Documenting the Scranton Lace Company

Browse Items (43 total)

  • Advertisement from The Indianapolis Times

  • A local devasting flood forcing residents and civilians to use canoes to travel across the street.

  • Three women (Theresa Cognetti, Ann Miller, and Mildred White) posed smiling as they worked to fold abundant amounts of lace surrounding them. There is lace in baskets waiting to be folded as well. The women are dressed up for their labor, which may suggest the lack of intensity in the work itself.

  • A WWI Loyalty Parade is going on for miles in front of the Scranton Supply and Machinery Company buildings. Presumably, the people marching work for the Scranton Lace Company. Men are in the front marching with Scranton Lace Company flags. Many women are at the back holding umbrellas.

  • On the photograph the words, "Stag Party for N.G. Robertson by the men of the Scranton lace company. Located in the crystal ballroom May 26th, 1927 Hotel Casey." are written at the bottom. Three couples stand in the middle of the Hotel Casey ballroom with a man on the left standing with them. On either side of the ballroom, several men dressed up for the occasion sit down and stare at the camera. The men of the Scranton Lace Company have come together and hosted a celebration for the soon-to-be-married N.G. Robertson with a “Stag party,” which, strangely is the British term for a bachelor's party. The man who stands with the other couples on the left side likely planned or set up the party. This explains why he is in this photo even though he doesn’t seem to be a part of the bride and groom’s group according to the other photograph in this series “N.G Robertson Stag Party” which features only the bridal party for the wedding. A bachelor party is reserved for men to celebrate the groom’s marriage. However there are three women present, N.G Robertson’s wife, who remains nameless even in the caption on the photo. There are two other women present with their couples, they are on either side of Mr. and Mrs. Robertson dressed similarly (the photograph N.G Roberston Stag Party shows a closer photo of the bridal group), and they are likely the best men and women. The women came in for photos and promptly left to allow the men to mingle a party as per the typical pre-marriage traditions. However, there is a bit of sweetness in such a small gesture as the groom, Robertson, had taken the time to be photographed with his wife during the party. The party was hosted by the men of the Scranton Lace Company, making it likely that N.G Robertson worked there. However, hosting a large party for just any worker getting married is very demanding. N.G. Robertson was a higher-up respected by the company and when news of his engagement spread, it resulted in this party. The guests are also friends of N.G.Robertson’s or coworkers at the company. They were also possibly a part of the upper management and business side of the company based on the clothes and location of the stag party, The Hotel Casey. Hotel Casey, designed by Charles E. Weatherhog and ran by Patrick and Andrew J. Casey, was a famous hotel in Scranton. It was opened in 1911 and was one of the most popular hotels in the northeastern U.S. It had eleven stories and 250 rooms. The Hotel hosted many Stag parties like N.G. Robertson’s and even hosted speeches and meetings for influential people. In 2001 Hotel Casey was demolished and turned into a parking garage and a place for many small businesses in the area. The Scranton Lace Company valued (at least on paper and from what we’ve seen), a community their workers can thrive in. Sports teams, parade marches, and even wedding parties for their coworkers, the company wanted to build a sense of community that contrasts the harsh work environment of repetitive work, and heavy machinery. The factory held bowling alleys and barber shops, allowing the working-class people to feel a sense of normalcy and relaxation from their daily heavy work. It isn't surprising that the upper management would hold this sentiment closely and host a party for their coworker, it shows how much of a close-knit community the Scranton Lace Company had built.

