Making Both Ends Meet: The income and outlay of New York working girls

This volume pulls together the day‑to‑day financial records of dozens of young women who earned a living on their own in early‑twentieth‑century New York. Gathered in modest rooms, boarding houses and night schools, the accounts reveal how wages were spent on rent, food, clothing and occasional pleasures, while also exposing the precarious balance many had to maintain. The editors present the material as a straightforward testimony, letting the women's own words illustrate the challenges of low pay, long hours, and uncertain housing.

The book also shows how these personal histories sparked concrete changes: a major department store introduced a paid day of rest for its female staff, and laundry unions secured a ten‑hour workday and new safety standards. By situating individual budgets within broader labor debates, the work paints a vivid portrait of a side of New York that rarely appears in glossy travel guides. Readers come away with a grounded sense of both the economic constraints and the quiet resilience of the women who made both ends meet.