The African American beauty collection of the Schlesinger Library contains brochures, catalogs, price lists, advertisements, and product labels for health and beauty products targeting African American women; photographs of Black beauty pageant winners; and Black beauty pageant brochures, application forms, contest rules, and advice for contestants. Advertising circulars and one catalog promoting Gold Medal Hair Products (founded in 1942 in the New York City area to provide hair and skin products for African American women) are included.

Mildred Levine Albert was an international fashion consultant, educator, lecturer, columnist, producer of fashion shows, and radio/TV personality. She founded the Academie Moderne, a modeling and finishing school in Boston, in 1936. She was also co-director of the Hart Model Agency and produced thousands of fashion shows over the course of her career.

Dressmaker and designer Theresa Balog was born in Hungary. She had her own shop in Budapest and also worked in ateliers in Germany. At the outset of World War II, she returned to Hungary and continued to design and make clothing. In 1962 she immigrated to the United States and worked as a seamstress. After her retirement she continued to sew as a volunteer with the American Friends Service Committee. This collection includes her sketchbook of dress designs.

Using her home kitchen as a laboratory, Bishop developed a nondrying, nonirritating, long-wearing lipstick and subsequently formed the cosmetics company Hazel Bishop, Inc., in 1948. After leaving the company due to internal conflict, Bishop developed other products including a leather cleaner, a foot care product, and a solid perfume stick. In 1978, she took a teaching position in the cosmetics, fragrances, and toiletries department of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. She was appointed to the Revlon chair in cosmetics marketing in 1980.

Connell edited and wrote for fashion and beauty publications including the Delineator (1920-1923), Charm (1923-1925), and You (1936-1941). She was also a freelance writer for Condé Nast publications (1941-1960).

The collection includes catalogs, pamphlets, brochures, advertisements, trade cards, and instruction manuals for employees and customers from a number of corset manufacturers including Royal Worcester, American Beauty, Nemo Corset, Hahns Corset, Warner's, Formfit, Spencer, Bortree, Ball's Corsets, Jackson's, and Barcley. Also included is a ticket to the Nemo Corset Specialities exhibit at the World's Fair in St. Louis; a diploma for a corset hygienist; a program for the Empire State Corset Club; a testimonial by an orthopedist promoting Nemo Corsets; a flyer entitled A Support for Use during Maternity Period; and price lists.

Dorothy Dignam was an active member of the Advertising Women of New York, serving as its historian. Her advertising work focused on fashion, beauty, and homemaking. She spent the 1920s in Europe promoting consumer relations and home appliances, then worked in Philadelphia during the 1930s and in New York City during World War II.

Captivated by fashion at an early age, Donovan graduated from Parsons School of Design in 1950 and worked as a reporter for the New York Times and later as an editor for Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and the New York Times Magazine. Instantly recognizable by her oversized eyeglasses, Donovan starred in several Old Navy commercials in the late 1990s.

Phyllis Hanes was women’s editor of the Boston Herald Traveler from 1954 to 1967 and later worked as a feature writer and food editor for the Christian Science Monitor. She traveled widely and wrote on a variety of topics, including cuisine, gardening, fashion, and the environment.

Isabel Dowden Johnson Hiss worked as a model in New York City and in Paris and was photographed by Louise Dahl-Wolfe, Edward Steichen, and Alfred Stieglitz, among others, and modeled for illustrator Rene Boucher. She was the health and beauty editor for Glamour magazine (1943-1945) and the New York Times (1945-1946). She was married three times: to a merchant marine, to screenwriter Lester Cole (one of the Hollywood Ten blacklisted during the McCarthy era), and to accused Soviet agent Alger Hiss. Her papers include family and fashion photographs; diaries; published articles; correspondence; and biographical information.

A public relations and advertising coordinator, Sue Komings worked in the fashion industry in New York City, including for companies and trade organizations such as Woolens and Worsteds of America, Fashion Tress, Mutual Shoe Sales Company, and Cultured Pearl Associations of America and Japan. This collection consists of a dismantled scrapbook containing clippings, correspondence, press releases, photographs, programs, and brochures. Of special interest is the Fashion Tress campaign marketing wigs for African American women in conjunction with Ebony magazine.

