Talk by Suzanne Hertzberg, author of Katherine Joseph: Photographing an Era of Social Significance

When Katherine Joseph died in 1990, her daughter discovered a trove of memorabilia from her mother’s career as a Roosevelt-era photographer for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU). Joseph photographed union leaders and progressive political luminaries as well as men and women at work in union shops and at play in union-sponsored cultural events. She traveled to Mexico in 1941 on an extended photojournalistic grand tour, returned to New York on the cusp of Pearl Harbor, and went on to document labor’s wartime Home Front efforts.

Then, as did millions of American women after the war, she married and left her job to become a full-time homemaker. Closing the door firmly on her remarkable career and accomplishments, she rarely spoke of her past, sharing with her daughter only anecdotal snippets and the occasional photograph. Her path from traditional immigrant upbringing to independence, adventure, and professional success remained essentially a secret for the rest of her life.

Ticket Info: Free for OJMCHE Members with RSVP, General Public $5, view of exhibit included