Triangle Shirtwaist Fire 100th Anniversary March 25, 2011
 

Hi all. There is so much going on next Friday in honor of the anniversary that it has taken me forever to do a posting (or 2 actually) about it. There are actually events all over the country but the bulk of them will be right here where the fire happened.

http://thestarryeye.typepad.com/expl...-25-19111.html

What's sad is that these sweat shops still exist - employing illegal immigrants - and with very limited safety measures.

So true.

I am planning on going to the Tenement Museum, there are some commemorative events happening there for this 100th anniversary next Fri.

There is an HBO documentary on the fire. It sounds good. Premiering this Sunday night and other play dates next wk.

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/sm...e-doc-March-21

SueNYC, is that your blog? Very nice. Thanks for sharing it.
Eileen

Yup - that's my blog - all kinds of good information there. Wish I could see the HBO documentary. I made the mistake of lying down on my couch for the PBS one and I slept through it. I don't have HBO.

Sue, you can watch the PBS American Experience documentary here: http://to.pbs.org/godLNq

Thanks Burt

Since I will be in NYC this Fri., I just checked and tried to get tickets, but all the tickets for the event at Cooper Union Great Hall this coming Fri night 3/25 are gone. I am considering going at 6:30 pm to put my name on the waiting list, as they are opening up some seats 5 min before the program starts.

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/164102

I was wrong in my post above-- The Tenement Museum's commemorative programs are during the week this week, not on Friday 3/25.

I missed the PBS show when it was on here in late February so am watching it on line. I went to NYU Law School right near the site of this tragedy

I watched the documentary. I know alot has changed since then, but I do think we should be vigilent not to let owners/managers take safety shortcuts to boost profits. There was a chicken processing plant in NC that had a fire about 15 years ago. The fire exits were padlocked because they thought that workers would take unauthorized smoke breaks.

Here is an article from todays NY Daily News about a survivor of the Triangle fire.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/..._was_one_.html

That article and the video are amazing. Thanks. (FYI - a "trusted member" of the Frommer's NYC travel board couldn't understand why I put the link up.)

Considering what is occuring now against the unions, this anniversary takes on special meaning.

Here is an interesting article from today's NY Times.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/20.../?ref=nyregion

Yup to both posts Warren.

Thanks for this post, bookmarking to check out the links later. I'll also mention that the excellent 8-disc documentary on New York, produced by Ric Burns, has a gripping segment on the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire.

Nelson, thanks for mentioning that. I wonder how I missed that Burns NYC series on PBS. I see the first parts of it were shown in 1999, with the last few DVDs not being shown til a few yrs later. As someone who really enjoys NYC history, I have now ordered the set and am looking forward to the 17 hrs of it.

Just finished watching the HBO documentary. I thought it was very well done, combining footage and photos with historical narration and interviews of relatives from those who survived and did not survive the fire.

I am a member of the NYC Fire Museum. Today I recd. notice by mail of an event this Sat. evening, March 26th, from 6 to 9 p.m., when they will be having an opening reception of an exhibit commemorating the Triangle fire. For those of you who are interested, the exhibit will run from March 26 til April 23.

Thanks emd3 - sounds interesting. I like that neighborhood and haven't been there in forever.

By the time of the fire, many of the shops were unionized by the fledgling ILGU. Triangle was one that was not. Goons were hired to attack union demonstrators. Among the demands the union was making of Triangle: Additional fire escapes; doors that open outward.

Susan Harris, whose exhibit is going to be at the NYC Fire Museum, is a descendant of one of the owners of the Triangle factory.

This is what is on the museum site re this exhibit:

On Saturday, March 26 from 6 to 9 pm, the New York City Fire Museum is hosting a reception for “Remembering Their Prayers,” created by artist Susan Harris. This special exhibition, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, is free and the public is invited to attend. The museum will be open for viewing and refreshments will be served.

Susan Harris resides in Los Angeles, California and is a descendant of Max Blanck, one of the co-owners of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, and will appear in the upcoming HBO film, “Triangle, Remembering the Fire.” As the Blanck family also had several relatives die in the tragic Triangle fire, Harris created “Remembering Their Prayers” with cloth and thread as a way of connection to remember and honor all of the victims.

Her featured piece, “Remembering Their Prayers,” consists of delicate pieces of Edwardian shirtwaists and handkerchief fabrics, each hand-embroidered with the name of a victim. Many names are sewn by the victims’ descendants. Hung on a line in a manner similar to Tibetan prayer flags, the piece is now 152 feet long.

