Well goddamn if this isn’t the coolest. New York University’s Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives just launched an oral history collection called The Real Rosie the Riveter Project. The archive is a collaboration between filmmakers Anne de Mare and Kirsten Kelly and playwright Elizabeth Hemmerdinger.
The names alone are excellent: Bonnie, Lucretia, Mildred, Dorice, Maizie, and Idamae.
Anyone with grandparents is familiar with the rambling, tangent-driven storytelling style of those in their 80s and 90s, and these Rosies are no different; Mazie Mullins takes a long detour through molasses making, for example. Pick one and listent to it tonight. Think of it as a really slow, really jumbled TED Talk, without all the slick powerpoint pizazz or snazzy acronyms.
Related Post: Rosie in the News #2, the AdCouncil celebrates 70 years with “Rosify Yourself.”
Related Post: Rosie in the News #1, Rosie sells Lasik surgery.
