DOCSLIB.ORG

Agnes Nestor: Labor Leader, Politician, and Social Reformer--A Portrait of a Leader

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Agnes Nestor: Labor Leader, Politician, and Social Reformer--A Portrait of a Leader Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 2012 Agnes Nestor: Labor Leader, Politician, and Social Reformer--A Portrait of a Leader Timothy Michael Grivois-Shah Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the Educational Administration and Supervision Commons Recommended Citation Grivois-Shah, Timothy Michael, "Agnes Nestor: Labor Leader, Politician, and Social Reformer--A Portrait of a Leader" (2012). Dissertations. 352. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/352 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 2011 Timothy Michael Grivois-Shah LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO AGNES NESTOR: LABOR LEADER, POLITICIAN, AND SOCIAL REFORMER— A PORTRAIT OF A LEADER A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF EDUCATION PROGRAM IN EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION BY TIMOTHY M. GRIVOIS-SHAH CHICAGO, ILLINOIS MAY 2012 Copyright by Timothy M. Grivois-Shah, 2012 All rights reserved. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation represents a major accomplishment in my career as a scholar, teacher, and leader. It is fitting to acknowledge those who have supported me along the way. Getting to know Agnes Nestor within the archives of the Chicago History Museum Research Center transformed my understanding of history. My deep appreciation extends to the CHM staff for carrying box after box of Agnes Nestor papers from the stacks, and for making Chicago’s archived materials available to documentary researchers. Loyola University Chicago School of Education has inspired me as a scholar and a leader. My dissertation committee, Dr. Janis Fine, Dr. Marla Israel, and Dr. Beth Myers, are exemplars of the discipline and rigor required to become a leader capable of advancing social justice through scholarly inquiry. As a junior at Dobson High School, Elizabeth Viator taught me to write. As a senior in her course in Mythology, Mrs. Viator taught me to read. Most importantly, I learned in her classroom that hard work precedes every worthwhile accomplishment. May this particular work remind her and all of us who teach children precisely how far as teachers our reach extends. This dissertation is dedicated to my husband, Dr. Ravi Grivois-Shah, who likely knows as much about Agnes Nestor as I do. This dissertation exists through your iii patience, love, and care, but mostly because you are now and always will be by my side in every achievement, adventure, and challenge. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...............................................................................................iii LIST OF TABLES...........................................................................................................viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS............................................................................................. ix ABSTRACT........................................................................................................................x CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................... 1 Purpose.................................................................................................................... 1 Research Questions................................................................................................. 3 Significance of the Study........................................................................................ 3 Historical Context ....................................................................................... 4 Formation of the International Glove Worker’s Union of America— Agnes Nestor as Labor Leader................................................................. 8 Campaign for State Representative—Agnes Nestor as Politician ............ 12 Ten-Hour Work Day—Agnes Nestor as Social Reformer ....................... 14 Methodology......................................................................................................... 18 Method for Historical Documentary Analysis.......................................... 18 Description of Primary and Secondary Sources ....................................... 28 Method for Interpretation: Gareth Morgan’s Sources of Power............... 30 Proposed Chapters................................................................................................ 33 II. AGNES NESTOR—LABOR LEADER...................................................................... 34 Introduction........................................................................................................... 34 Formation of the International Glove Workers Union of America....................... 34 Women’s Clubs..................................................................................................... 40 Women’s Trade Union League............................................................................. 44 Labor Mission to Europe ...................................................................................... 48 Union Activity in Nestor’s Later Years................................................................ 51 Analysis................................................................................................................. 56 Words and Actions of Agnes Nestor ........................................................ 56 Words and Actions of Others.................................................................... 65 Discussion of Analysis.......................................................................................... 74 Sources of Power by Frequency of Use.................................................... 74 Sources of Power by Relation to Each Other............................................ 79 Absent Sources of Power.......................................................................... 81 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 82 v III. AGNES NESTOR—POLITICIAN ............................................................................ 84 Introduction........................................................................................................... 84 National Commission on Industrial Education..................................................... 