Working hours for civilians

[Hank Trent]

This question came up after a recent event. What would be a typical working schedule, for small-town mechanics in the 1860s? A carpenter, specifically, in this case.

I can find period discussions of hours for factory workers, slaves, prisoners, and when stores were open, but I'm having trouble finding hours for mechanic-type jobs.

The closest I could find was this British article on gardeners, which basically says the author finds they commonly work 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. with about two and a half hours for meals, but the author hopes they'd average 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. with two hours total for meals, or 6 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. in summer due to more daylight.

That's about what I pictured for American laborers also, but is there any hard data? Trying to calibrate my expectations about what an average day's work would be. Also, was there a difference on Saturday?

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: Working hours for civilians

Philip S. Foner's History of the Labor Movement in the United States, Vol. I, p. 218, cites the 1860 Census, among other sources, for the statement, "By 1860, ten hours had become the standard working day for most skilled mechanics and unskilled laborers other than factory workers..." For all workers, the average working day had declined from 12 and a half hours in 1830 to 11 in 1860, though some Massachusetts factories continued to work their people for 13 hours a day till 1865.

On the whole you were better off as a bureaucrat. They worked from nine to four, or nine to three in summer. :)

[Hank Trent]

Re: Working hours for civilians

"By 1860, ten hours had become the standard working day for most skilled mechanics and unskilled laborers other than factory workers..."

Thanks! I wonder if that varied for jobs requiring daylight, such as outdoor carpentry work--longer hours in summer, shorter in winter? Or ten hours in summer, less in winter?

Also, I'm guessing that the ten-hour day actually lasted eleven hours, such as 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., with an hour subtracted for dinner in the middle, to leave ten hours for work.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[brown]

Re: Working hours for civilians

Also remember, with outdoor carpenters for instance, seasonal unemployment was already a concept that appears in period literature, at least to some degree.

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: Working hours for civilians

Of course, a carpenter working for himself might choose his hours -- or have them chosen for him by the amount of work he had in hand. So we can really just talk about ranges.

About days off or time off for lunch, I don't have anything ready at hand, but I would look at Martin's The Standard of Living in 1860, and Engel's The Condition of the Working Class in England, which between the two might provide a reasonable picture. A full day Saturday seems to be the norm and in some occupations (street railway workers in New York, for example) work went on seven days a week.

And I don't know that we can assume as much as an hour for dinner. I've read a few journals of clerks and have not seen a mention of what we would recognize as a lunch hour. I've seen a lot of references to Americans bolting down their food in little time at all (especially when traveling). I get the impression that people ate when they had a few moments during a lull in work -- some had little enough to dine on in any case, perhaps some bread and tea. Office workers might send out for food. Here, for example, is something from Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener":

"Not the least among the employments of Ginger Nut, as well as one which he discharged with the most alacrity, was his duty as cake and apple purveyor for Turkey and Nippers. Copying law papers being proverbially a dry, husky sort of business, my two scriveners were fain to moisten their mouths very often with Spitzenbergs to be had at the numerous stalls nigh the Custom House and Post Office. Also, they sent Ginger Nut very frequently for that peculiar cake—small, flat, round, and very spicy—after which he had been named by them. Of a cold morning when business was but dull, Turkey would gobble up scores of these cakes, as if they were mere wafers—indeed they sell them at the rate of six or eight for a penny—the scrape of his pen blending with the crunching of the crisp particles in his mouth. Of all the fiery afternoon blunders and flurried rashnesses of Turkey, was his once moistening a ginger-cake between his lips, and clapping it on to a mortgage for a seal. I came within an ace of dismissing him then. But he mollified me by making an oriental bow, and saying—'With submission, sir, it was generous of me to find you in stationery on my own account.'"

[Elaine Kessinger]

Re: Working hours for civilians

In the book, The Female Economy, the hours and seasons of dress-makers, milliners, and their seamstresses are discussed. I could submit a few statistics from that source, if it wouldn't be deemed too far off topic.

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: Working hours for civilians

I've already introduced ginger nuts, Elaine, so I doubt that your statistics would be any further off topic. :)

Plus, I'd really be interested -- thanks!

