Public Presentations & Scholarship
Beyond gathering and preserving these oral histories, the project’s goal was to create and disseminate stories from these interviews. The article and three public presentations listed here are the partial fulfillment of the storytelling goal. The first two public presentations featured are curated talks with embedded video clips, one on the businesses and one on the women’s lives.
The History that Speaks for Itself: Lehigh Valley Textile and Needle Trade Business Stories Through the Lens of the American Dream
Listen to stories about the local textile and needle trade businesses from the voices of family members who owned and operated the businesses. First you’ll hear stories about their fathers who started these businesses, then you will hear stories from former owners about their businesses and, finally, you’ll hear stories from the final generation of owners and why they were able to stay in business longer than others, how they adapted to the new business environment, or how they reinvented themselves by launching new careers.
The History that Speaks for Itself: Lehigh Valley Textile and Needle Trade Business Stories Through the Lens of Women
Listen to stories of some of the women who were interviewed as part of conducting oral history interviews with local families who once owned textile and needle trade businesses. The women featured came of age from the 1940s through early 1960s. Their stories are told through the lens of wives and mothers, community leaders, women with their own careers, and women as entrepreneurs.
The following is a 2013 talk that Gail Eisenberg and Susan Clemens-Bruder gave at a jointly sponsored lecture by the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley and Muhlenberg College Jewish Studies Program. This talk is titled, Jews, Money and Capitalism: Family Stories Behind the Local Textile Industry. Gail and Susan share early impressions of emerging themes from the oral history interviews they are conducting: Coming to Allentown, the variety of businesses, strong connection between the families and the local Jewish community and the centrality of “family” in their lives.
View the presentation.
The History that Speaks for Itself: Women’s Stories from the Lehigh Valley was published in State Of the Lehigh Valley 2018-2019 by The Lehigh Valley Research Consortium. That year, the research consortium focused on the lives of women in the Lehigh Valley. This article adds an interesting historical dimension to the topic.
View the article.