers had to get identification badges,(27) which many women held on to long after the war was over – proud symbols of the days they proved they could do whatever men would allow them to do, and do it well. During World War II, women answered the call of their country, and in this case their town, for a variety of reasons. At the Crown Willamette Mill in Camas they faced discrimination and mixed expectations, but managed to change both the mill and their own image within the community by the end of the war. On the national level, half of the women who worked in the defense industry were already in the work force before the war.(28)

Many Camas women moved from their positions already in the mill over to the men’s work. The numbers of women already working proved insufficient to meet the demands of war production, so employers turned to women not holding jobs.(29) Advertisements and editorials emphasized the patriotic duty of the women to join the workforce. Wives were reminded that they would not exclude their husband from the draft by staying home, so they should get a job if they could.(30) The President advised in late 1942 that it may soon be necessary to register all women to tabulate the possibilities of replacing men on farms and in industry.(31)

Nationwide, in 1940 the majority of the women who were employed outside the home were working because of economic necessity.(32) The advertisements for employees reminded women that there were many jobs available where they could earn men’s wages.(33) In the first announcements of open positions at the Camas mill, the personnel manager, V.C. Gault, said that wives with husbands in the military would be given first consideration for employment.(34) A man who’s father worked at the mill during the war emphasized that “the fellows at the mill didn’t mind so much when a gal took over her husband’s job while he was off fighting”.(35) This was an extension of the home into the home front, something men could accept more readily than women “worming their way in” to men’s jobs.(36) (37)

Women faced many kinds of discrimination, from pay rates, union dues and hours to diminished expectations from the men in the mill. “Learning new skills was easy – dealing with the men was hard. You never got the feeling that you were welcome – even the paychecks were handed out grudgingly.”(38) At the onset of the war women’s minimum pay was 62.5 cents per hour and men’s was 75 cents per hour. As the war progressed, the Union negotiated a pay rate increase of 7.5 cents for employees with less than six months service and 10 cents for employees with more, bringing the new minimum to 70/72.5 cents per hour for women and 82.5/85 cents per hour for men. For the first time, in June of 1942, the topic of women performing men’s jobs was brought up and the decision was made to start them at 7.5 cents an hour less than the man’s scale and raise their pay 2.5 cents every two months for six months until they received the full scale39.

In April of 1943 the rates were raised again, with the base for men’s jobs going up to 90 cents per hour, and for women’s 77.5 cents per hour. However, now women starting on men’s jobs which they fully take over were to receive the rate for the man’s job, with the beginner’s rate eliminated. This coincided with the rise in women performing men’s jobs; a total of 749 working hours per day were put in by women in work that had always been exclusively done by men.(40) In December of 1945, with the war over, the rates were back to full differential, with the men receiving a 15% pay hike, with a base rate of $1.05 per hour and women only receiving a 10% increase, with the base at 85.5 cents per hour.(41) As will be explained later, the women were no longer working “men’s” jobs; even if they still had the position it was “materially changed” so that it was re-classified as women’s work.(42) Additionally, Union dues were different for men and women. At the beginning of the war monthly dues were $1.00 for men and $.75 for women. They were raised at the end of 1943 to $1.25 for men and $1.00 for women.(43) It was speculated by one of the women from the mill that this was due to the union’s desire to keep the men happy by not admitting women as full members.(44)

It wasn’t just in wages that women faced discrimination and differential treatment. When the management set shifts that employed large numbers of women an hour ahead to avoid blackouts in the late evenings at the outset of the war, the inference was that women shouldn’t be out at night if the lights weren’t on.(45) While the management did what they could to take care of the women, the paternalism displayed only served to reinforce the image of women as needing the protection of men, and therefore dependent on them for their welfare. The assumption by most men in the Camas mill was that many jobs would have to be changed materially in duties or responsibilities so that a woman could perform it.(46) Women had to pass a physical examination in order to be allowed to work on men’s jobs.(47) It was assumed that women were unreliable and couldn’t be trusted to come to work, “rushing home for every little thing like a hair pin falling out or a sick baby.“(48) This was compounded by the fact that part time positions requiring manual labor were unavailable for women as it was considered “impossible for women to do this type of work,” even during the war with such manpower shortages.(49)

