Lewis Hotel Training School: Service Pantry Girl/Salad Girl (1926)

A recent donation brought us thirty-four booklets or “lessons,” from the Lewis Hotel Training School. Each item focuses on one lesson relating to the skills and activities associated with specific hotel jobs. The positions range from “silver and glass pantry workers” to “counter man or girl” to “house detective.” Each item provides an overview of the positions and the skills needed to successfully do the job.

In 1920, Clifford M. Lewis opened the Lewis Hotel Training School. Lewis was familiar with the hotel industry, as his father managed hotels around the country, and young Lewis followed in his father’s footsteps. For about 10 years starting in 1906, Lewis was the proprietor of the Powhatan Hotel, which was located two blocks from the White House. During his time there, he was interviewed by the Washington Post in October 1912 about the waiters’ strike that hit his hotel. A somewhat successful waiters’ strike had taken place earlier the same year in New York City.

For a period, Lewis was regularly featured in Washington newspapers either invia advertisements for his hotels or because of his various court cases. The Washington Times reported on April 12, 1902, that his dog had attacked a man riding a bike on his way home. The victim filed suit and Lewis was “given the opportunity to secure witnesses to show the peaceful and law-abiding character of his dog.” Interestingly, in 1914, Lewis was driving his car and hit Harry Taliafero knocking him to the ground. Taliafero sued for damages.

As early as October 1919, Lewis posted in the Evening Star that he wanted to rent a building to house a “resident training school for hotel executives.” The Lewis Hotel Training School offered training in Washington D. C., but they also provided a correspondence program, which was advertised in newspapers around the country including Sacramento, Fort Worth, Hartford, and Little Rock. Over time, Lewis expanded the offerings of the school to include four training programs: Complete Lewis Hotel Training Course, Lewis Cafeteria and Tea Room Course, Lewis Hotel Accountancy Course, and Lewis Cookery Courses. A selling point of the programs was the placement program with contacts around the country.

The program seemed to become quite popular. Job hunters referenced their credentials as a Lewis Hotel Training School graduate when placing ads for employment. In the 1920s, the school’s instructor list was extensive including, in 1926, Charles P. McCormick, the future president of McCormick & Co. spice company, was a lecturer on the topic of “Romance in Spices.”

Published in 1926, lesson 27 of the Lewis Hotel Training Course focuses on the duties of a service pantry girl and a salad girl. Did I mention that my first job was as a salad girl? The 23-page booklet provides an overview of the positions as well as tips on preparing fruits and vegetables, care of cheese, an overview of popular salads, and recipes for salad dressing in bulk and for individual servings. At the end of the publication, there’s a list of self-test practice questions with final tests arriving at a future date. Sample questions for this issue include: How does the service pantry girl begin her duties intelligently? Why is breakfast an important meal for the pantry girl? Name two types of salad dressing which are the basis of other dressings?

Special Collections at Southern Miss has 34 lessons for the correspondence classes offered by the Lewis Hotel Training Schools that were published between 1926 and 1930. If you’d like to learn more about these resources, visit Special Collections Monday-Friday from 9 a. m. to 4 p. m. or contact Jennifer Brannock at Jennifer.Brannock@usm.edu or 601. 266. 4347.

Text by Jennifer Brannock, Curator of Rare Books & Mississippiana.