Anna Mary Curtis Morris was the sister of fashion designer Madame Ellen Louise Curtis Demorest (1824-1898). Demorest is credited with the invention of the mass produced tissue paper dress pattern. The collection consists of a scrapbook documenting Demorest's life and career. (Also included is a statement by a prisoner at Old Capitol Prison, Washington, D.C. about his life.)

Lynne O'Neill was born Elaine Jose Nolan in Baltimore, Maryland, on March 8, 1918, to Allan and Josephine Nolan. The family moved to Evanston, Illinois, where O'Neill graduated Evanston Township High School in 1935. During World War II, O'Neill performed as an entertainer for the United Service Organizations (USO). O'Neill worked as a model and a dancer under the stage name Lynne O'Neill, and began performing in Chicago as a burlesque dancer, where she developed a routine featuring her garters. She became known as "The Original Garter Girl." O'Neill traveled throughout the United States and Mexico, and had minor roles in musicals, movies, and radio shows. She moved to Lynbrook, New York, in the 1950s, where she continued her burlesque career. O'Neill was arrested in March 1960 for possessing and distributing nude photographs of herself, later serving four days in prison. She had a role in the movie "Secrets of an Uncover Model" and also wrote a column "Burlesque Backstage" for the men's magazine Man to Man. In 1972, O'Neill and her mother Josephine Nolan moved to Hempstead, New York, and opened a real estate brokerage office. O'Neill, working under her given name Elaine Nolan, also served on the board of the Hempstead Chamber of Commerce and was the president of the Country Club Estates Civic Association. She died on August 5, 2010. Collection contains one album of photographs featuring model and burlesque dancer Lynne O'Neill. O'Neill is depicted wearing fashionable clothing, burlesque-style costumes, and bathing suits. There are several nude portraits. In some, O'Neill is depicted dancing and stripping; she is also shown posing in a pinup style. Some photographs are taken outdoors at a beach. The album also includes two promotional cards for O'Neill's shows at the Village Paradise and Tony Pastor's in New York City.

Helen Diane Perlin grew up in Richmond, Virginia. When she was a senior in high school, she completed a homework assignment titled "My Career as a Buyer," analyzing the career of a department store buyer. Perlin notes that a department store buyer's responsibilities include "supervision of the operations of her department store in every respect," and that the buyer's duties change "from season to season because she buys different types of clothing at different seasons of the year."

Collection consists of a manuscript periodical entitled "The Post Office" (Jan. 19, 1852) including more than twenty contributions, most of them by school students. The paper contains pieces on women's clothing, and "the Bloomer dress."

Dorothy Roebuck, an African American fashion designer, was born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1923, the daughter of Malry and Elizabeth Roebuck. She had four siblings. She graduated from Dunbar High School and worked as a civilian typist at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base during World War II. She studied fashion at the Dorothy Edwards School of Design and Dressmaking in Newark, New Jersey, and the Traphagen School of Fashion in New York City, and was the junior partner in the Dorothy Edwards Originals shop in Ralway, New Jersey, which specialized in custom-made clothes. In the mid 1950s, Roebuck began exhibiting her designs at fashion shows held at the Dayton Strivers Club, a social club for African Americans in Dayton, Ohio. Some of these shows also featured the work of Dorothy Edwards. Roebuck also displayed her work in shows in New Jersey and New York. Her designs were well received at these shows, but she was not able to support herself by her design work. She worked for the New Jersey Housing Authority for eighteen years before retiring. Roebuck died in 2017. Collection includes black and white photographs of models at fashion shows in New Jersey and Ohio featuring Dorothy Roebuck's designs. Many photographs are stapled to construction paper mounts and in several cases the models' faces are obscured by gold stars. Programs for the fashion shows are also included and contain biographical information for the designers. Fashions include casual and play clothes; suits and afternoon attire; and cocktail and evening dresses.

Dorothy Shaver began working for the department store Lord & Taylor in 1921 and became its president in 1945. Speeches, articles, clippings and correspondence reflect Shaver's interest in fashion, design, and world affairs. This collection also includes speeches she delivered at American Design Awards luncheons.

Miriam Tane worked as an organizer for the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union and later as a fashion copy writer for a New York City advertising company. Her work appeared in Vogue and other high fashion magazines.