84 World War I Women’s Labor Commissions ...................................................... 103 Campaign for the Illinois General Assembly...................................................... 109 Analysis............................................................................................................... 120 Words and Actions of Agnes Nestor ...................................................... 120 Words and Actions of Others.................................................................. 130 Discussion of Analysis........................................................................................ 139 Sources of Power by Frequency of Use.................................................. 140 Sources of Power by Relation to Each Other.......................................... 144 Absent Sources of Power........................................................................ 146 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 148 IV. AGNES NESTOR—SOCIAL REFORMER ........................................................... 150 Introduction......................................................................................................... 150 “The Working Girl’s Need of Suffrage”............................................................. 150 The Fight for the Shorter Working Day.............................................................. 154 Defeating the Equal Rights Amendment ............................................................ 176 Analysis............................................................................................................... 179 Words and Actions of Agnes Nestor ...................................................... 179 Words and Actions of Others.................................................................. 203 Discussion of Analysis........................................................................................ 218 Sources of Power by Frequency of Use.................................................. 218 Sources of Power by Relation to Each Other.......................................... 222 Absent Sources of Power........................................................................ 224 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 228 V. SUMMARY, DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS ....................................................... 229 Introduction......................................................................................................... 229 Research Questions............................................................................................. 231 Recommendations for Further Research............................................................. 254 Epilogue—Agnes Nestor Speaks to Leaders Today..........................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • “A Superior Kind of Working Woman”: the Contested Meaning of Vocational Education for Girls in Progressive Era Chicago
    Downloaded from https://doi.org/10.1017/S153778142100013X The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (2021), 20, 392–410 doi:10.1017/S153778142100013X ARTICLE https://www.cambridge.org/core “A Superior Kind of Working Woman”: The Contested Meaning of Vocational Education for Girls in Progressive Era Chicago Ruby Oram* . IP address: Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USA *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] 170.106.35.93 Abstract Progressive Era school officials transformed public education in American cities by teaching , on male students trades like foundry, carpentry, and mechanics in classrooms outfitted like 02 Oct 2021 at 01:26:00 factories. Historians have demonstrated how this “vocational education movement” was championed by male administrators and business leaders anxious to train the next gener- ation of expert tradesmen. But women also hoped vocational education could prepare female students for industrial careers. In the early twentieth century, members of the National Women’s Trade Union League demanded that public schools open trade programs to female students and teach future working women the history of capitalism and the , subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at philosophy of collective bargaining. Their ambitious goals were tempered by some middle- class reformers and club women who argued vocational programs should also prepare female students for homemaking and motherhood. This article uses Chicago as a case study to explore how Progressive Era women competed and collaborated to reform vocational education for girls, and how female students responded to new school programs designed to prepare them for work both in and outside the home.
    [Show full text]
  • Sanders, Geterly Women Inamerican History:,A Series. Pook Four, Woien
    DOCONIMM RIBOSE ED 186 Ilk 3 SO012596 AUTHOR Sanders, geTerly TITLE Women inAmerican History:,A Series. pook Four,Woien in the Progressive Era 1890-1920.. INSTITUTION American Federation of Teachers, *Washington, D.C. SPONS AGENCY Office,of Education (DHEW), Wastington, D.C. Wolen's Educational Egutty Act Program. PUB DATE 79 NOTE 95p.: For related documents, see SO 012 593-595. AVAILABLE FROM Education Development Center, 55 Chapel Street, Newton, MA 02160 (S2.00 plus $1.30 shipping charge) EDRS gRICE MF01 Plus Postige. PC Not.Available from EDRS. DESCRIPTORS Artists; Authors: *CiVil Rights: *Females; Feminksm; Industrialization: Learning Activities: Organizations (Groups): Secondary Education: Sex Discrioination; *Sex Role: *Social Action: Social Studies;Unions; *United States History: Voting Rights: *Womens Studies ABSTRACT 'The documente one in a series of four on.women in American history, discusses the rcle cf women in the Progressive Era (11390-1920)4 Designed to supplement high school U.S.*history. textbooks; the book is co/mprised of five chapter's. Chapter I. 'describes vtormers and radicals including Jane A3damsand Lillian Wald whs b4tan the settlement house movement:Florence Kelley, who fought for labor legislation:-and Emma Goldmanand Kate RAchards speaking against World War ft Of"Hare who,became pOlitical priscners for I. Chapter III focuses on women in factory workand the labor movement. Excerpts from- diaries reflectthe'work*ng contlitions in factor4es which led to women's ipvolvement in the,AFL andthe tormatton of the National.Wcmenls Trade Union League. Mother Jones, the-Industrial Workers of the World, and the "Bread and Roses"strike (1S12) of 25,000 textile workers in Massachusetts arealso described.