[J. Donaldson]

Re: Working hours for civilians

In rural areas, would the practice of St. Monday still exist? As I was introduced to it, the concept is one of lax hours or slow labor on Monday due to possible indulgences on the weekend, as well as simply talking with your coworkers. While modern experience is a poor judge of period mannerisms, one of my first jobs always had a slow period on Monday morning as we all sat around and caught up from the weekend. Also, would the concept of nooning carry over from farming into rural occupations?

[Hank Trent]

Re: Working hours for civilians

Any and all information is good. Actually, my interest in this topic applies to other jobs too, since it's my general feeling that at homefront events, one thing often missing is the typical, everyday, ordinary working day. Some jobs, such as cooking, are exceptions, because there's really no way to cut back the hours and still serve three meals. But because as reenactors we have no financial incentive to work, since we're not getting paid, and because events are psychologically more like holidays or social gatherings than ordinary workdays, and because our bosses aren't really bosses and have no incentive to get labor from us and may feel uncomfortable giving orders, there seems to be a bias toward portraying the extraordinary: the day off, the holiday, the easiest possible workday, etc. And, of course, it's documentable: people did quit work early, showed up late, took the day off, slacked off, etc.

But without an underlying sense of what an ordinary day was, and without portraying it at least occasionally, the exceptions become the rule, and we wind up with a Ren Faire/Rendezvous fantasy picture of life, where the extraordinary, enjoyable exception is the ordinary. There's also the problem that Sundays feel less like a period Sunday, if there haven't been regular workdays leading up to a day off.

But the first step is figuring out what was ordinary. What hours should I expect to work for a day's pay, when work is plentiful and weather is good?

And the same kind of question, of course, applies to any civilian employee portrayal.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: Working hours for civilians

Just another white collar entry: based on Gibbons' The Banks of New York, which Mr. Berezuk and I looked at before Westville, bankers' business hours ranged from about nine to three. The porter would arrive early to open the vaults and bring out the books for the tellers, then stay late to lock up after everyone had finished their entries on the day's work, but it still sounds like less than an eight hour day. The higher up you went, the more likely you could saunter in a little late and leave a bit early.

On the other end of the spectrum, Fogel and Engerman in Time on the Cross (a controversial and much debated work) state that "The best available evidence is that both slaves and free farmers averaged approximately 70-75 hours of work per week during the peak labor periods of planting, cultivation, and harvesting." (1995 ed., p. 208). This tends to reinforce the idea of a 10-11 hour day for most, despite hideous exceptions like factory production.

[Becky Morgan]

Re: Working hours for civilians

I've been reading Slave Narratives lately, and even given a bit of exaggeration, "can see" to "can't see" would be well over 12 hours a day at this time of year. (40 north latitude and it's still light enough to work outside at 8:30 PM.) It would be difficult to work at most field chores for that long without breaks, so 10-11 hours of actual work sounds right. It's also hard to find a lot of days at midsummer when no thunderstorms get in the way of field work.
I'm more interested in Mr. Trent's original question, posed thus: if you went to the local general store at six-thirty in the evening, would he have the place open? How about at eight in the morning? If the family lived over the store, would that make a difference? Before 1950, local men often lounged on the porch of the general store up the road once they were off work. Once upon a time, Saturday night was the big time for going to town. Was it thus in the period?
Train depots and steamboat wharves seem to have been prime loafing spots for men and boys on hot summer evenings. How late might they have been hanging around there, and are there any period references to clearing out for the night?
Seasonal work is indeed another matter. Coal miners generally assumed they'd be off work from about April until around September, depending on the area, the mine and market conditions, unless their mine served a specific heavy industry like a steel mill. If you read local papers from a mining area, you'll see remarks about this mine starting up again or that one having unusually good work into April or even May.
We think of the current school year being shaped by farming, but in a surprising number of areas, including ours, school let out after Easter and went back sometime in mid to late September, with a fall break for butchering, hunting and late crop work. Belmont County's fair was set up for the second week of September because most of the local threshing was done, while late peaches and apples weren't ripe yet. In some Ohio school districts, there was a summer term "in the slack"--between wheat and corn--so it wouldn't be out of place to mention school then.
When people had no air conditioning or electric light, the rhythm of the work week depended on the weather as much as the season. Taking an outright break might be impractical if there was a lot of work to be done, but leaving the field work for an equally necessary task that could be done in the shade would work.