Esther Sidney Stanton, daughter of Thomas Fernley Fawcett and Sidney Ann Bonsai Fawcett, was born in Salem, Ohio, on September 23, 1882. She married Elwood Dean Stanton on July 28, 1909. They lived in Westtown, Pennsylvania, first at Westtown School where Elwood was business manager, and later in town when he became county commissioner. The Stantons had 5 children, 4 daughters and one son. In 1928, Esther received a diploma from the domestic arts correspondence school of the Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences in the complete dressmaking and designing course. She was also an active member of the Middletown Friends Meeting and served on the board of the Chester County Hospital Auxiliary. Esther Sidney Stanton died May 16, 1962. The Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences collection of Esther Sidney Stanton contains printed material and letters to Stanton from the Institute; examinations taken by Stanton; Stanton's diploma; and samples of Stanton's course work including drawings of dresses and needlework samplers, many with feedback from instructors.

Collection includes promotional brochures for Studio Girl Hollywood Coiffure Blend Permalon hairpieces; a song book, order forms, and blank identification cards, etc., for Studio Girl Cosmetics saleswomen.

Emma Jane Thiebaud was born in Illinois in 1924, the daughter of Oscar Julius Thiebaud and Mary Melba (Anderson) Thiebaud. In 1946, Thiebaud was interested in moving to New York City and modeling with the Barbizon Studio of Fashion Modeling. She was accepted at the Studio but it is not clear that she attended. In 1947 she married Andrew Stelich; they had five children. Thiebaud died in 2020. The Barbizon Studio of Fashion Modeling collection of Emma Jane Thiebaud consists of letters to Emma Jane Thiebaud from Helen Fraser, the studio's director, and informational pamphlets sent by Fraser to Thiebaud. In her letters, Fraser responds to Thiebaud's request for information about the Studio, acknowledges receipt of Thiebaud's completed "Model's Questionnaire," and notes that if Thiebaud's stated measurements are accurate, she qualifies "quite naturally" for modeling, albeit with "some modifications." Fraser further notes that Thiebaud's photographs indicate that she is "visually attractive and pictorially decorative--a type in quite popular demand for most phases of modeling." She also notes the financial security that a career in modeling provides and the expert training that Barbizon offers, promising that Thiebaud will "acquire a flair for elegance, a quality of smartness and distinction to make you truly outstanding." Later letters include Fraser's acknowledgment of Thiebaud's desire to defer her attendance at the school, and concern at not hearing further from her. Barbizon Studio pamphlets sent to Thiebaud include "A Primer on Modeling for Girls Who Aspire to Model...and Their Parents;" an informational pamphlet describing types of modeling and the Studio's training program; and a list of recommended hotels.

Between 2001 and 2008, artists Tiffany Ludwig and Renee Piechockiy traveled across the United States asking groups of women the question: What do you wear that makes you feel powerful? They talked with more than 500 women and girls, from age four to ninety-two, and from a wide range of backgrounds. The result was a project (including interviews, exhibitions a book, and a website) called Trappings: Stories of Women, Power and Clothing. The Two Girls Working Collection consists of postcards, posters, and other publicity and printed material about Trappings.

Tyler studied art at the Worcester Museum of Art (1936-1938) and the Vesper George School of Art in Boston and went on to run an interior design company. In 1985 she was hired to oversee the renovation of the chambers of the Maine state legislature. Her papers include drawings and fashion designs.

Lilla Bell Viles-Wyman was a young woman from the Boston area. This collection consists of eight small notebooks (May-Oct. 1893) detailing Viles-Wyman's travels to and sojourns in Lake Placid, N.Y., and New York City, including accounts of sightseeing, theater, dance lessons in New York, and discussions of dressmaking and fashion; programs, sketches, and swatches of fabric are included. The journals have been digitized on the Schlesinger's Flickr Commons page.

Sallie Joy White was Boston’s first woman journalist. She covered women’s suffrage conventions for the Boston Post and provided advice on fashion and household problems for the Boston Herald, as well as covering local news and women’s rights activities.

Ada E. Worthington founded Cape Cod Fishnet Industries, which had women’s boutiques in Massachusetts, New York City, California, and Florida. Her fishnet products, including dresses and scarves, were featured in numerous fashion magazines and were sold in 21 stores in New York City.