WORKING WOMEN IN MAINE.

Sources on Maine working women have been singled out for examination for a variety of reasons. The highly rural-agricultural and coastal-fishing nature of the state's economy necessitates a concept of "worker" broad enough to encompass those employed in non-industrial pursuits. Both published and unpublished secondary works indicate that women have played a varied and significant role in Maine's economy from the colonial period to the present. James Douglas "The Status of Women in New England and New France,"is a brief social and demographic survey of women's conditions in seventeenth century New England and French Canada.In contrast, Helen Coffin Beedy's "Mothers of Maine," contains a wealth of social and economic information on women in Maine in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It includes descriptions of their roles as physicians, teachers, and authors. It also provides biographical sketches of famous Maine-born women as well as data on when and where Maine women first entered previously all-male organizations.