Firmly entrenched in their belief that women were unable to do the jobs men could do, men at the mill railed against the perceived intrusion into their domain.(50) As part of this perception of a role differential, women were supposed to be wives and mothers before anything else.(51) It was assumed that having women in the workforce would disrupt the household. The Camas mill circumvented this argument by stressing that local girls and women would be given preference over out of town applicants, and wives would be able to work with their husbands, extending the mill family into the community.(52) If the home front was seen as an extension of the home, men could more readily accept their presence in the work force. However, the fear of disruption to traditional gender roles and the breakdown of societal values still prevailed. At a Lion’s club meeting in 1943 Joe Ewing of the Kaiser shipyard personnel department stated that he believed a causative factor in the breaking up of many homes was the “independence of women, many of whom are earning more than their mates.“(53) Throughout the country the general understanding of the business owners and the media was that the “breakdown in the sexual division of labor was limited to the war effort.“(54) Ads praising women for their efforts simultaneously emphasized the temporary status of their employment.(55)After the war ended, nationwide two million women lost their jobs, indicating that once again their place was in the home.(56)

At the beginning of the war similar attitudes prevailed in Camas. The women were told that “a woman placed on a man’s job or a materially changed job will maintain her seniority on her old job, but will not build up seniority on the new job. After the war such jobs will be returned to the men.“(57) In other words, the excursion into man’s domain would be temporary. Joe Ewing, at the aforementioned Lion’s Club meeting, expressed his opinion that either women would have to go back to homemaking or return to jobs with lower rates of pay.(58)

However, the women involved did not want their new status to be temporary.(59) Despite statements from the management of the mill that they believed “a large majority of the women now in industry will return to their homes at the war’s end,“(60) most of the women talked amongst themselves of how to stay on without cheating the veterans out of their jobs.(61) The challenges and camaraderie they had found, plus their new-found financial freedom, compelled them to stay. (62) As a result of the increased employment of women, they became more active in some of the committees and activities at the mill. Women became increasingly involved in the Safety Committee (63), the First Aid group (64), and the paper school (65). A new personnel director for women was hired, and changes in day care, facilities and uniforms ensued.

In September of 1941 an announcement ran in the Post-Record that Mrs. Vera Berney, the Camas High School dean of girls, had been appointed to a new position in the personnel department of the mill. She would be responsible for service to women employees. (66) While she was learning her job, war was declared, and soon new concerns were being addressed. The number of women increased, nurseries (both day and night) had to be arranged, and the planning and supervision of all of this became her responsibility.(67) She became a spokesperson both for the mill and for its employees, speaking at many local and national meetings, and publishing her opinions in newspapers and trade magazines.(68)

Mrs. Berney wrote an article for the March issue of the Pacific Pulp and Paper magazine about some of the difficulties of the war-increased employment and the subsequent responsibilities of both the management and the workers in adjusting to those difficulties. (69) One of her projects was to organize a daycare. Because of the war’s increasing demand on women who were also mothers – for the first time ever, married women outnumbered single women in the workplace – local governments and businesses set up special wartime programs such as daycare facilities.(70) From a national standpoint, the primary purpose of day care was to “bring mothers into war production, not to liberate women or educate children.“(71) However, the fact that services such as this could exist indicated to women that the traditional arguments about women being unable to work and have their children raised in a quality environment were erroneous.(72) In Camas a notice appeared on September 7th, 1942, the same day it was announced that women would be working on men’s jobs, stating that the American Association of University Women (AAUW) and other civic organizations were “considering forming a day nursery for children of working mothers.“(73) The proposal met with favorable response (74) and with the help of donations of toys from city residents, the Nursery began. The AAUW, the B.P.W., Woman’s club, and the Kiwanis and Lions clubs with the assistance of the Crown Willamette Paper Co. (who provided the space rent free) sponsored the nursery as a non-profit organization.(75) As federal funds became available for the nursery, it was taken over by the local school system; they proposed to lower the rates and the age limit in anticipation of higher demand.(76) Six weeks after its inception the nursery became too big for the basement of the Crown Willamette Inn where it was originally housed (77) and moved to the basement of the Zion Lutheran church, again paid for by the mill.(78) As federal regulations became tighter, the fees increased to 75 cents for the first child, 50 cents for each additional child per family.(79) When the war ended, the Lanham Act funds which had supported the teaching staff were gone, even though the nursery was still needed.(80) Funds were scheduled to cease on October 31st, (81) and attempts to locate “foster homes” (or unorganized daycare in a private home) for the children began.(82) However, a reprieve was granted in mid-October, when the state board of education agreed to pay half of the costs per child.(83) The partial support was good only through March 1st, and the space was only available through January 1st.(84) Day care ceased to exist at the mill for the time being.

