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Women of Bethlehem Steel - Myrna Rivera
This is an interview with Myrna Rivera, a former employee of Bethlehem Steel. Myrna was born in Puerto Rico and grew up in Bethlehem, PA. She started working as a secretary while still in High School and went on to have a thirty-three-year career at Bethlehem Steel, in Human Resources and the Mining Department. Myrna describe the work environment and culture at Bethlehem Steel during times of both boom and decline. This interview was conducted by students in Professor Kim Carrell-Smith's History 303 course in the Fall semester of 2016.
Women of Bethlehem Steel - Patricia Mann
This is an interview with Patricia Mann, a former employee of Bethlehem Steel. Patricia, her father, and her husband all worked at Bethlehem Steel. Patricia grew up in Catasaqua, PA and attended a co-operative training program at Catasaqua High School, which led to her employment as an office worker at Bethlehem Steel. She discusses her layoff in the late 1970s as well as her husband's layoff in the 1980s and her subsequent re-hire by Bethlehem Steel. Mann discusses the atmosphere in the offices of Bethlehem Steel , including during the final days leading to its closure.
The Vernacular Spirit of South Bethlehem [videorecording]
This documentary short explores the relationship between gender and redevelopment. Features Karen Beck Pooley, Christine Ussler, Kim Carrell-Smith, and Jane Jacobs. This documentary was produced during the 2015 Lehigh University Mellon Digital Humanities/Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning documentary workshop.
Olga Negrón: Portrait of a Community Organizer [videorecording]
This documentary short provides a biography of Olga Negrón-Dipini. Olga came from Puerto Rico to the Lehigh Valley as a struggling single mother. Since her arrival she has worked in community organizing and now serves as council woman for the City of Bethlehem. Features Olga Negrón-Dipini, Seth Mogel, Ellen Larmer, and Sam Nazario. This documentary was produced during the 2015 Lehigh University Mellon Digital Humanities/Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning documentary workshop.
A Bridge for Bethlehem [videorecording]
This documentary short explores how Bethlehem, Pennsylvania could become a more pedestrian and biking friendly city. Through interviews, the film discusses health and safety concerns and how a pedestrian bridge across the Lehigh River would elleviate these concerns. Features Doug Roysdon, Breena Holland, Darlene Heller, Scott Slingerland, and Jason Schiffer. This documentary was produced during the 2015 Lehigh University Mellon Digital Humanities/Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning documentary workshop.
Hoover Mason Trestle [videorecording]
This documentary short outlines the past of the former Bethlehem Steel site to its current adaptive reuse. Features Lester Clore, Dana Grubb This documentary was produced during the 2015 Lehigh University Mellon Digital Humanities/Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning documentary workshop.
Women of Bethlehem Steel - Mary Wilson
Mary Wilson shares the rich story of her nearly forty year career, in which she held multiple positions at Bethlehem Steel in addition to teaching writing courses. Wilson begins with her remembrances of her father, who also had a long career at Bethlehem Steel, working in the foundry at the Bethlehem plant. She then discusses her early education as well as her later BA in French and her Master’s degree in English, which she obtained prior to working at Bethlehem Steel.
Women of Bethlehem Steel - Frances Cortez Funk
Frances Cortez Funk’s father, Frank J. Cortez, worked as a laborer at the Bethlehem Steel Corporation from 1970 until the late 1980s. Throughout the interview, Frances Cortez Funk discusses her father’s career, including his work as a union member and activist, and the influence of his life and work on her life and her family. Frank Cortez’s union involvement inspired his daughter Frances to study labor studies at Pennsylvania State University and pursue a career as a union organizer.
Women of Bethlehem Steel - Lisa Szarko
Lisa Moyer Szarko started working for the Bethlehem Steel Corporation when she was a young mother in the late 1970s. In this interview, she reflects on the many challenges that she encountered, and learned from, during her early days at the company, including working in a male-dominated environment, sexual harassment, physically demanding labor, and difficulties finding appropriate childcare for her young son. Szarko maintains that she was willing to deal with such difficulties because of the decent wages and benefits that she received, which allowed her to support her son.
Women of Bethlehem Steel - Bernadette Misero
Bernadette Misero worked as an escort for the Bethlehem Steel Corporation in the early 1970s. Her primary role as an escort was to create a favorable first impression for visitors and clients who had appointments at the office; as such, she greeted visitors, operated the elevators, and guided visitors to their appointments in the inner offices. In her interview, she shares the rigid expectations placed upon escorts, which included specific personal hygiene and dress regulations.
Women of Bethlehem Steel - Bess King
Bess King worked at Bethlehem Steel in the 1970s at a time when few other women worked as laborers. The daughter of a steelworker, King nonetheless had little knowledge of steel when she began working in ore handling. However, like other women interviewed in this collection, King was attracted to Bethlehem Steel by the wages, which were better than women received in other jobs, including factory and service work. King left her job at Mary MacIntosh Laundry for Bethlehem Steel in search of not only better wages but union protections.
Women of Bethlehem Steel - Bea Strahler
Bea Strahler grew up on the Southside of Bethlehem, PA with her brothers and her father. Strahler’s father worked at Bethlehem Steel and urged his children, including her, to apply to work there in 1979 when the company advertised multiple openings in the Bethlehem plant. Strahler took her father’s advice, leaving retail to begin a lifelong career in steel. Strahler discusses her work in the basic oxygen furnace. She describes in detail the jobs she performed and the working conditions as well as the camaraderie and collaboration between laborers.
