J.P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller: These are names people think of when they talk about the Gilded Age. But Marm Mandlebaum? Not so much.
Mrs. Mandelbaum recognized that peddling could only keep her afloat, and that from her position very few opportunities would be possible: Being a laundress, a maid, or a prostitute wouldn’t do. Making real money was her goal. “It was here, at the intersection of thrift, stuff, class, and desire, that Fredericka Mandelbaum found her calling,” Fox writes. She cleverly skirted rules as she ascended the socioeconomic ladder.
Mandelbaum was sophisticated in her management skills. She “took great care not to have stolen goods dispatched directly to her shop.” Instead, she had them kept at one of the many properties she rented in and around the city.