[Hank Trent]

Re: Working hours for civilians

Excellent questions! Those are also exactly the kinds of things to know.

I'm more interested in Mr. Trent's original question, posed thus: if you went to the local general store at six-thirty in the evening, would he have the place open? How about at eight in the morning? If the family lived over the store, would that make a difference?

For what it's worth, here's Virginia Penny's page on women store employees, and they talk about ten to eleven hours a day, though on p. 131, one mentions eight and a half hours in winter, nine hours in summer, with "their evenings as their own from 6 p.m." Page 126 says the fancy stores on New York avenues "are mostly open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m." and "in some localities most of the goods are sold in the evening." The following page, a similar store is 8 a.m. to 9 or 10 p.m. Page 128, "7 a.m. until 9 p.m. In some stores they are obliged to remain until eleven, and even twelve, in busy seasons," though that's the clerks, so I don't know if they're waiting on customers or stocking after the store's closed.

Those are all city stores, though, so I don't know if it would be the same or different for small-town stores.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[Hank Trent]

Re: Working hours for civilians

Before 1950, local men often lounged on the porch of the general store up the road once they were off work. Once upon a time, Saturday night was the big time for going to town. Was it thus in the period?

This little anecdote, supposed to be about a small-town North Carolina store, implies a couple of things: that the store probably was meant to close at 8 p.m., and that it was also a place for local men to hang out after hours.

It makes sense though that Saturday night would be the night for going to town, staying up late, drinking, etc., since without a two-day weekend, it would be the only night in the week that a worker wouldn't have to get up and go to work the next morning, and also, from sources like this, it looks like the end of the day Saturday would be typically when a worker was paid.

Incidentally, where I'm hoping to apply more of this information is the next incarnation of the Independence Village events, this October (announcement here). The previous event a few weeks ago was a great opportunity to apply all this kind of thing, as far as everyday village life, and I want to be even more prepared for next time.

Without really thinking about it, the other carpenter's assistant and I went down to the store after work Saturday at dusk, where he wanted to buy some tobacco, and we sat on the porch there and drank and talked while he smoked. So that would fit with outdoor laborers quitting at dusk, while stores might be open later. But it all sort of just happened; I'd like to be ready with more background information. For anyone who wants to apply this kind of daily life research to small-town living, I'd highly recommend the event.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[Elaine Kessinger]

Re: Working hours for civilians

From The Female Economy: The Millinery and Dress-making Trades, 1860-1930 by Wendy Gamber University of Illinois Press
* (my comments and clarifications are in parenthesis )
Pg. 81 Fashions came out in spring and fall, making the busiest months March through June and September through December, (as customers wanted the new, updated styles… NOW)
Milliners (and their workers) often had no work at all in the months of January, February, July, and August.

Continuing on page 82:
Other businesses (employing larger numbers of women) also had seasonal work, including cloak makers, shoe workers, book binders, and box makers.
Van Kleeck, Seasonal Industry, 95-96
One girl who had been working (in dress-making or millinery) for six years listed some of the jobs she had taken in the off-season: handkerchief making, paper boxes, ladies’ waists, babies’ hats, buttonholes in sweaters, stock work in a leather-goods factory, canvassing for a music school, taking charge of her brothers’ cleaning and dyeing store, selling hats, sales in a dry goods store, and manufacture of embroidery. (My impression is that this is later than “our” era. )
Page 84:
1860s and 70s milliners might be kept until midnight, five hours beyond a typical 10 hour day.
Dress-makers are at the whims of their customers.
Shops stayed open until 10pm on Saturdays, (meaning the employees stayed too).
Many employees reported inducements like having tea and sandwiches brought in made the seasonal over-time hours bearable. As did the proprietress working along side her workers. (The proprietresses who left early, expecting their workers to stay later were not well thought of.)