Sewn in Coal Country: An Oral History of the Ladies’ Garment Industry in Northeastern Pennsylvania, 1945–1995

Published by Penn State University Press 2020

Sewn in Coal Country

An Oral History of the Ladies’ Garment Industry in Northeastern Pennsylvania, 1945–1995

Edited by: Robert P. Wolensky

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780271086538

Overview
Contents

About this book

By the mid-1930s, Pennsylvania’s anthracite coal industry was facing a steady decline. Mining areas such as the Wyoming Valley around the cities of Wilkes-Barre and Pittston were full of willing workers (including women) who proved irresistibly attractive to New York City’s “runaway shops”—ladies’ apparel factories seeking lower labor and other costs. The International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) soon followed, and the Valley became a thriving hub of clothing production and union activity. This volume tells the story of the area’s apparel industry through the voices of men and women who lived it.

Drawing from an archive of over sixty audio-recorded interviews within the Northeastern Pennsylvania Oral and Life History Collection, Sewn in Coal Country showcases sixteen stories told by workers, shop owners, union leaders, and others. The interview subjects recount the ILGWU-led movement to organize the shops, the conflicts between the district union and the national office in New York, the solidarity unionism approach of leader Min Matheson, the role of organized crime within the business, and the failed efforts to save the industry in the 1980s and 1990s. Robert P. Wolensky places the narratives in the larger context of American clothing manufacturing during the period and highlights their broader implications for the study of labor, gender, the working class, and oral history.

Highly readable and thoroughly enlightening, this significant contribution to the study of labor history and women’s history will appeal to anyone interested in the relationships among workers, unions, management, and community; the effects of economic change on an area and its residents; the role of organized crime within the industry; and Pennsylvania history—especially the social history of industrialization and deindustrialization during the twentieth century.

Author / Editor information

Wolensky Robert P. :

Robert P. Wolensky is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point and Adjunct Professor of History at King’s College, Wilkes-Barre. He is the coauthor of Fighting for the Union Label: The Women’s Garment Industry and the ILGWU in Pennsylvania, also published by Penn State University Press.

Reviews

“An important contribution to US labor history and twentieth-century US history. The interviews offer nuanced views and multiple perspectives on labor struggles in the region, offering particularly new and valuable views of the influence of geography on industrial development and the growth of the trade union movement and showing why we need a broad view to understand even local industrial history.”
—Thomas Dublin, author of The Face of Decline: The Pennsylvania Anthracite Region in the Twentieth Century

“A detailed yet readable study of the lives of the garment industry. This is a fine social history of ordinary people that brings the past to life.”
—Richard A. Greenwald, author of The Triangle Fire, the Protocols of Peace, and Industrial Democracy in Progressive Era New York

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
List of Illustrations Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	xv
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xxi
List of Abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	xxv
Introduction: Northeastern Pennsylvania and the Garment Industry Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. Dorothy “Dot” Ney: Garment Worker, Union Organizer, and Business Agent Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	13
2. William “Bill” Cherkes: Garment Shop Owner and Garment Association President Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	26
3. Minnie “Min” Matheson: Labor Leader, Social Activist, and ILGWU District Director Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	38
4. Angelo “Rusty” “Bill” DePasquale: Mineworker and ILGWU Organizer and “Enforcer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	61
5. Anthony “Tony” D’Angelo: Garment Presser and Barber Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	73
6. Alice Reca: Garment Worker, Union Organizer, and Business Agent Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	82
7. John “Johnny” Justin: Garment Worker, Labor Organizer, and ILGWU District Director Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	91
8. Clementine “Clem” Lyons: Garment Worker, Business Agent, and Chorus Performer and Director Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	109
9. Helen Weiss: Garment Worker, Business Agent, and Chorus Performer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	151
10. George and Lucy Zorgo: Union Printers and Labor Advocates Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	169
11. Philomena “Minnie” Caputo: Garment Worker, Union Activist, Chairlady, and Floorlady Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
12. Dr. Albert Schiowitz: Physician and Director of the Wyoming Valley ILGWU Health Center Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	198
13. Leo Gutstein: Family Garment Shop Owner and Garment Association President Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	205
14. Pearl Novak: Garment Worker, Union Organizer, and Social Activist Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	222
15. Betty Greenberg: Mother, Spouse, Activist, and the Mathesons’ Daughter Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	236
16. Labor, Working-Class, Gender, and Oral History Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	259
Appendix 1: The Wyoming Valley Oral Histories Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	287
Appendix 2: Glossary of Selected Terms Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	292
Appendix 3: Biographical Sketches Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	308
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	325
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	359
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	372

Language: English
Publisher: Penn State University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 416
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 1
- Images: 84
- Tables: 2
- Other: 84 illustrations/1 map
Keywords: Labor history; women’s history; working class history; oral history; industrial history; gender; Pennsylvania; organized crime

eBook

Published: April 24, 2020
ISBN: 9780271086538