Ann Morrow at American Heritage reports on the Kate Mullany House, a National Historic Site located in Troy where there is a display of the various flatirons that Laundresses in the 19th Century used in service to the City’s “Collar And Cuffs” Industry.  Nearly half of Troy’s female workforce, about 3,700 Women, worked in the City’s 14 commercial laundries. Morrow writes for those Women who earned their living as Laundresses, working conditions were much worse than tedious.  Wages were pitiful - two or three dollars a week.  If a shirt, collar, or cuff was damaged, the cost came out of the Employee’s pay.  Dropping a collar on the floor resulted in a fine - and laundering became more dangerous with the introduction of scalding, mechanized starching machines that required almost as much effort as hand-starching.  Kate Mullany, a 19-year-old Irish Immigrant Collar Laundress, decided that enough was enough and was credited for leading and organizing one of the earliest Labor Unions for Women - the Female Collar Laundry Union in the 1860s.

To Read This Labor News Report In Its Entirety, Go To: Reopened Museum Honors Women's Fight fo..(Sep 23,Vol:68 Issue:6) (americanheritage.com)

The Poster That Appears Above Was Created By The New York State United Teachers Union And Features An Imagined Portrait Of Mullany, Of Whom Few Images Exist.