[Rarebooks] Short Life, Tragic Death, Worker's Rights Advocate in 1907

[Joslin Hall Rare Books, ABAA]

>From our Just Catalogued pages-
<http://www.joslinhall.com/justcat.htm>
_______________________________________


CAROLA WOERISHOFFER. HER LIFE AND WORK.
Bryn Mawr College, Class of 1907: 1912.

The story of the short life and tragic death of Carola Woerishoffer, a
wealthy young woman who became an important figure in the worker's rights
movement in turn-of-the-century New York. A dynamic force in the Woman's
Trade Union League, she worked tirelessly to advance the League's
projects. In 1909 she worked for four months as an anonymous undercover
investigator in New York City's laundries, detailing in unemotional and
detailed prose the various abuses and dangers that laundry women were
subjected to. One day, she wrote, she left the stifling laundry room and
was struck by how cool the day was, only to find out that the "cool" city
temperature was 96 degrees. During the shirtwaist strike that same year
she put up her own real estate, worth $75,000, as bond for hundreds of
arrested strikers. She then began the Strike Council's Strike Fund with a
$10,000 donation.

Unlike some of her well-to-do contemporaries, Woerishoffer was neither a
dreamer nor a Socialist, but a pragmatic realist who believed that the
real answer to the worker's plight lay not in strikes but in just labor
legislation and laws. She served as an investigator for the State Bureau
of Immigration during the Triangle Fire investigation, and did much work
collecting evidence from the surviving workers. In 1911 she was still
working as an investigator for the Bureau, traveling by car to investigate
immigrant labor camps. On September 11th, 1911, her car slid off a muddy
road in upstate New York and overturned, injuring her so severely that she
died the next day, at the age of just 26. In her will she left $750,000 to
found a school of social work at Bryn Mawr, which continues to this day as
the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research.

This memorial volume, put together by her former Bryn Mawr classmates,
includes biographical information, a variety of laudatory resolutions and
editorials, and reminiscences from her friends and co-workers. An
important record of the life and work of a dynamic figure in the worker's
rights movement of the early 20th century. A scarce book. Hardcover.
5.5"x8", 137 pages, 3 b/w plates; light soil, a little wear, but a very
nice copy. [05127] $125.00

Illustration-
<http://www.joslinhall.com/images03/th-05127.jpg>

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