Interested in Eastern religions since her teenage years, Tibetan prayer flags and prayer wheels have always held a powerful and transcendental energy for the artist. “I knew that there was something I had to do… I felt a deep calling to make something that would bridge the gap of pain and time and connect my family to the other victims’ families,” she says.

Harris will also be presenting a number of smaller, similarly intimate pieces relating to the Triangle Fire in the Museum’s first floor gallery. The exhibit “Remembering Their Prayers” will be on display through April 23, 2011.

Heard Katharine Weber, the author of Triangle, speak this evening. Interesting hearing about the writing process for historical fiction. She started this one before Sept 11th and then put it away for awhile til she could figure out how to deal with 9/11 as part of fiction about now.

Interesting lady with some famous ancestors. Am looking forward to reading her autobiography.

www.katharineweber.com

emd3, I trust you'll enjoy the Ric Burns New York documentary series. My wife and I watched it via Netflix last summer prior to visiting my brother in NYC. I grew up there in the '60's (been in Colorado for nearly 35 years now), and found the series endlessly fascinating, worth owning and re-watching.

As I understand it they completely filming in 1999 or 2000, then produced one more disk after 9/11.

I loved that documentary series also. I saw it when it first came out and will have to rewatch one of these days. I have the soundtrack also.

I need to see that exhibit at Grey Art Gallery of NYU. It sounds interesting.

palmetto princess, re: "I do think we should be vigilent not to let owners/managers take safety shortcuts to boost profits."
I hope this isn't off-topic, but I heard something to that effect on NPR yesterday, that the nuclear crisis in Japan is due in part to the choice of a cheaper housing material; that Halliburton was selected to install safety devices on the Deepwater Horizon rig despite their inexperience in the area b/c they were the lowest bidder; and that Massey, the operator of mines in the US, refused to spend money on safety measures, which cost lives. Corporations cut corners to increase profits. Governments and unions must provide counterbalance to ensure worker safety. I wish we had learned that lesson from the Triangle tragedy.

I know a bunch of you have stopped by to read my post but will any of you be around tomorrow? I am heading down there around noon when my 10AM uptown ends.

The deaths of all of those young immigrant women had a common cause - greed.

We stopped at the building this afternoon to pay our respects. There was purple bunting on the 10th floor to commemorate the location where the fire started and 146 people died.

My grandmother knew two young women who died in the fire and both grandfathers grew up a mere 10 minute walk from the sight. Ours was a tribute not only to the dead but all those who came to this country without knowing what the future would bring and created a life of dignity and comfort despite all those who would deny them that right.

Re your last sentence -- Amen, Auduchamp. My own mother is included in that group.

Sue, NYC, let us know how the commemoration ceremony was...

I will post something after I go to the opening of the exhibit at the Fire Museum tomorrow evening.

I live in California but have so appreciated the poignant comments, both here and in the Lounge. It weas pointed out to me there that CNN is airing a special this Saturday if anyone is interested.

It's been a long and interesting day -- will try to get a post written tomorrow. The rally and my wandering and the event at Cooper Union wwere amazing but I couldn't stay til the end. Need some sleep. Am working early tomorrow.

Well - here is part one of how I spent the Anniversary day

http://thestarryeye.typepad.com/expl...d-present.html

SueNYC, your description of your day so far is such a nice NYC day. Lots of discoveries. I am really impressed w/the Chalk project. I like how it it so personal re info from people who died in the fire and where they lived. And how it is done every year.

Unfortunately I was really under the weather on Sat. and after working downtown all day I went back to my hotel and crashed, did not feel up to going to the opening reception at the Fire Museum. I hated to miss it. I hope if someone gets to go to the exhibit, they will post here. I may try to see it when I go back for the Tribeca Film festival at the end of April.

I'll get to the evening event and the rest of that day soon and I will try to go to the fire museum. I am only around for the first few days of TFF and then I'm heading out of town for my father's 90th B day. More soon....loonngg day today.

Finally finished my post of the rest of the day.

http://thestarryeye.typepad.com/expl...present-2.html

Just bumping this up because it is the 101st anniversary this weekend.

http://thestarryeye.typepad.com/expl...niversary.html

Wow, I can't beleive it has been a whole year since this thread. In the last yr. I did a walking tour of Greenwich Village and we stopped at the bldg.

Thanks for topping, Sue.