Women of Bethlehem Steel - Patricia Mann

Annotation 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. This interview was conducted by students in Professor Kim Carrell-Smith's History 303 course in the Fall semester of 2016. 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.