Katharine Gibbs had the fortune of being born into a well-to-do family, as well as marrying a man who gave her a pleasant financially stable life. She also had the misfortune of twice becoming poor after her father died without leaving a will, and her husband died without leaving a will. That was it for her! No more was she going to depend on a man for financial stability, and she was going to help other women become financially secure on their own, too. Not only that, but she was going to turn other women into executive secretaries, who would always be on the lookout for advancement and outstanding achievements of their own.

She accomplished her dream by starting a school that was a combination of a secretarial school, a liberal arts college and a finishing school. Her women would not only be able to flawlessly write, type and take shorthand, but also be highly knowledgeable in the arts, social sciences and rules of etiquette. In addition, they would wear hats, heels and white gloves. Their living quarters would be luxurious, their social events would be dazzling, their classes demanding and challenging. Many of their students had already graduated from prestigious women's colleges, but now needed direction on getting a job.

While the "Gibbs girls" had some difficulties finding jobs during certain time periods, such as during the depression, most other times there were unlimited job offers, such as when men were off to war; or during the 1950s, when most women bought the belief that being wives and mothers were the only jobs a woman should have. Not only were executive secretary jobs found, but other fabulous jobs in publishing, politics, entertainment, the military, etc. Many graduates obviously bought Katharine Gibbs dream of reaching for the highest star possible. This book is filled with one success story after another. I had to read the stories in installments, however, because reading one after another started seeming a bit tedious. Yet all were interesting and impressive.

(Note: I received a free e-ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher.)

Katharine Gibbs was 46 years old when her husband died and left her with nothing. Because he left no will, she had to go to court to get guardianship of her children. This was the last straw in a long line of life ruining events she’d endured because of the men in her life. Her father died without leaving a will, and her brothers sold the house and property out from under her and her sister.

She finally decided to take her life into her hands. She established the Katharine Gibbs School in the 1910s to help women take control of their own destinies. The school was the most elite business training school in the world for young women for 50 years. Gibbs girls were known to be knowledgeable, professional and proficient in any task they took on. They were also fashionable, polite and well-versed in a series of topics from history to art to business.

While it may have looked like a secretarial school on the outside, Mrs. Gibbs was teaching much more than typing and shorthand. She was preparing her students to compete for corporate jobs way above secretary. She created a revolution in the business world and helped countless women achieve goals that were way above anyone would have given them an opportunity for otherwise.

Ms. Krefft’s book is history that reads like a novel. It’s well researched and draws you right into the time period of the story. Expect Great Things is a fine tribute to a woman whose quiet revolution changed the world of women for the better. I’m glad she’s finally getting her due.

I received an advance copy of this book from Net Galley and am happy to leave this 5-star review.

A wonderful inspiring read.!,reading the story of Katherine Gibbs a woman whose name I recognize but knew nothing about was awe inspiring.The women who tell their personal stories were so interesting so much to admire.#netgalley #algonquin

An introspective look at a school that gave women skills and knowledge to make their way in the world.
The story of the school’s founder is a remarkable one. I found her story quite stirring, she literally pulled herself up by her own bootstraps to provide her family in dire straights.
The book has a lot of pictures and stories of its graduates.
The first half is the 20th century was a time of great flux for women and although the school is now a thing of the past, it’s marked in place in history.
This book is an important contribution to women’s history and the social history of America.

It provided a pathway to independence for decades of women

During the first half of the 20th century women were generally neither expected nor encouraged to seek a career outside of the home. Those who wanted, or needed, to work had fairly limited (and relatively low paying) options...teachers, nurses, store clerks, office typists and the like. Even those women fortunate enough to attend college often found that, once they had graduated, no one was looking to hire a woman with a degree in their field of study. What then could a woman who wanted, and in many cases needed, more than what was available? A woman named Katharine Gibbs found herself one of those women in need of a way to make a good living; although she was raised in a well-to-do family and seemed destined for a life of comfort (provided first by her father and later by a husband), through no fault of her own when she was in her forties suddenly found herself a widow with young children and no way to support herself or them. She would create a business, a school which would give bright and eager young women the opportunity to learn both the practical skills needed to be executive secretaries (hitherto the realm predominantly of men) as well as furthering their education in classical studies and social graces in order to become the best candidates for any job available. In doing so, Katharine was also training these women to literally infiltrate the corridors of power across the country and move into leadership roles therein, executive secretaries who would become executives. Long before NOW and the ERA, women who obtained their degree from the Katharine Gibbs school paved the way for women to climb the ladder of success, ensure their own financial security whether they chose to marry or not, and create pathways for women in later years to follow. From the world of business to government, the military to the entertainment world and beyond, "Gibbs Girls" made their mark on the world for many decades. They didn't kick down doors or shatter glass ceilings....in their time, such forceful attempts would have been met with too much pushback to succeed...but they advanced step by step, showing determination and earning respect as they made their way in the world. The Katharine Gibbs School is gone today, but without the 50,000 or so women who graduated from it's program today's generation of intelligent and ambitious young women would find their own road to success a much harder one to travel.
Having been raised in the Northeast where it began I was certainly familiar with the existence of the Katharine Gibbs School, although it was already waning in popularity and reputation when I was pursuing my own education. In all honesty, I think that I dismissed it as some sort of secretarial school where women who weren't heading to college could learn to type and take shorthand (my apologies to Gibbs girls everywhere!). Reading this book revealed just how much I had underestimated what the institution did and what its graduates accomplished over the years. Yes, the students certainly did learn to type and take dictation and all of that, but (a) they were trained to do it to the highest possible standard, faster and more accurate than any other, and (b) they were educated and refined until their confidence in their own abilities and the image they presented to the world was similarly the best. Teachers and guest lecturers from nearby Ivy League schools furthered their education, with courses ranging from psychology (to be better able to handle their bosses and those who interacted with their bosses with grace and skill) to art history and world affairs, a Gibbs Girl could mix in whatever company was required and reflect well on the person or enterprise for whom they worked. Author Vanda Krefft details the life of Katharine Gibbs herself, her background and how she found herself revolutionizing the role of women in the working world against the backdrop of the ever-changing times in which she lived and developed her business. She also introduces the reader to many of the women who passed through the doors of the school and led fulfilling and at times adventurous lives, crossing paths with titans of industry, luminaries of the world and more (I'll drop just a few names...Howard Hughes, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Elsa Maxwell and Charles Lindbergh) and being witnesses to important moments in history, Expect Great Things! is a delightful read, and I found it an eyeopening look at an institution that I didn't know nearly as well as I thought I did. For those who enjoyed reading books like Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures and Julie Satow's When Women Ran Fifth Avenue or who were fans of Mad Men or Selfridge's, I highly recommend that you pick up a copy of Expect Great Things! and put it at the very top of your TBR pile. Many thanks to NetGalley and Algonquin Books for allowing me early access to this gem of a book, and my gratitude to author Vanda Krefft for bringing to life the many women who defied the expectations of their time and showed that they, and others like them, could do anything they set their mind to do.

