When the Civil War broke out in 1861, the United States government needed access to capital to pay thousands of army recruits. For the first time in U.S. history, President Abraham Lincoln authorized the Department of the Treasury to print currency in house. To meet demand, the Treasury hired women to fill the positions of male clerks who had been drafted into the Union Army.
Before the war, paper currency had been printed by private banks in New York. Angered by the loss of business, the contractors instigated a scandal — spreading word of irregularity in Treasury business and immorality among the men and women employed there. These charges were brought before a special congressional committee under future President James Garfield, but were not upheld.
This hand-colored print from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper is based on a photograph of the press room in the Bureau of Printing and Engraving. It depicts rows of women printing bonds and bank notes — called “demand notes” because they were redeemable in coin upon demand.
Frances E. Spinner, who served as Treasurer of the United States from 1861 to 1875, later said: “The fact that I was instrumental in introducing women to employment in the government gives me more satisfaction than all other deeds in my life.” In the Treasury Department of the Confederacy, government employment was also available to women.
