Black and white photo showing a close up of a white woman in a deep bath tub. An African American bath attendant is handing her a cup of water from the right. The attendant is wearing a white uniform dress similar to a nursing uniform of the time.
Bath attendant Voncile Payton at Quapaw Bathhouse, ca. 1950
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Bath attendants are referred to as early as 1875. "On arriving at the bath house the bather is taken charge of by an attendant, who taking his bathing card, assigns him to one of the bathing closets and prepares a bath of the prescribed temperature."

Morrison's Hand Book of the Hot Springs of Arkansas, 1875

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