Research: Topics: Business & Labor: Working Lives
Working Lives
Records Relating to Other Investigations and Issues
A3026. Organizational and Planning Files Concerning Advisory Committees on the Proposed Labor Law Recodification, 1907-1914. 1 cubic foot.
Arrangement: Rough chronological order.
This series contains correspondence, memoranda, notes, and printed material concerning the New York City and Upstate Advisory Committees on Recodification of the Labor Law. The series contains: correspondence and memoranda regarding suggested committee members; lists of committee members, some by sub-committee; lists of members planning to attend or be absent from meetings; lists of persons to receive proposed recodification; lists of additions, deletions, and rewording of the Labor Law relating to health and safety of buildings, especially fire hazards, work hours and breaks for meals, and child labor; and extracts from reports on night work of women. The Commission appointed the two committees to obtain views and suggestions of representative persons from all sections of the state on the Commission's proposed recodification of the Labor Law.
Proposed recodification, summary of committee work, and list of committee members are published in Fourth Report of the Factory Investigating Commission, Volume I, 1915.
Available on microfilm.
A3016. Cost of Living Report, Draft, and Background Notes, 1914. 0.5 cubic foot.
This series contains a draft of a "Report on the Cost of Living" and notes used in preparing the report. The report, by Frank Hatch Streightoff of DePauw University, has sections on:
- cost of living to single women, including information on homes of factory workers in New York City; board and lodging costs; the importance of savings; availability of spending money for "incidental expenses" such as health care, amusements, and night school; low wages and slow advancement; cost of living estimates from other states; and cost of living estimates prepared by social workers
- cost of living to single men, including information on cost of living estimates prepared by social workers and cost of room and board
- cost of living for a family (defined as a working father, a mother keeping house, and three unemployed children) including information on food prices and nutritional standards; cost of a house; type of housing available in New York City, Buffalo, Syracuse, and Troy; fuel and light costs; clothing costs; and carfare, insurance, health, furnishings, education, recreation, and other costs
- workers' living conditions, standards, and apartment floor plans
- statistical tables on earnings and expenditures
The series also contains typed notes from interviews with workers, mostly women, used as background material for various sections of the report. The notes generally provide information on cost of living, living arrangements, and wages of individuals.
This report was published in the Fourth Report of the Factory Investigating Commission, Volume IV (1915). The published report differs somewhat in the numbering of pages and appendixes.
Indexes: Table of contents in Fourth Report of the Factory Investigating Commission, Vol. IV, Appendix VII (1915).
Available on microfilm.
A3028. Correspondence, Drafts, and Printed Material Related to Commission Investigation of Fire Hazards in Stores, 1914. 0.1 cubic foot.
These reports concern the Commission's preparation of proposals and reports on fire hazards in stores. The series contains: letters answering questionnaires on fire safety precautions in stores; memos regarding construction and maintenance procedures to reduce the risk of fire; lists of persons who would or would not attend a hearing on the fire hazard; lists of stores inspected and store representatives seen; printed floor plans of the Binghamton Clothing Company (in New York City) (published in Third Report of the Factory Investigating Commission, 1914); printed Senate bill to amend the Labor Law to require certain fire safety precautions; letters between the commission, architects, door manufacturers, and store proprietors regarding "panic-proof revolving doors"; Subcommittee on Definitions report on specifications for fireproof building construction; description and blueprints for "Dunne's Fire Tower" fire escape; printed general specifications for factory fire alarms, prepared by the New York State Industrial Board; and typed outline of part of the "Maintenance" section of Frances Perkins' published report on fire hazards and safety devices and exits (or lack of) in store restaurants, kitchens, factories, and workrooms. Available on microfilm.
A3029. Glass Plate Negatives and Photographic Prints of Factory and Housing Conditions, 1911-1912. 0.5 cubic foot.
These are mostly views of conditions inside factories, usually showing workers. Views of chemical, food, glass, clothing, and other industries illustrate conditions such as:
- inadequate ventilation or exhaust systems
- dirt and animals contacting food products
- unguarded machinery
- overcrowding of machinery and narrow or obstructed aisles
- young children working
- excessive heat and humidity
- inadequate lighting
- inadequate sanitation and other unhealthy conditions
- structural deficiencies in buildings and other physical dangers
There are also views of workers' houses, working women and their children outside their homes, and exteriors and interiors of workers' apartments. Many of these views were published in the Preliminary Report of the Factory Investigating Commission, Vol. I (1912), Second Report, Vol. II (1913), and Fourth Report, Vol. IV (1915).
