Shop

The year was 1886 and Persis Foster Eames Albee had just celebrated her 50th birthday when she accepted a job with David H. McConnell to work for his new endeavor, the California Perfume Company. McConnell, a former door-to-door bookseller, originally made perfume as a gift for his customers. When he discovered that the perfume was becoming more popular than books, McConnell and his wife, Lucy, started a perfume business which would one day become Avon. He hired Mrs. Albee, a genteel woman of considerable spirit and style to be the first door-to-door perfume saleswoman and the first Avon lady. Soon her traveling took her far beyond her small New Hampshire hometown. As the first General Traveling Agent, she recruited other ladies, like herself, to work for the company. Thirty-four years before women were given the right to vote, Mrs. Albee succeeded in bringing women into the mainstream of commercial life. Mrs. Albee saw no reason to alter her fashionable attire because of the rigors of traveling. Quite the contrary. Her elegant clothing proved that to be successful, one must look the part. Mrs. Albee is seen in front of a 19th century Victorian home on a sunny spring day. She has just completed a successful sale and is ready to continue up the street to greet the next customer and make the next sale. She carries her product in her handsome valise. For Mrs. Albee, the first Avon lady, it wasn't just another day...it was what she loved to do.