Garment Workers Exhibit

New Haven’s

Garment Workers:

An Elm City Story

History lives on for those who visit New Haven’s Garment Workers: An Elm City Story, a history folded into the fabric of nearly every Greater New Haven family, sparking collective memories
and personal reflection.

About the Exhibit

“New Haven’s Workers: An Elm City Story” is presented by the Greater New Haven Labor History Association.  Since its opening in 2006, this traveling exhibit has been displayed at 12 locations locally and throughout the state.  It paints a vivid portrait of the lives, victories, struggles and sacrifices of a courageous group of working people in the clothing industry in New Haven. 

Background

In 1932 and 1933, to combat sweatshop conditions in the clothing industry, workers from the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and the International Ladies Garment Workers Union cooperated in an organizing campaign.  Their efforts resulted in large-scale unionization of the industry and improvement in wages, working conditions, and hours. Their history offers important lessons for all of us in these times. 

Garment Workers Exhibit Tour

Tour details>>

Current Exhibit Location

October 4, 2010-December 6, 2010
Olin Memorial Library, Wesleyan University
252 Church St., Middletown, CT
(860) 685-3844

2011
New Haven Maritime Center (January-March)

2010

Bella Vista of New Haven (December)
The Council Teachers Building in New Haven (December)
Olin Memorial Library at Wesleyan University (October-November)
Atwater Memorial Library in North Branford (September)
Wachovia Bank in New Haven (April-September)
Fairfield University in Fairfield (March-April)
Blackstone Memorial Library in Branford (January-February)

2009

Hagaman Memorial Library in East Haven, Welcome Event by Mayor April Capone Almon
University of Connecticut at Storrs
University of Massachusetts Amherst, WEB Dubois Library

2008

New Haven City Hall Atrium
New Haven Council Teachers Building

2007

Courtland Wilson Library in New Haven
New Haven City Hall Atrium

2006

Ethnic  Heritage Center of New Haven, Welcome Event by Author Anthony Riccio
New Haven Public Library