NLM logo

ExhibitionThe Need for Care

Return to Exhibition
  • White woman standing behind a crowded desk with arms crossed looks at viewer.
    Pauline Newman, ca. 1910

    Pauline Newman, a Lithuanian immigrant, was a garment worker and union organizer before becoming director of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ medical clinic in New York City. Photo ca. 1910

    Courtesy Kheel Center, Cornell University

    Health was a major concern of industrial workers who toiled in dangerous and unhealthy conditions. In the absence of universal health protection, some labor unions developed worker-run medical facilities, including hospitals and clinics.

  • Cover of a journal showing illustration of a crowd of people streaming into a building.
    “Union Health Center”, 1924

    The garment workers’ Union Health Center provided care to union members beginning in 1914 and is still thriving today

    Courtesy Union Health Center
  • Standing White female nurse holds the arm of a seated African American woman.
    Union Health Center nurse with a patient, 1943

    A nurse at the Union Health Center draws blood from a patient, New York, 1943

    Courtesy Kheel Center, Cornell University