This charming collection of early 20th-century promotional material advertises the fine vegetable silk hosiery offered by the Michigan-based Muskegon Silk Mills.

The collection mainly consists of various proof materials intended for a promotional brochure or pamphlet (though we are unable to locate the finished product). Included are 18 crisp, professional photographs documenting the mill’s primarily female workforce and its various operations. The photographs, completed by the commercial photo firm Ladd and Son, are reminiscent of the work of Lewis Hine. Many of these images appear in the mimeographed layout of the brochure, which is included in the collection, along with a four page typescript of the text, and several photo-lithograph proofs.

There are a number of photographs of the knitting department, about which the accompanying copy breathlessly declares, “‘What perfect light and pure air!’ you say.’ Yes, the girls that are knitting your stockings, when they raise their eyes from their work, ook out of the windows upon Muskegon Lake, one of the most beautiful lakes in the middle west…Your wonder grows as you watch the machines, for they seem almost human. Round and round they whirl, so fast your eye cannot follow…”

Also included are views of the looping, dyeing, finishing, correspondence, order filling, shipping, and stenographic departments. Of the latter, the copy gushes, “Here under most sanitary conditions the cheery click of the typewriter is carrying to you our earnest good wishes for your success in your work.”

One interesting aspect of the company, which is noted in the promotional material, is the presence of its female sales manager, Aurelia Malloch. There is a lovely portrait of her included in the collection, as well two typed pages of cash receipts with a note indicating the drastic increase in sales after Malloch became sales manager. Born in 1876, Aurelia Malloch was the sister of the author and Douglas Malloch, who was dubbed “the lumberman’s poet.” As he was involved with his sister’s business endeavors, it is possible he composed the florid, poetic prose of the copy.

In 1912, Aurelia Malloch left the Muskegon Mills to open her eponymous knitting mill. An article from that year in the Lansing State Journal, headlined “Woman Manages Knitting Company,” declares that, “a new knitting company operated, managed, and the sales, product and finances handled by a woman is the latest innovation in Grand Rapids commercial world.” The article goes on to note that “She is recognized as one of the most successful business women in the country and is known from coast to coast to the knitting trade.”