Women welders at Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company

Creator

Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co. (Manitowoc, Wis.)

Date

• 1942

Summary

• Wearing protective overalls, welder's mitts, and welder's helmets with the face shields flipped up, ten women welders pose for a picture at the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company where they worked in the submarine building program. Most of the women wear round Shipbuilding Company employee identification pins on their coveralls. This photograph was originally published in the December 1942 issue of "The Keel Block," the company newsletter. It later appeared in the December 29, 1942 issue of the Manitowoc Herald-Times over a caption that identified the women by name and community where each resided. By January 1943, 358 women were employed at the shipyards. About half of them were office workers, but 177 others worked in production as welders, painters, machinists, and in other roles. The number of women employees increased as the war continued and men were drafted. There was a particular need for women welders, and the "Keel Block" article noted "we are employing women welders as fast as they can qualify for the vertical Navy tests." (The "Navy Vertical Buttweld Test" was the final test of welding proficiency that students had to master.) The company ran newspaper ads calling for women to "enlist in the women welders corps" with a promise of "big pay in Manitowoc," and the Manitowoc Vocational School organized special six-week classes to train women welders. Front row left to right: Bernice Kisiolek (Sheboygan), Mary Jaeckel (Two Rivers), Eleanor Van Eugen (Sheboygan), Marion Rusch (Sheboygan). Back row left to right: Pearl Benedum (Kaukauna), Nellie Nolen (Route 4, Manitowoc), Lenore Gildner (Cleveland), Gwendolyn McCarron (Sheboygan), Emma Gulbrand (Denmark), June Ahrens (Two Rivers).