Olsen, Allison2011-11-012011-11-012011http://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/10090This thesis looks at women's consumerism in a rural western town between 1909 and 1944 through the lens of the McGovern Sisters' Dry Goods Store in Virginia City, Montana. To fully understand the store and its significance to the women of Madison County, the McGovern Sisters' Dry Goods Store building and the objects within, the cultural landscape of Virginia City, historic maps and photographs, the McGovern store records, and census records are analyzed. At a time when mass consumerism was changing customer expectations, and increasing business competition, the McGovern sisters found ways to keep their business in operation. The sisters did this by combining traditional business practices, including bartering and long-term credit, with modern ones developed by department store and mail-order companies. The sisters were savvy business owners, able to find ways to reach and serve their customers, and to stay in operation despite a rapidly declining economy. The McGovern sisters and their customers needed to operate within a masculine environment, etching out their own role and space within the town, with the McGovern Sisters' Dry Goods store being one of the only female centered spaces in town. The building was adapted by the sisters to create two spaces: a public commercial space that was that was accessible and attractive to women, and their own private residential space that displayed middle-class respectability and values. This thesis shows that interpreting women's history should have a larger presence at museums and historic sites in the inter-mountain west, and the McGovern Sisters' Dry Goods Store is an ideal space in which to interpret women's western history.Women -- Montana -- Virginia City -- History -- 20th century.Women-owned business enterprises -- Montana -- Virginia City -- History -- 20th century.Retail trade -- Montana -- Virginia City -- History -- 20th century.Virginia City (Mont.) -- Commerce -- History -- 20th century.Businesswomen -- Montana -- Virginia City -- History -- 20th century.Thesis