Immigrant Women in New York, 1890-1920

The following is a brief discussion of resources (primarily but not exclusively 
print resources) about immigrant women, especially those on New York's East
Side from 1890-1920.  It took place on WMST-L in April 2006.  For additional
WMST-L files now available on the Web, see the WMST-L File Collection.

Hi, I'm wondering if you know of an article, chapter, anthology, or book 
that is especially good on discussing immigrant women, primarily of New 
York's East Side, roughly 1890-1920. That seems incredibly narrow to me, 
but I don't know this field so it may elicit many thoughts from some of 
you historians and immigration specialists. It's for a grad student 
floundering though putting up the good struggle for 
resources.....issues: work, marriage, family.

thanks much,

jane.olmsted  AT  wku.edu

Jane,

      There are tons of resources, lots of history written about that time
and place.  Wonderful is a fictionalized version, Beyond the Pale, by Elana
Dykewoman.  Also, Meredith Tax, Rivington Street, another fictionalized
version.  We just remembered the anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
of that time and place.

 

      Lois Rita Helmbold, Chair

      Women's Studies Department

      UNLV

      Helmbold  AT  unlv.nevada.edu

One of my personal favorites is The Fortunate Pilgrim by Mario Puzo.  
Has it all.

Deb Louis
dlouis44  AT  sbcglobal.net

--On Tuesday, April 18, 2006 2:08 PM -0500 Jane Olmsted 
<jane.olmsted  AT  WKU.EDU> wrote:

> Hi, I'm wondering if you know of an article, chapter, anthology, or
> book that is especially good on discussing immigrant women, primarily
> of New York's East Side, roughly 1890-1920.

Hi, Jane.  The grad student might take a look at Kathy Peiss's _Cheap 
Amusements: Working Women and Leisure in Turn-of-the-Century New York_. 
As I recall, many of the women she discusses are immigrants or the 
daughters of immigrants.  You can find a little more information on the 
Temple University Press website:
http://www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/358_reg.html

	Joan

	Joan Korenman
	jskor AT umbc.edu

Also, for a comprehensive treatment and SCADS of references, see Nancy 
Woloch's Women and the American Experience, chaps. 9-14.

Deb again
dlouis44  AT  sbcglobal,net

Jennifer Guglielmo's LIVING THE REVOLUTION: ITALIAN WOMEN, TRANSNATIONAL
RADICALISM, AND WORKING-CLASS FEMINISMS, NEW YORK CITY 1880-1945 won't be
out until 2008--but it is a great book on the subject. Her essay in Donna
Gabaccia & Franca Iacovetta's WOMEN, GENDER, TRANSNATIONAL LIVES:  ITALIAN
WORKERS OF THE WORLD might help.

Also, Elizabeth Ewen's IMMIGRANT WOMEN IN THE LAND OF DOLLARS, Susan Glenn's
DAUGHTERS OF THE SHTETL, Annelise Orleck's COMMON SENSE AND A LITTLE FIRE,
and Rose Laub Coser's WOMEN OF COURAGE.

Janet Zandy's WHAT WE HOLD IN COMMON has a section with poems on the
Triangle Fire.

Edvige Giunta
New Jersey City University
egiunta  AT  njcu.edu

Relating to Jane Olmstead's message looking for material about immigrant
women from New York's East Side.  There is a treasure trove of primary
source material at Harvard's "Working Women, 1800-1920" website.
http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/ww/

It contains a wide variety of digitized materials from charitable
organizations, the government, settlement houses and much more.  When
you get into the site, I would suggest that the student not use the
search box for a book on the opening screen, but go to the "search the
collection" link on the top right hand side of the page. Boolean
operators work, and so does the * for truncation. So you could search
"immigrant* and east side and new york"
You could also add "women" but since this web site is about women, it
may be redundant.

Your student might also get some help from librarians at your
institution.

Ruth Dickstein
Social Sciences Librarian for History, Sociology, and Women's Studies
University of Arizona Library

hi. WNYC (820am) has been running segments of oral history-type
recordings of people from all walks of life and all ages.

check out this web site.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/imm/html/home/home.shtml

best, dina

--
Dina Dahbany-Miraglia Ph.D.
Department of Speech Communication 
& Theatre Arts      Humanities 129
Queensborough Community College
The City University of New York
Bayside NY 11364
E-mail: ddmqcc  AT  att.net

Someone else, in responding to this request, mentioned the Triangle
 Shirtwaist Fire of 1911.  That history also immediately came to my
 mind w. r. t. immigrant women in New York in your time period, and
 there are many, many good sources on that tragic factory fire listed
 on google, of course, that should lead you to extensive
 bibliographies on immigrant women in New York before 1920.  I also
 used to use in my classes a wonderful film entitled "A Storm of
 Strangers" on immigration to New York in the late 19th and early 20th
 c.  I'm sorry I don't have much bibliographic information on it now.
 When I used it, it was held in the SMU libraries, but I'm sure it
 must be available at other universities in their a-v collections or
 listed on World Cat. It's worth finding, if you can and if you're
 interested in film resources in your topic area. It is comprised
 entirely of original footage from the early 20th c. and covers the
 Triangle Shirtwaist horror and many other topics re immigrant
 women in New York then. Students never forget it, I find.
 
Martha Trescott