The series also includes a typescript "Lists of Photographs, 1911-1912" describing many of the views in this series, others that were published but not included in the series, and some that were not published or included in this series.
Available on microfilm.
A3025. Research Files on Contract Prison Labor, 1900-1914. 0.1 cubic foot.
Arrangement: By record type: correspondence and typed notes and reports; federal publications; state publications; articles and clippings.
This series concerns the prison contract labor system for the manufacture of shoes and shirts in various states, the U.S. as a whole, and other countries. The series contains: letters comparing prison labor to free labor in the shoe industry; answers to questionnaires sent to prisons outside New York State, providing information on number of convicts involved in contract labor, productivity, receipts from prison labor, and convicts' earnings; copies of contracts between manufacturers and prisons; extracts from editorials and statements by public figures; letters to unions and manufacturers urging support for legislation to end the contract prison labor system; reports and notes on contract prison labor policy in various states and individual institutions, and on proposed legislation; reports on hearings on prison labor before U.S. House and Senate subcommittees, some with transcripts of testimony; bill concerning prison labor, and Congressional Record (March 4, 1912) including a debate on the bill; lectures, news clippings, and articles on prison labor in the U.S., France, and Germany, mostly opposing contract prison labor; and a broadside urging people to wear union-made clothing instead of prison-made clothing.
Available on microfilm.
A3027. Questionnaires, Drafts, and Printed Material Relating to Commission Proposals to Consolidate Building Inspection Agencies in New York City, 1912- 1914, bulk 1914. 0.1 cubic foot.
These records concern the Commission's preparation of proposals to consolidate New York City building inspection agencies to reduce the number of inspections necessary. The series contains: draft invitation to a conference on the issue; leaflet of questions on what type of legislation should be enacted; extracts of answers to a questionnaire regarding the establishment of a separate building inspection agency (the questionnaire and complete answers are published in Preliminary Report of the Factory Investigating Commission, Vol. I, 1912); draft letter arguing against establishing a separate inspection agency; plans and bill proposals to consolidate inspection agencies and minimize the number of inspections necessary; articles on building inspection or construction; and lists of questions, one with answers included, prepared by the New York Society of Architects to ask of the Bureau of Buildings. Early in its investigation of factory working conditions, the Commission became aware of the inadequacies in the system of inspection of buildings. Many of the Commission's recommendations for improvement became law in 1916 (Chapter 503). The Commission's proposals and a summary of its study of building inspections was published in Fourth Report of the Factory Investigating Commission, Volume I (1915).
Available on microfilm.
A3017. Background Report on Buffalo Department Stores Employees Strike, 1913. 0.1 cubic foot (1 item)
Esther Packard, later a Wage Investigation field agent, interviewed strikers and wrote this report. The report deals mainly with wages, although in addition to higher wages, strikers were demanding Saturday night closing of stores, an eight-hour day, and better sanitary conditions. The fifteen- page typescript report has information on: wages paid to various workers; difficulties of individual workers trying to support themselves or their families on low wages; prostitution of many women unable to support themselves or their children on their store pay; and sexual harassment of female employees by store managers. Packard's report recommended that the Factory Investigating Commission hold a public hearing on the issues raised by the strikers. However, there is no evidence from the Commission's records or published reports that a hearing was held concerning these issues.
Available on microfilm.
A3024. Proofs of Brief Supporting the Conviction of Jacob Balofsky, 1914. 0.1 cubic foot. (2 items)
The Commission submitted a brief in the case of The People of the State of New York v. Jacob Balofsky. Balofsky, a coat manufacturer, was convicted of a violation of Section 104 of the Labor Law for contracting with a woman to finish coats in a tenement residence. The Commission's brief argued against Balofsky's appeal of his conviction, providing information on: the Commission's legislative mandate regarding manufacturing work conditions in the state; previous legislation relating to manufacturing in tenements; the Commission's investigation into and final report on manufacturing conditions (published in Second Report of the Factory Investigating Commission, Vol. I, 1913); commission findings concerning unsanitary conditions, disease, child labor, and long hours; legislation recommended by the Commission; and legal arguments for upholding the conviction.
The final version of the brief, incorporating editorial changes made on these proofs, was published in Fourth Report of the Factory Investigating Commission, Volume I, 1915.
Available on microfilm.
