Women of Bethlehem Steel - Diane Knoble

Annotation 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. Knoble also describes the main roles of escorts, including staffing the elevators and walking important visitors to meetings in the lavish main office building. After discussing her brief career as an escort, Knoble relates her and her husband’s financial struggles, caused in part by her husband’s status as a disabled veteran, and describes her struggle to balance work and family responsibilities. Knoble goes on to trace the development of her career with the United States Postal Service and in doing so reveals how her life and career challenge traditional gender roles. This interview is part of a series of interviews conducted by Lehigh University and the Steelworkers’ Archives and supported by the Lehigh University Mellon Digital Humanities Initiative and the South Side Initiative. An oral history interview is an act of memory and hence both highly selective and highly subjective. While it accurately reflects what a narrator remembers (or chooses to tell) of his or her experience and viewpoints, it may not accurately represent what actually transpired or what another person may have experienced. As such users should subject interviews to the same degree of critical scrutiny they would any other historical source.