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Resources

What are the best resources about the Triangle fire, the historical texts, literature, music, art, and performances available? Use the links found below to access them. Andi Sosin updates this page about the Triangle Fire and related topics. Please contact her or access the Triangle Open Archive (for online capture of documents, photos, audio or video) to submit artifacts and share resources; we’ll spread the word!

Resources for All

Explore all aspects of the historical record, cultural impact, and artistic response to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.

Recent Items
Key Resources
Careers
Essays, Articles, & Pamphlets
Film, Video, & Audio
  • The Fire of a Movement from the PBS series ‘The Future of America’s Past.’
  • The Triangle Shirtwaist Connection by Michelle Fecteau on THE MOTH, True Stories Told Live. Recorded September 14, 2015. Duration 7 min 13 sec.
  • Triangle: Remembering the Fire (HBO Documentary Films, 2011). HBO Documentary Films has established a resources page that links to important sites (OSHA, the International Labor Rights Forum and others).
  • Triangle Fire (PBS American Experience, 2011).
  • Ric Burns’ PBS Documentary New York (DVD, 1999). Episode 4 describes the Triangle fire.
  • You May Call Her Madam Secretary is a documentary about Frances Perkins (US Secretary of Labor under FDR), who witnessed the fire and led reform efforts thereafter.
  • Pane Amaro (Bitter Bread): The Italian American Journey from Despised Immigrants to Honored Citizens. (DVD, 2009).
  • Youtube.com contains many short films related to the Triangle Fire. Thanks to Jane Fazio-Villeda for the link to this clip of a History Channel interview of Rose Freedman, the last Triangle fire survivor.
  • God Rock Radio’s program on the causes and effects of the Triangle Fire contains well chosen musical selections and illuminating discussion. It is a free download from the Internet Archive and Facebook.
  • With These Hands (ILGWU Documentary, 1950) Transfer Note: Scanned from a 16mm print held by the Library of Congress. Running Time: 51 minutes. Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary in 1950 and received a Freedoms Foundation award the same year.
  • “Building Bridges” on WBAI FM Radio presented a 55 minute audio docudrama, tapestry of sounds and re-enactment of voices from the PBS American Experience special intermingled with poetry, songs and voices of scholar/activists about the legacy of Triangle today on March 8, 2011 called Out of the Flames, From The Ashes: The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire & Its Legacy.
Historical Documents
  • The 1912 report of the Red Cross Emergency Relief Committee
  • Landmark designation document of the Brown/Asch Building
  • Newspaper reports: The New York Times Archive Online. Search for the “Triangle Waist Company” and/or “Triangle Fire;” request All Results Since 1851. Articles in the Public Domain are free.
History
Literature
Music
Performance
Poetry
Reader Recommendations
Visual Arts
  • A Triangle remembrance logo for public use under Creative Commons, offered by Bradley Kemp for the puppet opera Triangle.
  • Susan Harris has created a project that embroiders every name on antique shirtwaists.

For Educators

Teaching about the Triangle fire and related topics? Find selected educational resources, including lesson plans and online materials, as well as Triangle fire learning projects contributed by teachers and students.

Educational Websites & Lesson Plans
Books for Children & Young Adults
Student Presentations & Projects

Many schools and teachers have engaged their students with inquiry learning projects about the Triangle fire. Presented here are some of the projects submitted to the Coalition, including videos, audio plays, photos of artifacts, and written documents.

  • High school student Maegan Smarkusky created a research project website about the history of the Triangle Factory fire and its impact on labor law and workplace safety.
  • Professor Edvige Giunta teaches a course about the Triangle Fire at New Jersey City University. During the Spring 2020 semester her students Glenroy Clarke and Jeniffer Torres powerfully used their avatars to compose a ten minute video that describes and illustrates immigrant living and working conditions in the early 1900s. Watch it here. Find Professor Giunta’s course’s Facebook group, ‘The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in the Classroom’ here.
  • Kim Schiller’s school District published an article about her students’ experiences in studying the Triangle Fire.
  • Caroline Roswell created a website that records her class study about the Triangle Fire.
  • A wiki developed by CUNY students: The Peopling of New York City
  • Harris Cohen, a student at Hunter College Elementary and High School in New York City entered his website project about the Triangle Fire and taking a stand for Workers’ Rights in the 2017 National History Day competition. While he unfortunately did not make it to NHD, he says “I had a very meaningful experience researching the Triangle fire. If you would like to look at my website the link is here.” Take a look!
  • Congratulations to the students at Ramon Cortines High School in Los Angeles who presented an oratorio they composed, titled, “Woman at the Window: The Triangle Factory Fire,” on February 4th and 5th, 2016. The students developed their oratorio through the Los Angeles Master Chorale’s award-winning “Voices Within” artists-in-residence program, designed to foster collaboration among students as they create and perform their own original choral works under the guidance of professional teaching artists. According to a review of the performance, “That the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire was chosen as the subject of an oratorio, an event about which many of those the students’ age know nothing about, indicates considerable seriousness and is a welcome sign of an interest in grappling with critical historical questions.”
  • Students at Northwood High School, Huntington Beach CA, remember the Triangle Fire. We commend them! “Northwood High School’s production of “The Triangle Factory Fire Project” unfolds a dark tale of social injustices, glaring safety issues in the Triangle Factory workplace and the desperate rally of women to get their voices heard. The play does not hold any character above the rest – every death matters, and likewise, every character matters.” -Claire Alkire. Read more about Northwood High School’s production here.
  • Congratulations to Molly Brambil, Megan Healy and Caitlin Yabroudy from Huntington Union Free School District on earning 1st place in New York State in the 2013 National History Day Competition senior website category for their outstanding historical work and high tech presentation of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and its impact on workers’ rights. They also earned the Best Entry on Labor History as designated by the American Labor Studies Center. The trio will next represent Huntington and New York State at the national-level competition to be held on the College Park campus of the University of Maryland in June.
  • Students from J. Taylor Finley Middle School in Huntington, NY traveled to Manhattan to participate in the the 101st commemoration of the Triangle Factory Fire. In order to qualify for the trip, students wrote essays explaining the events that preceded the fire and the impact the tragedy had on labor in America.
  • Hope High School in Providence, Rhode Island produced a costume play that is headed to the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland.
  • Juan Morel Campus Schools participated in the Centennial. Here is a newsletter written by the students.
  • Maribeth Whitehouse, a teacher at IS 190, Bronx, NY sent photos from an 8th grade class project that linked the Triangle fire to the HappyLand fire of March 25, 1990. She says “Although there are obvious differences between the two events, there are many similarities like building code violations, the impact on immigrant populations and the huge loss of life (especially young people).” Here is a photo of a student’s project. Maribeth’s students have just created a new audio play, in which they conduct a rally as if it were 1909. Whitehouse Students imagine a 1909 Worker’s rally. Maribeth and her students came to the Centennial ceremony on March 25, 2011.
Video Projects

Teacher Caroline Roswell of PS 229 Queens led her students in an inquiry project that took them to the Evergreens Cemetery, where they presented their reports and read garment workers’ contemporaneous accounts of the Triangle fire at the unveiling of a memorial to the formerly unidentified and now known victims, at the Longman Memorial, on April 5, 2011. Thanks to TruAbilities that helped these students make a great platform, play, and ideas.