    [Show full text]
  • National Women's Trade Union League of America
    National Women’s Trade Union League of America Records A Finding Aid to the Collection in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division, Library of Congress Washington, D.C. 2009 Contact information: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact Additional search options available at: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms010120 LC Online Catalog record: http://lccn.loc.gov/mm75034363 Prepared by Mary M. Wolfskill Collection Summary Title: National Women’s Trade Union League of America Records Span Dates: 1903-1950 ID No.: MSS34363 Creator: National Women’s Trade Union League of America Extent: 7,400 items ; 28 containers plus 2 oversize ; 11 linear feet ; 25 microfilm reels Language: Collection material in English Location: Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Summary: Correspondence, reports, speeches, notes, and printed matter, including minutes of meetings, proceedings of national conventions and international congresses of working women, biographical material on the league's officers, and correspondence between local and national leagues. Selected Search Terms The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein. People Addams, Jane, 1860-1935--Correspondence. Anderson, Mary, 1859-1940--Correspondence. Breckinridge, Sophonisba Preston, 1866-1948--Correspondence. Christman, Elisabeth, 1881-1975--Correspondence. Dreier, Mary E. (Mary Elisabeth), 1875-1963--Correspondence. Duffy, Frank, 1861-1955--Correspondence. Gompers, Samuel, 1850-1924--Correspondence. Henry, Alice, 1857-1943--Correspondence. Kehew, Mary Morton Kimball, 1859-1918--Correspondence. Morrison, Frank, 1859-1949--Correspondence. Nestor, Agnes--Correspondence.
    [Show full text]
  • The Contested Meaning of Vocational Education for Girls in Progressive Era Chicago
    Downloaded from https://doi.org/10.1017/S153778142100013X The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (2021), 20, 392–410 doi:10.1017/S153778142100013X ARTICLE https://www.cambridge.org/core “A Superior Kind of Working Woman”: The Contested Meaning of Vocational Education for Girls in Progressive Era Chicago Ruby Oram* . IP address: Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USA *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] 170.106.35.229 Abstract Progressive Era school officials transformed public education in American cities by teaching , on male students trades like foundry, carpentry, and mechanics in classrooms outfitted like 30 Sep 2021 at 17:44:30 factories. Historians have demonstrated how this “vocational education movement” was championed by male administrators and business leaders anxious to train the next gener- ation of expert tradesmen. But women also hoped vocational education could prepare female students for industrial careers. In the early twentieth century, members of the National Women’s Trade Union League demanded that public schools open trade programs to female students and teach future working women the history of capitalism and the , subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at philosophy of collective bargaining. Their ambitious goals were tempered by some middle- class reformers and club women who argued vocational programs should also prepare female students for homemaking and motherhood. This article uses Chicago as a case study to explore how Progressive Era women competed and collaborated to reform vocational education for girls, and how female students responded to new school programs designed to prepare them for work both in and outside the home.
