In the early 1880s when conventional wisdom decreed that working women were socially inferior and morally suspect, an English gentleman brought the first of thousands of young women to the American West to work in restaurants along the Santa Fe Railroad line. Preferring the term Harvey Girl to waitress, Fred Harvey recruited single women between the ages of eighteen and thirty to work ten-hour days serving four-course meals in under thirty minutes at Harvey Houses from Kansas to California. Harvey Girls usually lived above the Harvey Houses and were chaperoned by a house mother. Their uniforms were modest, makeup and jewelry were forbidden, and each Harvey Girl signed a year-long contract. In exchange for these stringent rules, a Harvey Girl enjoyed room and board, railroad passes, and job security. In the seventy-year history of the Harvey Houses, more than one hundred thousand women proudly wore the black-and-white uniform of the Harvey Girls. Far from Home is the first of two volumes of paper dolls that feature the authentic uniforms and fashions of the day worn by the Harvey Girls. The text is presented as journal entries, and the historic fashions are based on the holdings of the Arizona State Capitol Museum. Step back in time with Mayetta and Christine as they leave their childhood homes and begin new adventures as Harvey Girls in the 1890s: July 1893: What a flurry of activity and excitement today! Fred Harvey himself came to Las Vegas. He climbed off the train and onto the platform and right into the lunchroom. Everyone knew who he was immediately and scurried to make our service extra good. He spoke with all the girls (even me!) and told us we were doing a fine job. The only complaint I heard was about the orange juice in the cooler. He poured it down the drain and told the cook it had to be freshly squeezed for every meal. For more in the paper doll history of the Harvey Girls, see The Golden Era: West by Rail with the Harvey Girls.
I have lived in the region near Abiquiu, New Mexico for thirty years, sharing this magical place with my husband, Jim, our two children, and a host of dogs and cats. Writing about the place I call home -- Abiquiu and the high desert and mountain country of northern New Mexico -- is both an honor and a gift.
Writing the story of the Harvey Girls and the Santa Fe Railway introduced me to a world of people and places I would never have known about. The books "Valley of Shining Stone" and "Ghost Ranch" are both about my home country, and researching and writing these stories was challenging and remarkable.
I have recently completed a second novel, "Bone Horses." Although not a sequel to my first novel, "Canyon of Remembering," "Bone Horses" does take place in the same part of the world: contemporary but mythical northern New Mexico.
In 2012 I am embarking on a new book adventure -- the story of four women friends who explored the land and people of the American Southwest in the first decades of the 20th century.
For more information about all of my books and projects please visit my website at lesleypoling-kempes.com.
