The author, Virginia Penny, dedicated this book, “To Worthy and Industrious Women in the United States, striving to earn a livelihood”.

In the preface she explained that she researched and wrote this book to help women to earn a respectable livelihood. She said that, “the few employments that have been open to women are more than full. To withdraw a number from the few markets of female labor already crowded to excess, by directing them to avenues where they are wanted, would thereby benefit both parties.” The book was written during the Civil War, and she wrote that, “a million of men are on the battle field, and thousands of women, formerly dependent on them, have lost or may lose their only support.” But the need for jobs for women was not a temporary condition that would end with the war. She is intent in helping to open up to women occupations customarily closed to them. She also strongly advocates “… the plan of every female having a practical knowledge of some occupation by which to earn a livelihood.” “If a female is not taught some regular occupation by which to earn a living, what can she do, when friends die, and she is without means?”

The author collected the information in this volume in New York City from 1859 to 1961. She corresponded with or visited hundreds of workplaces, and talked to managers and employees. The work contains 533 articles; more than 500 of them descriptions of occupations in which women were or could be engaged, with descriptions of working conditions, effects on the health, wage rates, a comparison of wages for men and women, time required to learn the business, and other information. Although this book covered work in New York City rather than in the Great Lakes states, it is assumed that mid-western towns and cities had similar industries and occupations.