Women of Bethlehem Steel - Carol Henn
Carol Henn grew up in Bethlehem, PA in a family with strong ties to the Bethlehem Steel Corporation and the South Bethlehem community. She discusses her family’s long history with the corporation and the city as well as the impact of her father’s work and life on her own life and career. She attributes her father’s death from cancer to the conditions he worked in at the plant.
Women of Bethlehem Steel - Louise Tusak
Louise Tusak worked her way up the ladder over the span of a thirty-year career as an office worker at Bethlehem Steel. She started working as a mail carrier in the Accounts Payable Department in 1955 and quickly transitioned into higher positions with more responsibility. She worked in almost every position in the Accounts Payable Department before transitioning to correspondence, where she ultimately worked as a “check checker,” a job responsible for handling the company’s daily bills and tax information.
Women of Bethlehem Steel - Judy Hoffert
Judy Hoffert grew up in Bethlehem, PA, where her father owned the Ritter Meat Market and the Sanitary Meat Market. She has lived in Bethlehem her entire life, except for the years her family spent in Baltimore, where her husband was transferred to work at the Sparrows Point Plant. In this interview, Hoffert reflects on life as the wife of a steel worker. Hoffert’s husband, Jeff, worked in the blast furnaces for thirty years.
Women of Bethlehem Steel - Esther Lee
Esther Lee grew up in Bethlehem, PA. The daughter of African-American’s who came to Bethlehem from the south in search of a better life, Esther describes being aware of and experiencing racial discrimination from a young age. In this interview, Esther relates her struggle to build and maintain a career and family in Bethlehem, PA. Esther explains that she and her husband stayed in Bethlehem, PA despite continued prejudice and the fact that many African American’s in their generation left because of the lack of jobs.
Women of Bethlehem Steel - Diane Knoble
Diane Knoble worked for six months as an escort for the Bethlehem Steel Corporation in the late 1950s. Knoble grew up in the Allentown area and she discusses the perception that her family, friends, and community had about the glamour of the job. During the first part of her interview, Knoble details the requirements of escorts, including weight, hair, clothing, and makeup, all of which were overseen by the head of the escorts, Mrs. Allen.
Women of Bethlehem Steel - Patty Felix
Patty Felix grew up on a farm in New Jersey. The youngest of five siblings, Felix showed a love of learning from a young age and looked up to her oldest brother, who set an example of academic and personal success by studying mechanical engineering at night school at Lafayette College while working on the family farm during the day. Felix’s interview shows that she shared the work ethic and drive of her oldest brother.
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Interview with Steven and Ron Goosley : Steven, a former worker at Just Born, General Electric and Bethlehem Steel and Ron, a professional musician and fomer worker at Mack Truck and Bethlehem Steel
This is an interview with Steve Goosley (and his brother Ron), conducted by Susan Clemens. In this interview, Goosley and his brother talk about their education, family history, and what it was like growing up in the Lehigh Valley, particularly Bethlehem from the 1950s to the 1970s. They discuss the South Side and the Northampton Heights, and the diversity of different ethnic groups in Bethlehem.
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Interview with Cathy Cooper : former teacher and worker with Bethlehem Steel and Western Electric
This is an interview with Cathy Cooper, conducted by Susan Clemens. In this interview, Cooper talks in detail about her family background, especially her grandparents' and parents' lives. She discusses what her grandparents and parents' lives were like once in America, including topics such as employment and education. She also provides details of what it was like growing up in Northampton, PA, i.e. activities growing up, shopping, etc. She also discusses her experience working at the Bethlehem Steel, as well as other jobs she had held.
Women of Bethlehem Steel - Janice Andrew
Janice Andrew worked in ore handling in the Bethlehem Plant at the Bethlehem Steel Corporation from June of 1979 until she was laid-off in March of 1982. In this interview, Andrew reflects on what attracted her to Bethlehem Steel while recounting her experience as a laborer in the Bethlehem Plant. Andrew recounts her first day on the job, describes the different tasks and jobs she did during her three years with Bethlehem Steel, and discusses the challenges that women workers faced in the plant, including a lack of camaraderie among women workers.
Women of Bethlehem Steel - Linda Czap
Linda Czap reflects on the economic and social importance of the Bethlehem Plant in the lives of the residents of Bethlehem, PA, where she grew up and continues to live today. When she was a teenager, Czap’s mother, along with her aunt and another woman, bought and began to operate an upscale dress shop, 10 West Incorporated, which catered to wealthy Bethlehem women, including the wives of Bethlehem Steel Executives. Czap loved spending time in the shop as a teenager and went on to work their later in her life.
Women of Bethlehem Steel - Marlene Burkey
Marlene Burkey grew up in Hellertown, PA during the 1940s and 50s. One of her grandfather’s worked for Bethlehem Steel as did her second husband, Robert Burkey. In her forties, Marlene Burkey herself went to work as a laborer in the beam yards against the backdrop of the Women’s Liberation Movement and affirmative action.
Women of Bethlehem Steel - Kathleen Mills
Born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA, Kathleen Mills graduated from Duke University Law School in 1969 and began her over thirty-year career as an attorney for Bethlehem Steel in 1973. Mills specialized in labor law and her work at Bethlehem Steel dealt primarily with issues impacting employees and the relationship between employees and the corporation, including civil rights claims. Mills desired to work with and help people through her career, and she depicts Bethlehem Steel as also having done its best to prioritize the needs, professional and personal, of its employees.