Mrs. Berney also oversaw the changes in the facilities to accommodate women in the mill. Five women’s lunch and restrooms and two men and women’s lunch rooms were added to the bag factory, converting plant, printing department and finishing room. In the old rooms walls were repainted and pictures, plants, and drapes were added to make the rooms more restful and homelike.(85) New uniforms for the workers were adopted as the physical demands on the women grew, changing from blue dresses with white collars to slack suits in a blue and white pin check with a red, white, and blue Crown Zellerbach emblem. Local stores also began selling girdles designed specifically to be worn for slacks, with advertisements stating “War Workers O.K. Girdle.“(86) (87)

Due to the efforts and accomplishments of women in the mill during the war, the image of women workers changed in the minds of the men at the mill, albeit slowly and grudgingly. The fears of absenteeism proved unfounded, the temporary nature of the positions was challenged, and the women showed themselves to be excellent workers and stellar contributors to the war effort. While the rest of the country was experiencing high rates of absenteesim and job turnover rates,(88) Camas workers in general, and specifically women, proved the naysayers wrong. Camas workers were depicted as the type to “stick to their jobs and turn up Monday mornings, as on other days, ready for work and able to handle whatever comes up.“(89) Absenteeism for women was less than three percent during June of 1944, partly due to campaigns launched by the women themselves.(90) Several women were reported as having one hundred percent attendance records throughout varying periods of the war, (91) (92).

The women who worked at the mill were acknowledged not only for doing their patriotic duty by working, but for the exemplary manner in which they performed them.(93) They handled their jobs “very capably”(94) according to the management. A report was put out by the army on the Camas mill as “one of the first large industries in the nation to put women on men’s jobs,” praising the women for proving that they could replace men in many positions and do the work well.(95) With good attendence and recognized competence, the temporary nature of the positions changed. In addition to the changing perception of the women, farm subsidies were offered to returning veterans, so many chose not to return to the mill, opening more jobs for the women to keep. On June 29th of 1944 an appeal was made for more men and women, “realizing that the position is not temporary but will be secure at the war’s end” [emphasis added](96). The mill only ended up hiring a little over 200 veterans (97) so “the women were asked to stay on.“(98)

After the war, however, jobs were reclassified as women’s work even if they had been men’s prior to the war, so they didn’t have to keep paying the women men’s wages.(99) One of the workers reported that “they would change one or two little duties and call it a substantial change! Noone at the mill was fooled, but we could see the need to keep the union and the men happy.“(100)

Above and beyond their work duties, women from the mill were also praised for their efforts in bond raising, blanket donations, and blood donations.(101) Pulp and paper manufacturing was in itself classified as an essential activity in the war effort (102) and women’s contributions to that war effort were lauded. The men at the mill finally agreed that their fears about the women workers had been unfounded and that in every way the women had served their community well.(103)

At first glance, the changes women underwent during the war seem temporary at best. Jobs were returned to the men or changed to be classified as women’s, the daycare was shut down, pay rates remained gender-based. Yet the door had been opened. As one of the men who worked at the mill shortly after the war put it, “it’s kinda hard to say, ‘Oh, she can’t do that, that’s men’s work’ when you’ve got the picture of her or some other woman doing that very job not more than a few months ago.“(104) It would take years for women to regain the foothold they had in the mill during the war, and statistics show that even today there is a dearth of women working the heavier labor jobs at the mill, but a seed of doubt had been planted about the incompetency of women. While national analysts claim that “although the war made rapid changes in women’s economic status, it did not make a lasting or profound diffeence in the public attitude toward women who worked nor did it redifine the sex roles,” (105) this is not entirely accurate in Camas. The mill had always been a community affair, and women were an active part of the community. The companionship they found while at work, and the friendships they made lasted; as did the conviction that they had shown everyone (including themselves) that the women of Camas could work as well as any man.(10)6 Roosevelt wasn’t the only one who was impressed with the women in the work force during World War II.

 

Endnotes

1. Mid-Hudson Regional information center. Report on the Home Front 1996[document online]. Available from http://www.mhric.org/fdr/chat23.html; accessed 28 March, 2000.

2. “Women Told to Take Over Men’s places in Industry,” The Columbian (Vancouver), 6 January 1942, 5.

