Carnegie, Mellon, Phipps, Frick – we see their names on libraries, buildings, businesses and street signs, but what did these wealthy businessmen look like? This collection includes numerous portraits of famous industrialists and financiers, posing together or with their families.
In stark contrast, other photos depict the anonymous faces of millworkers, miners, foremen, and factory and rail workers as they operate industrial machinery or relax on a break. The book Women and the Trades describes the conditions of jobs women typically held in these industries and depicts them in cigar-rolling factories, canneries, glass decorating businesses and other positions. The book, The Steelworkers features numerous photographs of the millworkers and describes in detail the labor conditions and responsibilities of the region’s most prominent profession.
Additional documents include Songs from the Smoke, a poetry collection of Pittsburgh-inspired verse; Steel: The Diary of a Furnace Worker, a firsthand account of a Yale graduate who worked in the mills; and Work-Accidents and the Law, a report that describes the staggeringly dangerous conditions laborers of all industrial trades faced.
Together, these items illuminate the people behind the story of Pittsburgh’s development and represent the personal side of the industrial movement in the United States.
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