Tag Archives: Women's History

Women’s History Month: Coalition of Labor Union Women, Philadelphia Chapter

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The Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) was established in Chicago in 1974 as a constituency group within the AFL-CIO. Gloria Steinem was one of the founding members. Philadelphia’s chapter was chartered in 1975. CLUW united a diverse body of women across a broad spectrum of organizations. Broadly speaking, it aimed to connect the feminist movement to the labor movement, advocating for women’s health and equal pay, as well as organizing women and increasing their numbers in union leadership as well as in politics everywhere.

Locally, the Philadelphia CLUW has worked on a variety of advocacy campaigns with labor unions and other community and interest groups to advance the joint cause of labor and women. CLUW lobbied for a national single-payer health care system, as well as a women’s health agenda in the Pennsylvania state legislature that included contraception coverage and continued access to legal abortion. It fought for mandated paid sick time in Philadelphia, which was realized in 2015. It has also fought against the privatization of schools and Social Security and other governmental benefits.

The March 2023 pop-up exhibit in the Special Collections Research Center reading room features the records of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Coalition of Labor Union Women, a recent donation to the Urban Archives. They complement a large body of records already in the SCRC that document labor and unions in Philadelphia, extending back into the 1800s. Other collections include International Ladies Garment Workers Union; United Saw, File, and Steel Product Workers of America; and the Harold Ash Papers. Many of these colections were acquired for the archives in the early 1980s during an two-year National Endowment for the Humanities-funded special initiative to acquire Philadelphia labor collections.

Women in a late 19th century factory varnishing and polishing handsaw handles

–Courtney Smerz, Collection Management Archivist, SCRC



The Pennsylvania Horticultural School for Women

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Ambler students, 1919-20

Located on a 187-acre field in the suburban Pennsylvania town of Ambler, The Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women was founded in 1911 by Jane Bowne Haines as one of the first horticultural schools for women in the United States. The school provided a unique opportunity for women not only to become educated generally but to enter a field dominated by men. After more than forty-five years as an independent institution, the school merged with Temple University in 1958, and became the Temple University Ambler Campus. A deeper history of the school can be found on the Ambler Campus website.

Class of 1913 students pruning

The Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women Records contain of a wealth of photographs and materials documenting the history of the school. The photographs trace the students’ lives on campus through images of activities, dances, clubs, and their work in the fields, gardens, greenhouses, and classrooms. Through these photographs,  you see the changes in uniform, social dress codes, campus buildings, the variety of clubs, and even social expectations of women. One aspect that does not change is the labor requirement. From the very beginning, students were expected to climb trees, drive tractors, harvest the fields, and care for the animals, often in very impractical clothing.

PSHW’s 1932 Flower Show Exhibit

In addition to the photographs, which have all been digitized, the files contain administration records, printed materials, including several publications published by the school (Pen & Trowel and Wise Acres, along with a variety of alumni publications), ephemera relating to campus activities and festivals, correspondence, student records, and landscape design drawings. The archives also includes some photographs and other materials relating to the school’s participation in the Philadelphia Flower Show.

–Holly Wilson, Processing Archivist , Special Collections Research Center