I might be including the Kalamazoo Corset Company Strike of 1912 in my next novel. You’ve heard of it? Kalamzoo, Michigan was churning out corsets at a great rate: 800 women produced 1.5 million per year when the U.S. population was 69 million. No whalebone stays. How old-fashioned. These advanced Kalamazoo models used  . . .  turkey feathers. Amazing the things one learns in novel-writing. Including that the company sponsored popular songs about their products, particularly the American Beauty line. Not what one imagines of 1912. Here is the cover for one of these songs. Sadly, I was unable to find the lyrics. They would be intriguing.

But happy corset songs didn’t relieve poor working conditions: long hours, unsanitary conditions and poor “moral conditions” endured by the women at the hands (literally) of the male foremen. With wide general support, conditions improved after the strike, although in a few years, demand for the product declined, much to the relief of many turkeys, and the company diversified.

One of my favorite lines of Bob Dylan is in his “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go” from Blood on the Tracks (1975). Never mind the Dylan-style defeatism of outlining a perfect partner, an effortlessly satisfying relationship to which of course the natural response is splitting up. Never mind that. The line I love is: “I’ll look for you in old Honolulu, San Francisco, Ashtabula.”

When I first heard the song, I was living near Ashtabula (which is on Lake Erie, near Cleveland, as everybody knows). So there was that frisson of recognition. But the outrageous coupling (or tripling) of the romantic Honolulu and San Francisco with the Iron Belt obscurity of Ashtabula got me. And just the sound of the name: I love the unpleasantness of “ash” and the soft exoticism of “tabula.” **

Anyway, the novel I’m writing now is set in Cleveland, circa 1910, and if Ashtabula had a heyday, it was circa then. This week I wrote the first draft of Chapter 11 and wrote up quite the little scene in which my main character, Lucia, wanders through Ashtabula on a summer day, drinks lemonade in the shade of a deep Victorian porch before the afternoon goes south. Alas, the scene was too long and too off-theme to stay and had to be cut way back. But it was so lovely to be looking for Lucia in Ashtabula.

** “Ashtabula” is Irquois for “River of Many Fish.” I guess that was awhile ago.

In researching garment worker conditions  in 1911 for my next novel, I came upon a list of the victims of the March 25, 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in New York City and can’t get it out of my head. Read the litany of the 146 dead slowly, picturing the names and young ages of these workers. Some have notes:  tiny windows to the particularities of their tragedies.

Just the facts: Managers had locked the doors to prevent pilfering and authorized exits, a common practice at the time. When fire broke out, the trapped workers, mostly children and young women,  leaped from the 8th, 9th, and 10th floor windows. Most  died. It is the fourth largest industrial tragedy of this country, and the second largest in NYC until 2001. It is good to remember the labors of unions, particularly the ILGWU, OSHA and groups like Jobs with Justice that work so hard for worker safety. The list is from the University of Missouri, Kansas City pages on the tragedy. The images of the last four identified victims (not in the list below) are from the New York Times, “100 Years Later, the Roll of the Dead in a Factory Fire is Complete,” February 20, 2011.