    [Show full text]
  • ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries
    tion of Latin American Library Materials. The volume is available for $5 from the AALA Head­ Calendar quarters, 471 Park Lane, State College, PA 16801. • Missouri Union List of Serial Publications (2 October volumes, 3d edition, 1981) has been published by the St. Louis Public Library. This new edition 23—Online Searching: Workshop conducted by includes 40,000 titles and 114,000 holdings K. Subramanyam, Drexel University School of statements of periodicals, newspapers, and serial Library and Information Science. Fee: $110. publications located in 52 academic, public, and Contact: Director, Office of Continuing Profes­ special libraries throughout Missouri and parts of sional Education, Drexel University, 32d and Illinois and Kansas. Copies are available in Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia, PA 19104; (215) hardcover at $100 per set or $50 per microfiche 895-2153. set (24x diazo, negative polarity) from the St. 24—Conservation: “Institute for Conservation Louis Public Library, 1301 Olive Street, St. Management in the 1980s: The Future of Li­ Louis, MO 63103. Prices for libraries that par­ brary and Archive Conservation,” Simmons ticipate in the project are $75 and $35 for each College GSLIS, Boston. Fee: $40. Contact: set. Ching-chih Chen, GSLIS, Simmons College, • Online Bibliographic Search Services, SPEC 300 The Fenway, Boston, MA 02115; (617) Kit #76 (July 1981) focuses on major concerns re­ 738-2224 or 738-2225. garding the organization of online search services, 24—Printing History: "Sharing a Rich Heritage: policy formation, and communication with the The History of Printing in Pennsylvania,” a clientele. The kit contains eight policy state­ conference sponsored by the Franklin County ments, three annual reports and a position de­ Library to be held at Wilson College, Cham­ scription, and ten examples of user publicity.
    [Show full text]
  • A History of the Chicago Ladies' Garment Workers' Union
    A History of the Chicago Ladies' Garment "Workers' Union By WILFRED CARSEL With an Introduction by PAUL H.DOUGLAS Professor of Economics, University of Chicago NORMANDIE HOUSE • CHICAGO 1940 115 Copyright 1940, By the Chicago joint Board, International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union Prefcace his volume was prepared at the request of the Chi- cago Joint Board, International Ladies' Garment Work- ers' Union, and has been written primarily with the T purpose of presenting an historical interpretation of the union to its membership. The author is greatly indebted to the following: to Mr. Paul Wallin, who read and criticized the entire manuscript; to Mr. Morris Bialis, manager of the Chicago Joint Board and vice president of the International; to Mr. Quentin Ogren, educa- tional director of the Chicago Joint Board; to Dr. Lazare Teper, director of the research department of the International; and most particularly, to Mr. M. A. Goldstein, secretary-treasurer of the Chicago Joint Board, who has been a helpful critic through- out the period of the preparation of this work. Acknowledgments of aid from the many other persons and agencies consulted by the author will be found elsewhere in this volume. The Author September 5, ig$g Chicago, Illinois vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to the following: Leonard Axelrod, Meyer Barkan, Mrs. Abraham Bisno, Ray Blottiaux, Morris Broudy, Fannia M. Cohn, John Crerar Library, Benjamin Dolnick, Rebecca Eisenstat, Mary Fisher, Sol Flack, Sonya Forthal, Meyer Friedman, Mollie Friedman, Roy Glassman, Samuel Glassman, Abraham Gold, Bessie Goldberg, Meyer Goldstein, Samuel Gordon, Max Graffman, Alice Hinton, Mary Jurbin, Sol Kaufman, Anna Klibanoff, Kate Koppa, Leo Lavender, Jack Lotterman, Harry Messer, Agnes Nestor, Simon Packer, Abraham Plotkin, Abraham Rabinowitz, Al- fred Rose, Harry Rufer, Barnett Schaffer, Hyman Schoolman, Morris Seskind, Joe Shargel, Aaron Sher, Peter Sissman, Helen Moscicki Stewart, University of Chicago Library, W.
    [Show full text]
  • WTUL, an Attack on the Society Hostile to the Working Women at the Turn of the Twentieth Century
    【연구논문】 WTUL, an Attack on the Society Hostile to the Working Women at the Turn of the Twentieth Century Kwangjin Lee (Soongsil University) 1. Introduction In the winter of 1909, the working women of the garment shops in New York City surprised not only their employers but also the politicians, the police, the newspaper reporters, the male unionists and many other people who never thought that the “working girls,” a label usually attached to the working women, could gather themselves to strike against the exploitative employers. The great strikes, later often named the Uprising of Twenty Thousand, indeed occurred and were successful without help of the American Federation of Labor (AFL), and in a sense, they succeeded despite the objections of male leadership (Kessler-Harris 287). Behind, and many times, on the working women’s picket lines, there were college students who were mainly women, feminists, female socialists and middle-class social reformists. Many of the supporters got to participate in the strike 34 Kwangjin Lee through one of the most important women’s labor organizations at that time—the Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL). WTUL contributed to the strikes by publicizing the causes of the strikers and by coordinating the women who wished to actively assist them (McCreesh 137). The United States at the turn of the twentieth century was experiencing great social, economic changes. Most of all, American industry entered new phase quite different from the previous one. American industry grew around 1780 when Tench Coxe, the “father of American industries,” started the United Company of Philadelphia and established a factory with as many as four hundred female workers (MacLean 183-84).
