Digital Labor Collections: Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, on Saturday, March 25, 1911, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city, and one of the deadliest in U.S. history. The fire caused the deaths of 146 garment workers – 123 women and girls and 23 men – who died from the fire, smoke inhalation, falling, or jumping to their deaths. Most of the victims were recent Italian or Jewish immigrant women and girls.

Because the doors to the stairwells and exits were locked, a common practice at the time to prevent workers from taking unauthorized breaks and to reduce theft, many of the workers could not escape from the burning building and jumped from the high windows. There were no sprinklers in the building. The fire led to legislation requiring improved factory safety standards and helped spur the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), which fought for better working conditions for sweatshop workers.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire - This exhibit site includes original sources and information pertaining to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, an industrial fire that occurred in New York City in 1911 that took the lives of 146 people in 18 minutes. This pivotal moment in history led to the transformation of the labor code of New York State and to the adoption of fire safety measures that served as a model for the whole country. This site includes:

1. Survivor Interviews and Audio Recording featuring oral history interview recordings with Max Hochfield, Dora Maisler, and Pauline Pepe; transcripts derived from the survivor interviews; Frances Perkins’ lectures; and the Triangle Fire 50th Anniversary Commemoration.
2. Photos & Illustrations including topics including workers and working conditions, shirtwaist strikes, Triangle fire mourning and protest, victims and survivors, commemoration, and reporting and trial of Triangle factory owners. These images were digitized from photographic prints, negatives, newspaper accounts, lantern slides, and editorial cartoons. High resolution images can be found on the Kheel Center Flickr website.
3. Testimonials including selections from Leon Stein’s publications featuring Clara Lemlich, Rose Schneiderman, and other witnesses to the fire.
4. Newspaper & Magazine Articles including excerpts about the fire from The New York Times, Chicago Sunday Tribune, Outlook, The Ladies Garment Worker, Literary Digest, and American Federationist.
5. Reports including excerpts from the New York (State) Factory Investigating Commission, highlighting its creation, organization, scope, importance, and findings.
6. Letters including correspondence from sweatshop reform activist Pauline Newman and journalist Charles Willis Thompson.
7. Songs & Plays including "The Uprising of the Twenty Thousand"; the Ballad of the Triangle Fire; My Little Shirtwaist Fire; Episode V, The Triangle Fire from The Story of the ILGWU: A Radio Play in Six Episodes; and the Mournful Song of the Great Fire.
8. Transcripts of Criminal Trial Against Triangle Owners consisting of full-text transcripts of the 1911 criminal trial against the owners of the Triangle Shirtwaist factory.

Working for the Triangle Shirtwaist Company

In this oral history interview conducted by historian Joan Morrison, Pauline Newman told of getting a job at the Triangle Company as a child, soon after arriving in the United States from Lithuania in 1901. Newman described her life as an immigrant and factory worker. Like many other young immigrant workers, she chafed at the strict regulations imposed by the garment manufacturers. One of the greatest industrial tragedies in U.S. history occurred on March 25, 1911, when 146 workers, mostly young women, died in a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. Although she was not working in the factory at the time of the fire, many of her friends perished. Newman later became an organizer and leader of the International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union.