Where would be some good published and archival sources to research women printers of the 19th and early 20th centuries in the New York City area? I am particularly interested in the labor history of women in printing in the New York City area.
Here is a list of sources that will hopefully be of use to you in your research on women printers/typesetters in NYC. Unfortunately, most of the materials here are broader than NYC. Much of the stuff actually seems to be based around the New England area, but hopefully this will give you some leads. Also, I would contact the NYPL archives division to ask them directly if they know of collections relating to your topic. Good luck and thanks for coming to RadRef!
Greg and Laura
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Archives:
The Women Working archival collection at Harvard may have some digitized materials of use. There is a section specific to printing- on the left hand side of the website, go to 'browsing' and under this look for 'topics'. On this new page, under 'industrial' click on the plus sign to find 'printers'!
The website: Women Working Collection
Finding Aid for the:
GRAPHIC COMMUNICATIONS INTERNATIONAL
UNION, LOCAL 259-M
RECORDS, 1941, 1946-1988
At the University of Albany: GCIU
THE GCIU is the product of a series of mergers between five predecessor craft unions: the Amalgamated Lithographers of America (ALA); the International Photo Engravers Union (IPEU); the International Brotherhood of Bookbinders (IBB); the International Printing Pressmen and Assistants' Union (IPPAU); and the International Stereotypers and Electrotypers Union (ISEU). There have definitely been NYC locals of these unions, so the NYPL or NY universities may have some of these folks' papers.
Princeton has an online exhibit on women printers:
Princeton
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This may also give a few leads: Susan B. Anthony
Anthony was president of the Workingwomen’s Central Association and her own newspaper The Revolution had a union of women typesetters. She called for women to take men’s printing jobs when they were striking.
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Articles:
The only scholarly article I found on women in the U.S. and typesetting was about New England, but perhaps it will be of help: A Showdown of "Swifts": Women Compositors, Dime Museums, and the Boston Typesetting Races of 1886
Walter Rumble
The New England Quarterly, Vol. 71, No. 4. (Dec., 1998), pp. 615-628.
Stable URL: Rumble
It seems that this article is also a chapter in a larger book by Walter Rumble: The Swifts: Printers in the Age of Typesetting Races, published by the University of Virginia Press.
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Books (all found in WORLD-CAT database- you may have to do interlibrary loans to get your hands on them):
Title: Women in the printing industry /
Author(s): Newman, Robin A.
Publication: N.p. : Murray State University Dept. of Graphic Arts Technology,
Year: 1982
Description: ii, 34 p. ; 24 cm.
Language: English
SUBJECT(S)
Descriptor: Women printers -- United States.
Women -- Employment -- United States.
Title: Notes on women printers in Colonial America and the United States, 1639-1975 /
Author(s): Barlow, Marjorie Dana.
Publication: New York : Hroswitha Club ; Charlottesville, Va. : distributed by the University Press of Virginia,
Year: 1976
Description: xi, 89 p. ; 26 cm.
Language: English
Standard No: LCCN: 76-46686
SUBJECT(S)
Descriptor: Women printers -- United States -- Biography.
Printing -- United States -- History.
Title: Lapdogs and Bloomer girls :
the life and times of Lisle Lester (1837-1888) /
Author(s): Kaynor, Fay Campbell, 1924-
Publication: Los Angeles : Eve's Eye Press,
Edition: 1st Eve's Eye Press ed.
Year: 2001
Description: 320 p. : ill. ; 21 cm.
Language: English
Standard No: ISBN: 1930437048 LCCN: 00-11559
SUBJECT(S)
Descriptor: Women journalists -- United States -- Biography.
Women dramatists, American -- Biography.
Women printers -- United States -- Biography.
Title: The ladies printing bee :
an anthology of thirty-nine letterpress printers addressing the subject of women's work /
Author(s): Faye, Jules Remedios. ; Kroupa, Sandra.
Corp Author(s): Street of Crocodiles (Press)
Publication: [Sedro-Woolley, Wash.] : Street of Crocodiles Printery,
Year: 1995
Description: 1 v. (unpaged) : ill. (some col.) ; 21 cm.
Language: English
SUBJECT(S)
Descriptor: Women printers.
Private presses -- United States.
Printing -- United States.
Title: Women as printers.
Author(s): Rather, Lois, 1905-
Publication: Oakland, Calif., Printed and published by the Rather Press
Year: 1970
Description: 72 p. 23 cm.
Language: English
Standard No: LCCN: 72-21363
SUBJECT(S)
Descriptor: Women printers -- United States -- History.
Printing -- United States -- History.
Title: Early American women printers and publishers, 1639-1820 /
Author(s): Hudak, Leona M., 1930-
Publication: Metuchen, N.J. : Scarecrow Press,
Year: 1978
Description: xxi, 813 p. ; 23 cm.
Language: English
Standard No: ISBN: 0810811197 LCCN: 78-825
SUBJECT(S)
Descriptor: Women printers -- United States -- Biography.
Women publishers -- United States -- Biography.
Publishers and publishing -- United States -- History.
Printing -- United States -- History.
Femmes imprimeurs -- États-Unis -- Biographies.
Éditrices -- États-Unis -- Biographies.