  • Rows of female Scranton Lace Company employees wearing black dresses, white sashes, and carrying large, starred umbrellas took to the streets of Scranton to support the sale of Liberty Bonds on April 6th, 1918. The image was taken on Wyoming Avenue, in front of Lackawanna Cold Storage Company and the Scranton Supply & Machinery Co. The shot was presumably captured moments after male workers from the Scranton Lace Company marched by, as seen in “Scranton Lace Company Parade”. An estimated 12,000 community members marched, including the local American Red Cross chapter, the Spanish American War Veterans’ drum corps, Scranton’s Home Guard, the Berwick Band, Scranton Public Works and Public Safety employees, and local middle and high school students. A significant portion of the parade participants were women from groups such as the Women’s Liberty Loan Committee, the ladies’ band of the Salvation Army, Daughters of the American Revolution, Scranton’s Girl Scouts troop, the women’s committee of the Council of National Defense, food conservation and war garden committees, and the Polish Samaritans. About forty women of color were in attendance, according to The Tribune’s (previously The Scranton Republican) account of the march, titled “Some of the Most Striking Features in Saturday’s Big Loyalty Day Parade and Demonstration”. The report claims that 50,000 people showed up to view the spectacle.
    Prior to the start of WWI, the women’s suffrage movement was reenergized by the National American Woman Suffrage Association’s 1913 march in Washington D.C., organized by Alice Paul and Lucy Burns and led by Inez Milholland. Thousands of women faced intimidation and public humiliation at the hands of men and the police officers who enabled them, yet continued to march after U.S. Army troops arrived and cleared the streets. Coverage of the suffragists’ “man-handling” generated publicity, and newspapers covered the march just as much, if not more, than President Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration that occurred the day after. During the war, the contributions women made for a country that couldn’t be bothered to give them a voice highlighted, rather than stalled, the movement. Women filled the roles of men in the workforce while their husbands, brothers, and sons were in the trenches, showing that they are just as capable as any man. Despite the glaring inequalities women in the United States faced, they still showed up in support of the war effort, as seen by the thousands of women representing female-led committees and local groups in Scranton’s Liberty Bond campaign parade. The message sent to President Woodrow Wilson was clear: women’s work outside the home and in the public sphere were too important to dismiss, especially during wartime. In 1920, the 19th Amendment was passed, concluding a fight that began 72 years earlier in Seneca Falls at the First Women's Rights Convention.
    Closer to home, the Scranton Lace Company shifted its focus during the war from producing dainty lace creations to supplying mosquito netting and shelter tent material, 1,000,000 and 500,000 yards of each, respectively. The company employed hundreds of women since its opening in 1890 in addition to men and, unfortunately but unsurprisingly, children. Female workers played a significant role in the manufacture of both artisanal homegoods and wartime supplies. The presence of Scranton’s women in the lace factory and in campaigns for Liberty Bonds proved that they would not be relegated to homemaking: if anyone deserved enfranchisement, it was them. Later, during the second World War, the Scranton Lace Company would resume production of netting and assorted textile supplies, partnering with Victory Parachutes Inc. to expand their range of goods to include parachutes. Women would continue to make up a large part of Scranton Lace Company’s workforce until its closure in 2002.
    Today, in a nation that has revoked the long-standing rights of women and will continue to do so without pushback, it is crucial to consider the loyalty the female population has shown to a country that considers them inferior to men. Women have and always will deserve equal rights, whether or not they display such patriotism as the female workers who were so critical to the war effort. It has never been more important to recognize the contributions made by women throughout the history of the United States, especially when those contributions are at risk of being erased forever.

    Citations

    National Park Service. (2018, October 15). Women’s suffrage and WWI. https://www.nps.gov/articles/womens-suffrage-wwi.htm

    Scranton lace is sent all over the world. (1919, March 5). The Tribune, 12.

    Some of the most striking features in Saturday’s big Loyalty Day parade and demonstration. (1918, April 8). The Tribune, 4-5.

  • "Nottingham Lace- for the ultimate in gracious dining"
    A collection of tablecloths made by the Scranton Lace Factory, with their frequently advertised Nottingham Lace on the cover of the collection's ad. The lace in the photo has many intricate and delicate details. This is a testament to the hard work of the laborers who wove this lace.
Output Formats

atom, dcmes-xml, json, omeka-xml, rss2

Proudly powered by Omeka.