Reference Request
Finding Aids to Official Records of the Smithsonian Institution Archives
Accession 19-095
National Museum of American History. Division of Politics and Reform
Exhibition Records, 1993-2004
Descriptive Entry
This accession consists of exhibition records created and maintained by Harry R. Rubenstein, Curator. The materials document Rubenstein's work as co-curator with Peter Liebhold, Curator, Division of the History of Technology, on the exhibition: Between a Rock and a Hard Place: A History of American Sweatshops, 1820-Present. This exhibition was on view at the National Museum of American History (NMAH) from April 22 to December 10, 1998. The show's approximately 100 objects and graphics examined the history of sweatshops in the United States and the complex factors that contributed to their existence. Artifacts that were on display included photographs of sweatshops from 1900 on; early and modern sewing machines; photographs of the tragic 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Co. fire in New York City; and a re-created sweatshop that was in an El Monte, California, apartment complex raided in August 1995. The exhibition also provided information about how affordable garments were being made in non-sweatshop conditions in the United States. Also included in the accession are videotape recordings with individuals related to the El Monte, California sweatshop raid, a video showing that good quality clothes can be made under good working conditions at reasonable prices, programming materials for a symposium that provided a forum for participants to explore strategies for developing and implementing codes of conduct to prevent labor abuses, and traveling exhibition records related to the installation of the show at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, California. Some records date to when the division was known as the Department of Social and Cultural History and subsequently the Division of Social History. Materials include correspondence, memoranda, scripts, budget records, exhibition drawings, floor plans, design files, an exhibition catalog, interview transcripts, images, object lists, videotapes, and other related records.
Index Terms
This collection is indexed under the following access terms. These are links to collections with related topics, persons or places.
Name
- Between a Rock and a Hard Place: A History of American Sweatshops, 1820-Present (Exhibition) (1998: Washington, D.C.)
- Between a Rock and a Hard Place: A History of American Sweatshops, 1820-Present (Monograph : 1999)
- Liebhold, Peter
- Museum of Tolerance (Simon Wiesenthal Center)
- National Museum of American History (U.S.). Department of Social and Cultural History
- National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Social History
- National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of the History of Technology
- Rubenstein, Harry R., 1951-
Subject
Physical Characteristics of Materials in the Collection
Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Accession 19-095, National Museum of American History. Division of Politics and Reform, Exhibition Records