April 29–June 4, 2014
25 Science Park (Open to the public 9-3 M-F)
June 4–June 30, 2014
344 Winchester Ave. (Corner of Division and Newhall Streets; open to the public by appointment.
Special Event, June 19th, 11 a.m.
Tour of the exhibit as part of the International Festival of Arts and Ideas Farmington Canal Walk.
July 1–August 27, 2014
Atrium at City Hall, New Haven (Open to the public 9-5, M-F.)
August 28–October 31, 2014
Higher One, 115 Munson Street, New Haven (Open to the public 9-5, M-F.)
The Olin-Winchester plant closed and left in New Haven in 2006, but the stories of its workers throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries have yet to be told. These stories undefined of labor struggles, workers’ culture within the plant, and the impact of the plant on the larger community undefined are the basis of the exhibit.
The core of the exhibit comes from photographs and documents from the International Association of Machinists Local 609 records held in the Labor History Association’s archives, supplemented by oral history interviews with retired Winchester workers conducted by Association volunteers. Local 609 represented workers at the plant from 1956 until its closure. Images from earlier years as well as from workers’ lives in the community are culled from personal memorabilia and employee newsletters. For more information, contact joan@laborhistory.org.
Do you know of future venues for this 33 panel exhibit and its artifacts?
Like the well-traveled “New Haven’s Garment Workers: An Elm City Story,” the Winchester workers exhibit is designed to circulate. We’d like to find several long term venues in which to display it, in the greater New Haven area and beyond. In order to safely showcase the artifacts, including hand-made tools loaned to us by Lawrence Young, the first African American wood worker at the plant, we need venues with secure, locked display cases. Please contact us if you have suggestions or can help transport the exhibit materials!