At a time when gender roles were very strict and women generally did not work outside a few very limited industries, David Rittenhouse, the first director of the US Mint, hired women onto the production staff.  In 1795, Sarah Waldrake and Rachael Summers were hired as adjusters making the US Mint the first federal agency to employ women.

Coin production was a very labor-intensive process in the 1790s and early 1800s. While there were some machines, like the heavy rollers, powered by horses, that f flattened ingots into long strips, most of the work was done by hand and punching out blank coins and then striking them into coins was very hard heavy work.  There was, however, one position that the Mint felt was ideally suited to women: the role of adjuster. The worth of the new US Currency was heavily dependent upon its gold and silver content.  Adjusters weighed blank coins, sending the blanks that were too light back to be remelted and “adjusting” those weighing too much by filing them down.

---

Want to have the
Regimental Brewmeister
at your site or event?

You can hire me.

https://colonialbrewer.com/yes-you-can-hire-me-for-your-event-or-site/