Development of the Industrial U.S. Primary Sources | Letters to Michael and Hugh

Excerpt from Letters to Michael and Hugh [Owens] from

P. M. Newman

By P. M. Newman

Written in May 1951

Located in the International Ladies' Garment Workers'

Union Archives, Kheel Center for Labor-Management

Documentation and Archives

Available online at http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/trianglefire/texts/letters/newman_letter.html

Labor organizer Pauline M. Newman (c. 1888–1986) and her family immigrated to New York in 1901 from Lithuania. Although she was only thirteen years old and did not speak English, Newman immediately began to look for work so she could help with the family's expenses. She held temporary jobs for a couple of months before getting hired at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, where she worked until 1909. Labor conditions at the factory were dangerous and unhealthy, which was typical of the garment...