Harris (Jennie) papers, 1902-1972

Born in Vilna, Lithuania; immigrated to the U.S. and lived briefly in San Francisco, before settling in Oakland (1903). She went to work at an early age to help support her family. She established the No-D-Lay Transfer, Express, and Storage Company (1915), a long distance hauling and storage business, in Oakland, Calif. In the late 1920s, she opened a used furniture store. She also wrote songs and was a secretary of the Authors and Composers Club (1935).

Collection consists primarily of a typed manuscript of Harris’ detailed and evocative autobiography, in which she describes her early life and her experience as a businesswoman in the 1920s and 1930s. The collection also includes newspaper and magazine clippings about Harris’ business (many of which focus on the “woman as business owner” angle of her story) and some of Harris’ songs and other miscellaneous papers.