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Scope and Content Note

This series contains a typescript draft, with handwritten revisions, of a "Report on the Cost of Living" and notes used in preparing the report.

The report, by Frank Hatch Streightoff of DePauw University, has sections on: 1. cost of living to single women, including information on homes of factory workers in New York City; board and lodging costs; the importance of savings; availability of spending money for "incidental expenses" such as health care, amusements, and night school; low wages and slow advancement; cost of living estimates from other states; and cost of living estimates prepared by social workers; 2. cost of living to single men, including information on cost of living estimates prepared by social workers and cost of room and board; 3. cost of living for a family -- defined as a working father, a mother keeping house, and three unemployed children -- including information on food prices and nutritional standards; cost of a house; type of housing available in New York City, Buffalo, Syracuse, and Troy; fuel and light costs; clothing costs; and carfare, insurance, health, furnishings, education, recreation, and other costs; 4. workers' living conditions, standards, and apartment floor plans; and 5. statistical tables on earnings and expenditures.

The series also contains typed notes from interviews with workers, mostly women, used as background material for various sections of the report. The notes generally provide information on cost of living, living arrangements, and wages of individuals.