Aberstein, Julia, 30
Adler, Lizzie, 24
Altman, Anna, 16
Ardito, Anna, 25
Astrowsky, Becky, 20
Bassino, Rosie, 31
Belatta, Vincenza, 16
Bellotta, Ignazia, Father identified by heel of shoe.
Benanti, Vincenza, 22
Bernstein, Essie, 19
Bernstein, Jacob, 28
Bernstein, Morris, 19
Bernstein, Moses
Bierman, Gussie, 22, Parents complained body stripped of rings.
Binevitz, Abraham, 20
Brenman, Rosie
Brenman, Surka (Sarah)
Brodsky, Ida, 16
Brodsky, Sarah, 21
Brooks, Ida, 18
Brunette, Laura, 17
Caputta, 17
Carlisi, Josep, 31
Caruso, Albina, 20
Carutto, Frances, 17
Castello, Josie, 21
Cirrito, Rosie
Cohen, Anna, 25
Colletti, Antonia (Annie). 30
Costello, Della
Crepo, Rose. 19
Denent, Grances, 20
Dichtenhultz (Fichtenhultz), Yetta, 18
Dockman (Dochman), Dora (Clara), 19
Dorman, K, Identified by registered letter.
Downic, Kalman, 24
Eisenberg, Celia, 17
Feibush, Rose
Feicisch (Feibish), Rebecca, 17, Died at hospital after jumping.
Feltzer, 40
Fitze, Mrs. Dosie Lopez, 24, Survived jump for day, then died.
Forrester, May, 25
Franco, Jennie, 16
Frank, Tina, 17
Gallo, Mrs. Mary, 23
Geib, Bertha, 25
Gernstein, Molly, 17
Gittlin, Celina, 17
Goldfield, Esther
Goldstein, Esther
Goldstein, Lena, 22
Goldstein, Mary, 11
Goldstein, Yetta, 20
Gorfield, Esther, 22
Grameattassio, Mrs. Irene, 24
Harris, Esther, 21, Broke back coming down elevator chute.
Herman, Mary, 40
Jakobowski, Ida
Kaplan (woman), 20
Kenowitch, Ida, 18
Keober, 30
Kessler, Becky, Tag read, “B Kessler, call for her tomorrow.”
Klein, Jacob, 23
Kupla, Sara, Jumped.  Survived five days after fire.
Launswold, Fannie, 24
Lefkowitz, Nettie, 28
Lehrer, Max, 19
Lehrer, Sam
Leone, Kate, 14
Lermack, Rosie D., 19
Leventhal, Mary, 22, Identified by gold-capped tooth.
Levin, Jennie, 19, Attractive woman who died with folded arms
Levine, Abe
Levine, Max
Levine, Pauline, 19
Maltese, Catherine, Mother of two victims below.
Maltese, Lucia, 20, One of three bodies identified by her brother.
Maltese, Rosalie(Rosari), 14
Manara, Mrs. Maria, 27
Manofsky, Rose, 22, Died at Bellevue Hospital.
Marciano, Mrs. Michela, 25
Mayer, Minnie
Meyers, Yetta, 19
Miale, Bettina,18, Identified by ring on her finger.
Miale, Frances, 21
Midolo, Gaetana, 16
Nebrerer, Becky, 19
Nicholas, Annie, 18
Nicolose, Nicolina  (Michelina)
Novobritsky, Annie, 20
Nussbaum (Nausbaum),  Sadie, 18, Lower half of body consumed by flame.
Oberstein, Julia, 19
Oringer, Rose, Died at St. Vincent’s Hospital.
Ozzo, Carrie, 22
Pack, Annie, 18
Panno, Mrs. Providenza, 48
Pasqualicca, Antonietta, 16
Pearl, Ida, 20
Pildescu, Jennie, 18
Pinello, Vincenza, 30
Poliny, Jennie, 20
Prato, Millie, 21
Reivers, Becky, 19
Rootstein, Emma
Robinowitz, Abraham
Rosen, Israel, 17, Sister identified body by ring.
Rosen, Julia (widow), 35, $842 found in her stocking.
Rosen, Mrs. Leob,, 38
Rosenbaum, Yetta, 22
Rosenberg, Jennie, 21
Rosenfeld, Gussie, 22
Rosenthal, Nettie, 21
Rother, R., 25
Rother, Theodore, 22
Sabasowitz, Sarah, 17
Salemi, Sophie, 24, Identified by a darn in her stocking.
Saracino, Sara
Saracino, Serafina, 25
Saracino, Tessie, 20
Schiffman, Gussie, 18
Schmidt, Mrs. Theresa, 32
Schneider, Mrs. Ethel
Schochep, Violet, 21
Schwartz, Margaret, Named victim in criminal case.
Selzer, Jacob, 33
Semmilio, Mrs. Annie, 30
Shapiro, Rosie, 17
Shena, Catherine, 30
Sklaver, Berel (Sklawer,  Bennie), 25
Sorkin, Rosie, 18
Spear
Sprunt
Spunt, Gussie, 19
Starr, Mrs. Annie, 30
Stein, Jennie, 18
Stellino, Jennie, 16
Stiglitz, Jennie, 22
Tabick, Samuel, 18
Terdanova (Terranova),  Clotilde, 22, Only victim to die on tenth floor; jumped.
Tortorella, Isabella, 17
Ullo, Mary, 20
Utal, Meyer, 23
Velakowsky,  Freda(Freida), 20, Survived jump for 3 days, then died.
Vivlania, Bessie, 15
Vovobritsky, Annie, 20
Weinduff, Sally, 17
Weiner, Rose, 23
Weintraub, Sally (Sarah?), 17
Weintraub, Celia
Welfowitz, Dora, 21
Wilson, Joseph, 21, Found by fiance; to have been wed in June.
Wisner, Tessie, 27
Wisotsky, Sonia, 17
Wondross, Bertha
Zeltner, 30, Died of internal injuries at St. Vincent’s.

Now on the tenth chapter, maybe 60% through the plot of my next historical novel, due at HarperCollins in early November (very early, Nov.1), I discover that writing on a deadline is 1) very hard on the back; and 2) you learn a lot of little stuff which may or may not fit in your plot but feeds a writer’s lust for historical trivia. So I’ll share my random pickings with you.

1. Those lush and heavy pompadour hair style of the early 1900’s were plumped by folding the hair around wadded cotton or horsehair appealingly called “rats.”

2. The heavy post-Victorian hats were held on the above mentioned hair extravaganzas with hat pins as log as your (or my) arm. Some hats included stuffed birds.

3. In the early 1900’s only one in eight Americans finished high school.

4. Vaudeville theaters (figure heavily in my novel) had shows that ran continuously through the day, rather like our moving houses, but with live performers.

5. Anxious to attract a family audience, many vaudeville troupes invited Sunday School directors to view the show and give their approval of “wholesome entertainment.”

6. The 60’s hit “I’m Henery the Eighth” was a 1910 hit first. Who knew?

7. Passenger pigeons used to make flocks that were 300 miles long, darkening the sky.

8. In researching the age of the term “pony tail” I discovered that a recent U.K. research team has done mathematical modeling to predict the shape of a pony tail (a human’s pony tail) based on “various factors”. Why?

9. Cleveland, Ohio was once the second largest producer of women’s clothes.

10. The 50 hour work week was once a fond dream of American workers. Many said it would never happen. Unions thought otherwise.

11. Women earned half to two-thirds of men’s salary for the same work. Of course now we’re at 77%  . . . so history doesn’t advance on all fronts.