The Nail Room
Based in small part on a real-life munitions worker, but primarily a fictitious character, the strong, bandanna-clad “Rosie the Riveter” became perhaps the most iconic image of working women during World War II. Here, a female employee works with a machine to create a nail box. A constant safety concern in industrial environments was how to keep women’s long hair out of the machinery. A bandana wrapped around the head solved the problem easily and inexpensively. A snood, a small bag attached to a band of cloth or hat and worn at the back of the head, turbans and crocheted hair nets were also popular head wear during the 1940s.
