ABSTRACT
Beginning in the late nineteenth century, a small number of financial institutions in the United States – the Fifth Avenue Bank of New York; the First National Bank of Chicago; the American Security and Trust Company in Washington, DC; as well as banks in cities like Rochester, New Haven and Spokane – started ‘women’s departments’.1 They catered to the middle and wealthy classes by offering separate spaces for women to escape from the hustle and bustle of the busy street or jostling by busy men in the main banking rooms. The Garfield National Bank in New York informed ‘ladies’ that the rooms meant that ‘they do not have to come in contact with the general customers and business of the bank’.2 The rooms included divans and upholstered chairs, writing tables, flowers and (when available) telephones. A flyer for the Fifth Avenue Bank in New York described ‘a comfortable and completely appointed reception room, warmed in chilly days by an open fire and attended by a maid who has had twenty years’ experience in this one department’.3 The homey spaces sounded (and looked) like parlours, sometimes quite luxurious. Women were invited to conduct their business in a leisurely manner or to meet acquaintances there. It is clear from the locations of banks and the description of the departments that the invitation was for a particular class of women, namely ladies of leisure.4
