CIRCA 1909-1917 HANDWRITTEN DIARY FEMALE GARMENT WORKER LABOR STRIKE 1912

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CIRCA 1909-1917 HANDWRITTEN DIARY FEMALE GARMENT WORKER LABOR STRIKE 1912:
$293.88

Up for sale is a wonderful archive of material from a woman by the name of Mary Sellzer.
Although a small archive its quite a rare look at a woman who worked in a garment Mill.The archive consists of two diaries: one full, and the other with five pages of writing.The yellow diary with the sticker “ right side inside” is full of entries about 30 double sided pages.That\'s 60 pages of handwritten entries.The black diary only has a few pages of entries/etc. Mrs Slezer, the author worked at the Sheuerman Bros Woolen Mill in Iowa. I believe she was employed as a garment worker. She has written all of her paydays, and the amount she received for the month. For example in 1912 she made 13.71 for the month of February working at Sheuerman Woolen Mills. Hard to believe, but at the same time it was very rough for women who worked in the Mills in the 1900\'s. Her diary entries are just a year after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City. She really kept a fascinating diary from 1909 until 1917. Her diary is full of her notes on many aspects of her daily life, including international,and local events. What I found the most interesting was her mention of a labor strike that took place, and it affected the Woolen Mill. Reading her entries I believe she was a strike breaker,but its hard to surmise.Another entry she mentions the death of a fellow worker who died at the age of 33.
Some brief entries there is more and lots of extras as well see below for details:Dec 13th ,1912
The Union people ( Garment Workers) voted to strike tomorrow
if their request was not grated by Dec 14th. The power went down and everybody was sent home.
Dec 17th Took girls to work in taxicabs Kate Woderlin, and I didn\'t go until the next day. The strike is still on they didn\'t come after me today.April 23rd,1912
Miss Luella Romick died Sat ( April 20th) and was buried today at 9am
Mrs Young sang solo “ Heven is my home” The girls from the factory that went are
Mrs Reaves ,Clara Mathews, Nellie Hensey , Vie Armstrong, Maud Jennings Ella Anderson , Winnie Murphy Fannie Barkley, and Minni Mckee, and myself.
She was 33 years old.Jan 30th, 1916
We have about 2 inches of solid ice all over the ground and its impossible to walk
The tress all all full too.We nearly had another strike last week 2 men got fired.Other entries include some brief observations on men leaving for WWI
For example :
Oct 01,1917
The streets were just thick with soldiers , all the drafted men are at the camp now
Some had only their solider hats and others had their shirts too. Some looked funny.
Some looked awful downhearted.Oct 25th , 1917
Lots of the soldiers have left for Deming others for long Island, and some are in France have been for several months,
but nobody knows whether they are in battle or not. Camp Dodge is nearly finished and an awful lot of soldiers are there.
Nearly all of the first draft have been called . They had the second Liberty Bond sale this week.
Everything is terrible high now- a bag of flour 3.00 ten lbs of sugar is 5.00 , shoes are from six to ten dollars. Calico 20 cents a yard -
most everything has doubled and some things are three times as much as they need to be.She covers more topics in the diary here is a sample :
The Titanic Disaster; seeing a Meteorite; having measles; Dr. Schiltz dies; men being drafted for World War 1 and other updates from the war; had surgery to remove a tumor; blizzards; famous axe murders case in Iowa. laying double-track up 6th avenue; drownings; strikes; Woodrow Wilson Inaugurated; cyclones(tornadoes) hitting Omaha.; getting house wired for lights and telephone; ice carried old covered bridge away. info related to Catholic church.She also documents going on a trip to Chicago and Buffalo, New York. There are some business-type cards mentioning things like: A Play by Woodmen Circle Grove 62; ALL SAINTS CHURCH/PARISH. You also get many ephemera items that were found in the diaries. Includes two photos that may be of Mrs Seltzer they are not identified so I am not positive. There is also a report card for Annie Selzer from Highland Park School in 1906. In fairly good condition for their age with signs of wear and handling including: Surface wear and blemishes; cover wear; foxing/soiling; tears; creasing; other blemishes and wear; etc.