    [Show full text]
  • “A Superior Kind of Working Woman”: the Contested Meaning of Vocational Education for Girls in Progressive Era Chicago
    Downloaded from https://doi.org/10.1017/S153778142100013X The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (2021), 20, 392–410 doi:10.1017/S153778142100013X ARTICLE https://www.cambridge.org/core “A Superior Kind of Working Woman”: The Contested Meaning of Vocational Education for Girls in Progressive Era Chicago . Ruby Oram* Texas State University - San Marcos Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USA *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] Abstract Progressive Era school officials transformed public education in American cities by teaching male students trades like foundry, carpentry, and mechanics in classrooms outfitted like factories. Historians have demonstrated how this “vocational education movement” was , on championed by male administrators and business leaders anxious to train the next gener- 01 Jul 2021 at 15:00:13 ation of expert tradesmen. But women also hoped vocational education could prepare female students for industrial careers. In the early twentieth century, members of the National Women’s Trade Union League demanded that public schools open trade programs to female students and teach future working women the history of capitalism and the philosophy of collective bargaining. Their ambitious goals were tempered by some middle- class reformers and club women who argued vocational programs should also prepare , subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at female students for homemaking and motherhood. This article uses Chicago as a case study to explore how Progressive Era women competed and collaborated to reform vocational education for girls, and how female students responded to new school programs designed to prepare them for work both in and outside the home.
    [Show full text]
  • ?,Fb National Women's Trade Union League of America
    /?,fB National Women's Trade Union League of America BOSTON ^WtLAOCL^MtA cmcAao ST. Lou's. **o KANSAS CITY, MO. TKI etTY-AOC<^ ISLANO, NEW YOWK MOLINE, OAVENf-OAT COMMtTTEES A3NE* NUTOW tL.vt ALBANY. ALA MAOiSON. WIS JULIA * O'COMMO* CLINTON, IA.* SEATTLE EMMASTEOMA&EN OWANO AA^IOS. MICW. WASHlNOTON ILLINOH STATE COMMITTEE 3<! SOUTH ASMLANO BOULEVARD CHtCAOO DEFERRED EtGHTW B)ENN)AL CONVENTtON WAUKEGAN [LDNOtS JUNE B 'B22 ^ . ^ April 20, 1922 LIr. D. J. Tobin, ^avratory, Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Stablemen, & Helpers of America, Intern'1 Bro'd, 222 East Michigan Street, Indianapolis, Indiana. Dear Ur. Tobin: I am writing to aak whether there la any partic- ular advantage in maintaining your National haadquartera in Indlanapolia, and if you feel free to tall ma why your organization la located thara. I have heard a good deal of argument that a National organization ought to looate ita haadquartara at aome central point eaaily reached from the varloua aeotiona of the *ourtry* Has your organ- ization ever oonaldared Washington b.C; aa a place for your National headqunrteraT la tRere^ in yOur opinion, any particular advantage in a National Trade Union organization maintaining ita haalquartera in WaahlngtonT I ahall greatly appreciate your argument for or agalnat National haadquartara being in Washington. Thanking you in advanoe for your kln&neaa in re- plying, with the beat of good wlahea, I remain Fraternally youra. Secretary - Treasurer. PtS. For your convenience I am enolotiag a alamped, aalf- addreaaed envelop*. M.*o Arril 2K, 1CPK. Minf Elizabeth Chrlatnan, 311 South Ashland Blvd., ' Chicago, Illinois. My de?r S in! Ch^lstma<.: Your litter in which you a3k me *hy wa are located in Indiana] oils, also what I have to nay about Washington aa a city for the headquarters^ef a National organization, received.
