The fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in New York City, which claimed the lives of 146 young immigrant workers, is one of the worst disasters since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Website presented by the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives at Cornell University in cooperation with the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE!).

 

This site produced by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration includes proclamations, speech, links to video, and other materials pertaining to the fire.

 

Significance: The Triangle Shirtwaist fire spurred the efforts of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) to organize garment workers, and increased support for the vote among wage-earning women. Politicians passed legislation to improve sweatshop conditions in the garment industry.

 

Table of contents for research guide from Cornell University Library.

 

The Investigation and Trial
The Women's Trade Union League led a campaign to investigate such conditions among Triangle workers, to collect testimonies, and to promote an investigation

• New York Times, March 28, 1911, p. 1. "Blame Shifted on All Sides for Fire Horror."
• Outlook, April 22, 1911, "Indictments in the Asch Fire Case"
• Outlook, April 29, 1911,"Placing the Responsibility"
• Literary Digest, January 1912, "147 Dead, Nobody Guilty"

In the ensuing years, Freedman spoke out about the conditions that led to the fire. Company executives tried to buy her silence; she refused. Freedman went on to attend college, get married, and raise a family. After almost a century, she found herself back in the spotlight as the oldest survivor of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. She gave speeches and granted interviews and was featured in a documentary about her life that recently aired on many public television stations.

 

Listen as Weekend All Things Considered host Lisa Simeone talks with Dana Walden, Rose Freedman's granddaughter.

 

Edited by Kenneth T. Jackson: Triangle Shirtwaist Fire: The worst factory fire in the history of New York City. It occurred on 25 March 1911 in the Asch building at the northwest corner of Washington and Greene streets, where the Triangle Shirtwaist Company occupied the top three of ten floors; five hundred women were employed there, mostly Jewish immigrants between the ages of thirteen and twenty-three.

 

A Journal for MultiMedia History web site review. Video review of The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire for the Journal of Multimedia History'

 

Brief Timeline of American Literature and Events 1910-1919
25 March, 1911. Fire breaks out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, killing 146 workers, mostly women and girls; some jump to their deaths when inadequate equipment makes rescue impossible