Fred Harvey and the Harvey girls

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the management innovations developed and implemented by the Harvey House restaurants with specific attention to those human resource policies and procedures that were created to use what many believe to be the first large-scale use of single women working away from home, the famous Harvey Girls. A second purpose of this paper is to use bricolage theory to frame the innovations that Harvey pioneered to illustrate how the theory pertains to this entrepreneur who civilized dining in the “Wild West.” Design/methodology/approach This paper relies on secondary and archival sources to inform its points and rationale. Findings Fred Harvey applied his experience-gained knowledge to invent a system that would provide meals to railroad travelers along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad that were not only consistently excellent and reasonably priced but also could be served within the tight time limits of train stops for fuel and water. The precision of his service standards was innovative and required trained and disciplined servers. To deliver the quality of service for which his company became known across the “Wild West.” Harvey invented his famous Harvey Girls. Originality/value Fred Harvey’s invention of the Harvey Girls represents the first large-scale employment of women and required the invention of human resource management policies, procedures and processes. This is the story of how this management innovator successfully applied entrepreneurial bricolage to bring civilized dining to the “Wild West.”

Opening the West

This chapter details the selection of Octave Chanute to design and build a lasting bridge across the unbridged Missouri River at Kansas City. The offer to bridge the Missouri, the most difficult of all navigable streams, was a compliment for Chanute, but also a formidable challenge to his ambition as a civil engineer. The completion of the bridge called for the construction of about four hundred miles of connecting roads, bringing urbanization to the Kansas frontier. The thirty-seven-year-old Chanute built this rail system and connected it with eastern railroads, bringing profit to both systems. During the first 230 days of operation, 5,263 locomotives had pulled their load across the bridge, and $5,706 had been collected in tolls from street traffic. The chapter also describes Chanute's appointment as chief engineer of the Missouri River, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad and his involvement in construction of the Kansas City & Santa Fe Railroad, Galveston Railroad, and Atchison & Nebraska Railroad.