I loved this book. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I love this book. This book motivated me to re-engage in my own dreams and goals. It’s about believing in yourself and expecting great things to happen. It’s a great affirmation to have to focus on.

Thank you to Netgalley for the free arc!

I listened to this book as an audiobook through Netgalley. Before listening to this book, I had heard the name Katherine Gibbs Schools but did not know anything about them. It was interesting to learn about their history and some of their alumi. However, the book felt disjointed to me. The chapters did not flow seamlessly from one to the next so the book was easy to put down. Also, some of the stories, especially about the alums, held varying levels of interest. I found some of the stories (such as the woman who worked on Wonder Woman) to be more interesting than others. The narrator has a great voice for audiobooks!

I love books like this!

We often get the stories of famous women who achieved great things. This book is a love letter to the not-famous (mostly) women who pushed the envelope (sometimes literally) and strived for a higher standard than they may believed was possible for them. A variety of struggles paved the path to the door of the Katharine Gibbs School, but in case after case, these women's eyes were opened to the possibilities available to them.

I agree with the book's description: if you liked The Barbizon: The Hotel That Set Women Free and/or Come Fly The World: The Jet-Age Story of the Women of Pan Am, you'll love this too. Fans of Lynn Peril's books may enjoy it as well.

Inspirational, insightful, and entertaining!

I received an ARC of this book. Opinions are my own.

The official & full title of this non-fiction history is "EXPECT GREAT THINGS!: How the Katharine Gibbs School Revolutionized the American Workplace for Women" but that seemed like a lot to put in the title of my review.

Which is no commentary at all on the quality of the book other than an agreement that the Katharine Gibbs School, which I had never heard of until I got the chance to read Ms. Krefft's book, absolutely did revolutionize and shape the role of women in America and American history in general. It could possibly be argued that the subtitle is too restrictive given the impact the women who studied at the school had on all of us through to this day, but that would also in no way take away from the value of the book.

And the value is largely in womens' history, and the stories of women we might not have ever heard of but who have changed our lives.

The school Katharine Gibbs started when she was left a mostly penniless widow with two young sons to raise is the thread that ties this particular part of history together. Being born out of Katharine Gibbs' near ruin because she was entirely at the mercy of men and their decisions, and her subsequent resolve that no woman would be in that place if she could help it made the school incredibly important in a wide variety of ways.

The author weaves a huge number of personal, individual stories together seamlessly as the passage of time in the American story carries on. It was a pleasure to read and I learned so much from the story of this school.

I received a an early copy of EXPECT GREAT THINGS! from NetGalley and Algonquin Books.

This is a serious and thoroughly engaging book about a unique cohort of educated women who worked in corporate America in the 20th century. The Katharine Gibbs School was founded in the 1930's to give women rigorous training in the skills required of secretaries so that they might become financially independent women at a time when women's opportunities to support themselves were extremely limited. The rise of large, prosperous corporations after World War II created an even greater need for highly skilled secretaries. The unique contributions of the Gibbs School lay in their rigorously high standards in training office skills but also in creating young women who were "cultured." They were offered courses taught by professors at Ivy League universities in art, history, and literature as well as workshops offered by fashion editors and etiquette coaches. Graduates were in high demand and readily found jobs working in a wide variety of settings. The heart of the book is the series of chapters offering detailed and engaging portraits of some of the school's most accomplished graduates. They were extraordinary women and I enjoyed reading their stories. I appreciated the depth of research the author brought to these compassionate portraits. However, I detected a whiff of disdain for the activism of second wave feminists, which the author contrasted with the character of the Gibbs graduates she chose to portray in this book. While it's true that the Gibbs School did not encourage their graduates to push for fundamental changes in corporate life, but rather to serve its purposes, one wonders whether the school was able to fully indoctrinate all of their students in avoiding controversy. There is no doubt that the Gibbs School gave the women depicted here a foot in the door to a richly rewarding work life, but it didn't create a juggernaut the changed the landscape of working life in America. Thus, the panegyric tone in describing the importance of the Gibbs School was a bit unjustified in places. Nevertheless, this book is an important contribution to the history of working women in 20th century America. I'm glad to have been educated about the unique education Katharine Gibbs offered and to be inspired by the stories of some of its most interesting graduates.