I recently completed a finding aid for a scrapbook created by Ruth Leverenz, who documented her twenty year career at Avon Products. I was deeply affected by her story and her personal papers and thought I’d share it.
A little known fact about my profession is that for my work, I read a lot of obituaries. Yes, I do realize how strange that sounds, but when I work on someone’s personal papers it’s necessary for me to write a brief biography to include in the finding aid. This is done to provide context for the collection. The person’s papers themselves are often very useful in creating the narrative of their life, but an obituary is essential. It gives factual information about their birth, their education, their career, their family, and of course their death. This information may not be contained in the collection itself, but can be very useful to a researcher.
What I don’t usually get from an obituary is a sense of who they were as a person or how their families saw them. This can be difficult to ascertain even from the person's collection. However, with Ruth Leverenz I feel I got a real sense of the kind of woman she was and how her family and community were affected by her.
Front cover of Leverenz's Avon scrapbook
When her family donated her collection to Hagley, in addition to providing us with a copy of the obituary (though it is easily discoverable online and may be read here), two of her granddaughters wrote brief statements sharing their memories of ‘Nannie.’
I am a little embarrassed to say, I cried when I read the obituary and their memories. I don’t usually get choked up reading an obituary from someone I don’t know, who died ten years ago, at an old age (she was 94), through non-tragic circumstances (she died in her sleep). But cry I did, because what came across in the obituary was an amazing woman. A woman who faced and overcame hardships. A widowed single mother who supported her family by starting a new career in the 1950's! A woman who brought her family together, and inspired them.
Ruth Leverenz was born on a farm in Illinois in 1912, married in 1928, and was widowed in 1954. She was 41 years old with four children, two of which were still young. She sold off her farm equipment and moved into town. She was working as a cook at a local restaurant when she saw an advertisement looking for Avon sales representatives. Her granddaughter writes: “Looking for opportunities she filled out an application, checked ‘high school diploma’ (even though she was just shy of one) and waited. Once Nannie was hired she set off with the energy and enthusiasm of someone who knew what she needed to do to get ahead.”
From her scrapbook, I could see the hard work and dedication on the pages, and how she committed herself to her new job from the start. The first page of her scrapbook contains a photograph of her on her first day as an Avon sales representative. Her granddaughter describes what I see in the photograph: “Nannie was dressed to the nines when she went to sell and deliver. Bright lipstick, perfume, fingernail polish, earrings, and a nice dress were a must. I always felt there was a certain glamour she brought to the job.”
Leverenz on her first day of her Avon sales route.
The pages are filled with awards recognizing her outstanding achievements as she was consistently one of the top sales agents for Avon. Again her granddaughter says it best:
“No one could equal my grandmother for her love of people and hard work. Hardly a stranger to hard work having been a farmer's wife she dug in and starting visiting people and introducing Avon products. Not only did she sell in the small town of Milford, Illinois she traveled the countryside of Iroquois county where she was a welcome visitor to the many farm wives who on many days saw no one but their families. When Nannie arrived they were greeted with a smile, Avon products and a bit of the goings on of the community. This was often the highlight of their day and respite from the many farm chores. I am certain that many/most women bought the products to assure themselves a visit from my grandmother. Earthy, fun, and with a gift for the gab she was the most maternal woman I ever knew and people trusted her and entrusted her with the most important events in their lives.”
Both her granddaughters remember helping her bag the orders. They both describe it as a treat or being fortunate to get to do it. They describe her vibrance and her personality. One writes:
“... [I]t seemed like there were hundreds of them. When she started dating Harry (her soon-to-be second husband), I remember that while we were delivering orders she would sing in the car and my favorite song she sang was “I’M JUST WILD ABOUT HARRY AND HARRY’S WILD ABOUT ME!” I can still hear it in my mind and can still sing it. I’ll sing it for you sometime!”
Her obituary says, “Ruth was happiest when surrounded by her family, including her 11 grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren and six great-great-grandchildren.” While this is something I read often in obituaries, this time, I felt it was really true! And I felt the loss of a woman whose warmth, kindness, and zest for life affected her family and community in positive and everlasting ways.
Leverenz's Avon sales representative contract, 1958.
The scrapbook in Hagley's collection is full of cards and letters from Avon congratulating her on her success and for being a valuable sales representative. When I looked into what it is like to be an Avon sales rep, I found that it is consistently described as owning your own small business. Being an Avon representative was her sole means of income.
Another part of my job is to state ways in which a collection could be useful to researchers. The collection provides insight into methods of direct selling, the daily work of an Avon representative, and the experience of women in small business. As her granddaughter writes, "Avon changed her life in such a positive way. She was a champion seller and very valuable to Avon. I did not realize at the time that I was watching a very successful businesswoman."
You can see the full finding aid here.
Laurie Sather is the Audiovisual Archivist at the Hagley Museum and Library.