Campaigns of Curiosity: Journalistic Adventures of an American Girl in London

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By Listen TheBook Posted on Jun 1, 2023

In Category - Memoirs, Social Science (Culture & Anthropology)

Authors: Elizabeth L. Banks In Year : 1894

Book Language: English

Audiobook: Campaigns of Curiosity: Journalistic Adventures of an American Girl in London

Preface
In Cap and Apron: "Liberty" and "Independence"
In Cap and Apron: Seeking a Situation
In Cap and Apron: "Elizabeth Barrows," Housemaid
In Cap and Apron: Rough Places "Smoothed Over"
In Cap and Apron: Without a "Character"
In Cap and Apron: Parlourmaid to Mrs. Brownlow
In Cap and Apron: My Last Days in Service
In Cap and Apron: The Merits of Domestic Service
The "Almighty Dollar" in London Society: Advertising for a Chaperon
The "Almighty Dollar": Offers of Marriage
The "Almighty Dollar": What It would Cost
The "Almighty Dollar": Interesting Antecedents
The Price of a Pedigree
Sweeping a Crossing
A Day with the Flower-Girls
Among the Laundry-Girls: Why and How I Became One of Them
Among the Laundry-Girls: At Work in a "Sanitary Laundry"
Among the Laundry-Girls: A Contest with Flat-Irons
Among the Laundry-Girls: The Day of My Resignation
Among the Laundry-Girls: "Soap-Suds Island" and the East-End

Elizabeth Banks was an American journalist who, at about age 23, moved to London. While trying to break into English journalism and to keep the wolf from the door, she struck upon the idea of hiring out as a housemaid in some London household and writing about her experiences. Subsequently, she became a street sweeper, flower-seller, and a laundress. On the flip side, she advertised as an heiress and demonstrated how easy it was for a wealthy American to "buy a pedigree" and entry into the higher social circles. This book is her relation of these experiences.
These were her public-facing accounts. She gives a more personal, behind-the-scenes version in The Autobiography of a Newspaper Girl. - Summary by TriciaG