3. Sara M. Evans, Born for Liberty (New York: The Free Press, 1989), 219.

4. Ibid., 221.

5. Karen Greenspan, The Timetables of Women’s History (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994), 340.

6. Barbara Mayer Wertheimer, We Were There: The Story of Working Women in America (New York: Pantheon Books, 1977), 210.

7. Ibid.

8. Karen Greenspan, The Timetables of Women’s History (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994), 341.

9. Rita Matthews (pseudonym), interview by Elizabeth A. Young, 7 April 2000.

10. Ibid.

11. “War Brings Changes,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 11 December 1941, 1.

12. “Mrs. Berney Appointed to Mill Position,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 4 September 1941, 1.

13. “Paper Mill Employing Many Women,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 3 September 1942, 1.

14. Crown Zellerbach Co. “A Crown Zellerbach Tribute to Courage,” The Years of Paper Autumn 1943, 42-43.

15. “Women Rapidly Replacing Men in Paper-Woolen Mills,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record,17 September 1942 , 1.

16. ” “Committee Named to Nominate C. Of C. Officers,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record,17 September 1942 , 1.

17. “C.W. Mill Employs 50 From Missouri; Need More Women,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 31 December 1942, 1.

18. “No Absenteeism in Paper Mill,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 18 March1943, 8.

19. “C.W. Mill Employs 50 From Missouri; Need More Women,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 31 December 1942, 1.

20. “101 Women Now Doing Men’s Work ar Paper Mill,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 22 April 1943, 1.

21. “Women are Helping to Win War,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 19 August 1943, 1,8.

22. “CWP Mill Asks for Part Time Help,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record,7 September 1944, 1.

23. “Rest and Lunch Rooms at Mill are Remodeled,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 6 January1944, 1.

24. Arthur J. Ritchie,The Pacific Northwest Goes to War, (Seattle: Associated Editors, 1944), 144.

25. “75 Receive Service Pins at Banquet,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record,11 February 1943 , 1.

26. Clark County History 1988,(Fort Vancouver Historical Society),27.

27. “C.Z. Corp. Plans Great War Effort,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record,26 February 1942, 1.

28. Sherna Berger Gluck, Rosie the Riveter Revisited: Women, the War and Social Change (New York: Meridian, 1988), 11.

29. Ibid.

30. “Working Wives No Handicap,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 12 September 1942, 4.

31. “Women Are Ready To Work,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 5 November 1942, 6.

32. Sherna Berger Gluck, Rosie the Riveter Revisited: Women, the War and Social Change (New York: Meridian, 1988), 7.

33. “Jobs Aviailable at Mill,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 23 July 1943, 1.

34.”Paper Mill Employing Many Women,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 3 September 1942, 1.

35. Andy Stevens (pseudonym), interview by Elizabeth A. Young, 11 April 2000.

36. Ibid.

37. Crown Zellerbach Co. “A Crown Zellerbach Tribute to Courage,” The Years of Paper Autumn 1943, 42-43.

38. Rita Matthews (pseudonym), interview by Elizabeth A. Young, 7 April 2000.

39. “Unions Approve Wage Contract,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record,4 June 1942 , 1.

40. “Pay Raises Endorsed by Conference,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 23 September 1943, 1.

41. “4 Day Meet Concluded On Papermills Wage Program,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 13 December 1945, 1.

42. Rita Matthews (pseudonym), interview by Elizabeth A. Young, 7 April 2000.

43. “Local Union Ups Membership Dues,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 9 December 1943, 1.

44. Rita Matthews (pseudonym), interview by Elizabeth A. Young, 30 April 2000.

45. “War Brings Changes,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 11 December 1941, 1.

46. “Union Discusses Potential Labor Shortage,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 4 June 1942, 1.

47. “Paper Mill Employing Many Women,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 3 September 1942, 1.

48. Andy Stevens (pseudonym), interview by Elizabeth A. Young, 11 April 2000.

49. “Many Respond to Appeal for Part Time Mill Work,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 5 August 1943, 1.

50. Andy Stevens (pseudonym), interview by Elizabeth A. Young, 11 April 2000.

51. Sherna Berger Gluck, Rosie the Riveter Revisited: Women, the War and Social Change (New York: Meridian, 1988), 13.

52. “Paper Mill Employing Many Women,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 3 September 1942, 1.

53. “Lions Hear Ewing on Lady Workers,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 14 October 1943, 1.

