The Harvey Girls: Women Who Opened the West

March 07, 2019 Posted by: Tom Dewey, Librarian

The Harvey Girls: Women Who Opened the West, by Lesley Poling-Kempes. New York: Marlowe and Company, 1989

For several decades, beginning in the 1880s, Harvey Girl waitresses went west to work in Fred Harvey’s restaurants along the Santa Fe railway. They went west as waitresses, but many stayed and helped settle struggling cattle and mining towns that dotted the Southwest region. Lesley Poling-Kempes brings this entire era to life with her research and interviews of former employees.

The years which saw Fred Harvey and the railroad at their combined greatest also witnessed the transformation of the Southwest from a largely unknown desert and mountain wilderness to a popular region of small, thriving cities, a region that became a mecca for American and foreign tourism.

Harvey employees were known for their loyalty to their company. The author explains the loyalty factor as she discusses her interviews with former Harvey employees: “Harvey Girls and their colleagues eagerly discussed all aspects of their work. And they worked hard. They put in ten-hour days and six and seven day weeks. Their work in Harvey restaurants and hotels was physical and demanding, as serving the public (especially the travel-weary public) always is. But the comradery within the system provided a major source of support and energy to all who worked at the Harvey Houses.”

Anyone interested in the history of the American southwest, railroad history, American culture, or just Americana, should find this book quite fascinating.