Sparrow's Point - Workers' Museum

Steelworkers from Sparrows Point never throw anything away. As the history project developed, workers who were interviewed were asked to donate, or to loan, personal mementos of their lives at The Point. Workers had saved everything from pay stubs to personal photos, hard hats and tools to grievance forms.

Neal Crowder, one of the first organizers for the Steelworkers Union at The Point, saved every pay stub he ever got. Edie Papadakis donated three trunks of material--she literally never threw anything away. Unfortunately, some of the most interesting historical documents have been lost--as workers get older and clean their houses, they throw away material because, "history" tells them, no one is interested.

In some cases, the bankruptcy of Bethlehem steel, and the loss of pension and health insurance benefits, made some of the workers so bitter that they dumped everything from Sparrows Point, as if erasing these memories could ease the anger they felt over the mistreatment.

At the same time, the materials that have been saved often reflect generations of work at The Point, a sense that the workers lives and its documentation are important--to immediate families if to no one else. The project is fortunate to have the material we have, and more is coming in. If you want to see some of it, there is now a room at The Baltimore County Historical Society where material from the project is on permanent display.




The Saladino Collection

Demonstrations

Locomotives

The Tauber Collection
cafeteria_menu.pdf
greviance.pdf
poem.pdf
appeal.pdf


Ralph Dudley Cartoons

Sparrow's Point Graveyard
Sparrow's Point Hospital

Joe Henderson