54. Sara M. Evans, Born for Liberty (New York: The Free Press, 1989), 223.

55. Ibid., 226.

56. Karen Greenspan, The Timetables of Women’s History (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994), 343.

57. “Union Discusses Potential Labor Shortage,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 4 June 1942, 1.

58. “Lions Hear Ewing on Lady Workers,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 14 October 1943, 1.

59. Sara M. Evans, Born for Liberty (New York: The Free Press, 1989), 225.

60. “Women are Helping to Win War,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 19 August 1943, 1,8.

61. Rita Matthews (pseudonym), interview by Elizabeth A. Young, 7 April 2000.

62. Ibid.

63. “Workman’s Safety Committee Meets,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 28 January 1943, 1.

64. “Mill Employes Praised For Time Given to First Aid,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 26 March 1942,1.

65. A.G. Natwick, Organization of a Modern Paper School Which Mills in U.S. and Abroad May Emulate (Camas: Crown Zellerbach Corp.), 1.

66. “Mrs. Berney Appointed to Mill Position,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 4 September 1941, 1.

67. Vera Berney Gault, Is This Tomorrow? (unpublished manuscript), 205.

68. Ibid.

69. “Magazine Features Women in Industry,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record,29 April 1943, 5.

70. Sherna Berger Gluck, Rosie the Riveter Revisited: Women, the War and Social Change (New York: Meridian, 1988), p.13.

71. Rosalyn Baxandall, Linda Gordon and Susan Reverby, America’s Working Women (New York: Vintage Press, 1976), 291.

72. Ibid.

73. “Attention Mothers,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 10 September 1942, 1.

74. “Committee Named to Nominate C. Of C. Officers,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 17 September 1942, 1.

75. “75 Women Now Working In C.W. Paper Mill,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 1 October 1942,1.

76. “Schools May Take Over Operation of Day Nursery,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 22 October 1942, 1,4.

77. “Must Enlarge Pre-School Nursery,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record,26 November 1942,1.

78. “Day Nursery Moving To New Quarters,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record,11 February 1943, 1.

79. “Day Nursery Will Be Reorganized,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record,6 May 1943, 1.

80. “Camas Day Nursery Is Faced With Problem of Continuing Child Care,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 6 September 1945, 11.

81. “Camas Day Nursery Will End Child Care October 31,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 20 September 1945, 1.

82. “Working Mothers Interviewed,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record,27 September 1945, 1.

83. “Day Nursery Gets Time Extension,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record,11 October 1945, 1.

84. Ibid.

85. “More Help Needed at C.W. Paper Mill,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record,6 January 1944, 1.

86. “War Workers O.K. Girdle,”(advertisement) The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 18 May 1944, 9.

87. “Just Sensational Firestone Clohing Values,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 27 April 1944, 10.

88. Sherna Berger Gluck, Rosie the Riveter Revisited: Women, the War and Social Change (New York: Meridian, 1988), 14.

89. “50 Kentuckians Coming to Work in Paper Mill,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record,18 March 1943, 1.

90. “Women Absenteeism Down to Less than 3%,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 20 July 1944, 1.

91. “8 Women Have Perfect Mill Attendence Record,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 3 August 1944,1.

92. “3 CWP Women Have 100% Record,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 20 April 1945,1.

93. “Nursery Is Accepted by C�
amas Folk ,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 1 October 1942, 1.

94. “Paper Mill Employes Work 48 Hours or More to Relieve Labor Shortage,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 8 October 1942, 1.

95. “Army Makes Study Women In Industry,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record,13 May 1943, 5.

96. “Crown Willamette Paper Mill Needs Employees,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 29 June 1944, 1.

97. Ted Van Arsol, Mill Town Methodists (Camas, WA: Camas United Methodist Church, 1998) 37.

98. Rita Matthews (pseudonym), interview by Elizabeth A. Young, 7 April 2000.

99. Ibid.

100. Ibid.

101. “Weaker Sex More Liberal With Their Blood Donations Than Are the Men,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 18 July 1943, 1.

102. “Pulp & Paper Industry in the Essential Activity List,” The Camas-Washougal Post Record, 4 March1943, 1.

103. Andy Stevens (pseudonym), interview by Elizabeth A. Young, 11 April 2000.

104. Ibid.

105. Rosalyn Baxandall, Linda Gordon and Susan Reverby, America’s Working Women (New York: Vintage Press, 1976), 281.

106. Rita Matthews (pseudonym), interview by Elizabeth A. Young, 7 April 2000