The Apprentice

No, not the TV show hosted by America's first narcissist, Donald Trump.

When I was in junior high, the entire seventh grade class (There was only about forty of us.) were forced on  buses for a field trip to Lenape Tech.  Lenape was a county run, trades high school.  The morning sessions were devoted to all the usual classes, math, history, English, while the afternoons were devoted to learning a trade.  I remember that we were divided by sex.  The boys were shown the auto shop, welding, television repair lab, while the girls were taken to the beauty and cooking classes.  I don't know what would have happened if one of the boys had asked about being a hair dresser or one of the girls had wanted to take a run at a welding career.  Oh, how things have changed.

Before trade schools, there were apprenticeships.   Young boys (mostly) would be sent off to learn a trade from a master craftsman.  In exchange for a decade or so of free labor, the young man would be taught cabinet making, or watch repair, or some other useful profession.  Anyone who has ever read Dickens would know that apprenticeships were also offered for business careers.   Keeping those books balanced isn't easy, and in a world where almost no one went to college, a job that didn't involve manual labor, like accounting, was learned by doing.

This is a fairly old picture. But how old?  Is this young man taking a shop class or has he begun his working life as an apprentice?  One thing is for sure.  He's not a recent college grad, working for free as an intern, so that some business can avoid adding an extra pay check to the books.  No wonder recent grads can't find paid employment when so  many of them are willing to work for nothing.  My rant of the day...internships are a scam!

Women at Work

I've made this point before and I'm making it again; the theory that women were not a large part of the work force before the sixties is wrong.  Women of the upper middle classes and above rarely worked, but women of lower classes have always been part of the working world.  They were farm hands, servants, and as shown on this stereo view, factory hands.

Printed on the back, "20-(22070)  INSPECTING PAPER, HOLYOKE, MASS.

Paper making machines are large affairs.  Sometimes they weigh as much as 400 tons each.  But they handle each sheet as carefully as if they had a fine sense of touch.  These machines take the stock, press it into paper, and cut it into the desired size of sheet.

You see here a battery of paper machines performing the last act in paper manufacture.  The finger bars, mad of flat strips of wood, receive the cut paper, and turn the sheets out on a receiving table.  At this table stands an inspector.  She is an expert in her work.  Each sheet of paper undergoes her careful scrutiny.  If it is  defective in anyway the sheet is thrown out; for nothing but first-class material is produced in this factory.  Sometimes a sheet will have a flaw in coloring, or in texture: or it may have been torn slightly in it's many handlings.  The sheets that are approved are stacked up, and are ready for further folding or cutting if needs be.

You will observe certain things in this factory that are necessary both for the health of the workers and for the work.  The place is  well lighted by side windows.  The inspectors do not have to face a bright glare.  Nor do they have to work under artificial light.  They are seated so do not tire so quickly at their exacting work.  The machines have iron guards to reduce danger of accidents.  All this is very much in contrast with the factory of several years ago, when employees were looked upon merely as a part of the machinery.

Of what things is paper made?  Name some of the processes in paper making?  How does our supply of paper depend on forests?  Account for the shortage of paper during the Great European War.  From what is pulp made?

Copyright by The Keystone View Company."

Maids

My mother was in service. She was one of ten children. When she was eleven, her parents died. The five eldest siblings each took in one of the five youngest. The brother who took my mother was a butler at an English country estate. On her twelfth birthday she became an under house maid. For those who are watching Downton Abbey, she was Daisy. In her late teens, she became Gwen, a very junior house maid on a very large staff. When the war began, she left service to work in an aircraft factory. She was a machinist, working on the Minerva engine used in Spitfires and Hurricanes. She married my father, moved to the United States, worked as a super market checker, seamstress, and eventually returned to service as a housekeeper. Of course, she was also maid, baby sitter, cook, and house cleaner, but she preferred the title held by Mrs. Hughes. She had to return to service because, in 1960, her marriage ended, she needed a job, and that was what she could get. There would be other jobs after that. Some better, some worse. This photograph is dated, "APR 4, 32" and was probably taken in the United States.

Labor Day

Why is it so difficult to find photographs of people at work? Dated 1956, women assembling radios (I think), an industry that can no longer be found in the United States.

Casper, Wyoming

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Stamped on the back, "Made at The Picture Shop, Casper, Wyo." Hotel staff from the 1920's I would think. Anyone out there from Casper that can identify the hotel, or tell me it's something else, please leave a comment.

Bernard Pefferman, Worker

Printed on postcard stock and labeled, "Bernard Pefferman, 532 Grandview Ave. E.P." The E.P. stands for East Pittsburgh, a borough about ten miles or so from downtown Pittsburgh. On the Monongahela River, East Pittsburgh is where George Westinghouse built the factories that built the huge generators that provided power for, among other things, the New York Subway System. With his soft cap, and rough clothes, Mr. Pefferman was very probably a blue collar worker at the Westinghouse factory or in one of the steel mills or iron foundries in nearby Braddock. Late nineteenth or early twentieth century.

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This is a message for Lauren. For some reason that baffles me, Blogger won't allow me to post a comment from my home computer. To answer your question, I've had this photo in my collection for at least thirty years. More than likely I purchased at a flea market or garage sale. If you've read this, leave another comment and anything you know about Bernard.

Glass Negative of a Garment Factory

This is one of my great regrets. When I was working at the photo lab, I could have made a high quality enlargement of this, instead all I ever got around to was this quick and dirty contact print from a beautiful razor sharp 8 x 10 glass negative.

At Work

I'm always amazed at how few work place photos I've run across. Labeled, "N.J. 1946." New Jersey? It looks like a garment factory, and I should know. My mother was once a member of the ILGWU, and I've spent more than a few days of my life on the factory floor. The lady in the quilted coat either likes her job, or likes to goof off.