Leaf through the report cards of the women featured in the Permanent Record series (INTERACTIVE).

Leaf through the report cards of the women featured in the Permanent Record series (INTERACTIVE).

Leaf through the report cards of the women featured in the Permanent Record series (INTERACTIVE).

A trove of 1920s report cards and the stories they tell.
Sept. 18 2011 10:12 PM

"Very Ambitious," "Irritable at Times," "Nice Type"

Leaf through the report cards of the women featured in the Permanent Record series.

Use the tool below to leaf through the report cards for 12 of the Manhattan Trade School students featured in the  Permanent Record  series. Each "report card" is actually a packet of several cards detailing the girl's performance—not just in school but also in the workforce. The school had a job placement office that helped the students obtain work, primarily in the garment trades, after they graduated. Read a primer on how to interpret the information  on the report cards.

Paul Lukas specializes in writing about small, overlooked details—like, say, a bunch of report cards in a discarded file cabinet. He's a columnist at ESPN.com, where he writes "Uni Watch," the sports world's foremost (OK, only) column about uniform design. He plans to continue his report card research on the Permanent Record blog.