    [Show full text]
  • African-A1merican Women Workers and the Women's Trade Union League
    "YOUR SISTEXS OF DARKER HUE": AFRICAN-A1MERICAN WOMEN WORKERS AND THE WOMEN'S TRADE UNION LEAGUE Jennifer Lynn Carson Department of History Subrnitted in partial fidfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Faculty of Graduate Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario March, 1998 @ Jennifer Lynn Carson 1998 National Library Bibliothèque nationale I*U ofcanada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services senices bibliographiques 395 wellingtori Street 395. nie Wellington ûüawaON KIAONQ ôtrawa ON KIA ON4 Canada CaMda The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distriiute or sell reproduire, prêter, disbn'buer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/fïlxn, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor subsîantial extracts fkom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otheMrise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. This thesis explores the relationship between the Women's Trade Union League (WTUL) and African-American women workers. It examines both the official poiky of the National WTUL regarding the unionization of black women workers, as weli as some of its organuational campaigns involving Affican- American workers.
    [Show full text]
  • “To the Victor Belong the Spoils” the Merits of a Combined Suffrage and Labor Agenda, 1877–1920
    1 “To the Victor Belong the Spoils” The Merits of a Combined Suffrage and Labor Agenda, 1877–1920 Ethel Smith’s home state of Illinois was a microcosm of labor protest, government corruption, and social reform. As the nation moved from an agricultural to indus- trial economy, state and local policy makers allied with industrial interests, main- taining the dominance of decentralized government and the political philosophy of laissez-faire individualism. With support from state of¤cials, employers smashed ex- isting unions and thwarted attempts at unionization through yellow-dog contracts and injunctions. In response to the repeated economic downturns, political and le- gal conservatism, and exploitation of labor that permeated the state’s urban areas, Chicago became the site of a burgeoning reform movement that attempted to mit- igate the unregulated conditions of a rapidly industrializing society. Such reform ef- forts brought short-term victories locally, but those who shaped and led these efforts rose to prominence by forging a national model of economic and legal reform de- signed to increase government responsibility for social welfare. Though Smith ma- tured within the quiet solitude of rural Sangamon County, Illinois, she would later follow in the footsteps of these early reformers and emerge as a politically savvy and tenacious lobbyist, journalist, and trade unionist whose dedication to social reform placed her at the center of important early-twentieth-century legislative battles. Smith’s commitment to social reform bore direct relation to her father’s per- sistent ¤nancial struggle. In her family history, completed in 1948, she remembered: “[I]t was always hard times with us.” Her father, Richard Smith (1852–1910), waged a constant struggle in search of employment that paid him a living wage.
    [Show full text]
  • Mary Kenney O'sullivan, the American Federation of Labor, and the Boston Women's Trade Union League, 1892-1919
    University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 1-1-1998 The necessity of organization' : Mary Kenney O'Sullivan, the American Federation of Labor, and the Boston Women's Trade Union League, 1892-1919. Kathleen Banks Nutter University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 Recommended Citation Nutter, Kathleen Banks, "The necessity of organization' : Mary Kenney O'Sullivan, the American Federation of Labor, and the Boston Women's Trade Union League, 1892-1919." (1998). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 1253. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/1253 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. DATE DUE NUV 2 UNIVERSITY LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AT AMHERST LD 3234 M267 1998 N9775 ^HE NECESSITY OF ORGANIZATION': MARY KENNEY O'SULLIVAN, THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR, AND THE BOSTON WOMEN'S TRADE UNION LEAGUE, 1892-1919 A Dissertation Presented by KATHLEEN BANKS NUTTER Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY February 1998 Department of History © Copyright by Kathleen Banks Nutter 1998 All Rights Reserved ^THE NECESSITY OE ORGANIZATION': MARY KENNEY 0' SULLIVAN, THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR, AND THE BOSTON WOMEN'S TRADE UNION LEAGUE, 1892-1919 A Dissertation Presented by KATHLEEN BANKS NUTTER Approved as to style and content by 'Gerald W.
    [Show full text]