Josephine Clara Goldmark (1877-1950)
A researcher, author, and legal expert, Josephine Goldmark contributed substantially to the movements to reform the working conditions of workers. Raised in Brooklyn, New York, and educated at Bryn Mawr College, Goldmark became the chairman of the committee on labor laws for the National Consumers League (NCL) and subsequently publications secretary of the league. In 1907, she and Florence Kelley, head of the NCL, persuaded her brother-in-law Louis Brandeis, to defend Oregon's maximum hour law for women in Muller v.Oregon. She assisted Brandeis in the research and writing of the "Brandeis Brief," Women in Industry.
Due to her reputation for being an NCL expert on labor conditions, Goldmark served on many non-NCL labor investigations and in 1911, she served on the committee investigating the Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire in New York City. In 1912, the Russell Sage Foundation published one of her most important works, Fatigue and Efficiency, in which she demonstrated that excessive working hours not only hurt workers physically, but also impaired their productivity.
In 1919, she was named Secretary of the Rockefeller Foundation's Committee for the Study of Nursing Education. As its principal investigator, she examined over seventy nursing schools over the next four years. Her resulting report, Nursing and Nursing Education in the United States (1923), prompted significant reforms in nursing education.
Goldmark was the Assistant Director of Social Research for the Russell Sage Foundation, and the executive secretary of the Committee on Women in Industry during the First World War. As manager of the Women's Service Section of the U.S. Railroad Administration (1918-1920), she investigated the working conditions of women and children nationwide. Goldmark also served as an expert in the research department at American Telephone and Telegraph on women's employment and health problems (1919-1939), and was vice-chair of the New York City Child Labor Commission. She died in White Plains, New York, in 1910.
OCP Resources
Goldmark, Josephine Clara. "Working women and the laws: a record of neglect," in Woman's work and organizations, ed. Emory R. Johnson. Philadelphia: American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1906. Pages 64-78.
Goldmark, Josephine Clara. Labour laws for women in the United States. London: Women's Industrial Council, 1907.
Brandeis, Louis Dembitz; assisted by Josephine Goldmark. Women in industry: decision of the United States Supreme Court in Curt Muller vs. State of Oregon: upholding the constitutionality of the Oregon ten hour law for women and brief for the State of Oregon. New York: Reprinted by the National Consumers League, 1908.
Goldmark, Josephine ed.Child labor legislation: schedules of existing statutes and the standard child labor law embodying the best provisions of the most effective measures now in force: handbook, 1908. Philadelphia: American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1908.
Brandeis, Louis Dembitz; assisted by Josephine Goldmark. W.C. Ritchie and Company, et. als., appellees, vs. John E.W. Wayman and Edgar T. Davies, appellants, appeal from the Circuit Court of Cook County, Hon. Richard S. Tuthill, judge presiding: brief and argument for appellants. [Chicago: 1909].
Goldmark, Josephine Clara. "The Illinois Ten-Hour Decision," in The Economic Position of Women. New York: Academy of Political Science, Columbia University, 1910. Pages 185-187.
Goldmark, Josephine Clara. "Necessary sequel of child labor laws." American Journal of Sociology. II: 312-25. November 1905. Published in Selected articles on the employment of women, ed. Edna D. Bullock. Minneapolis: H.W. Wilson Co., 1911. Pages 11-17.
Goldmark, Josephine Clara. Handbook of laws regulating women's hours of labor. New York: National Consumers League, 1912.
Goldmark, Josephine Clara. Fatigue and efficiency: a study in industry. New York: Survey Associates, 1913.
Brandeis, Louis Dembitz; assisted by Josephine Goldmark. Wilson, F.P.F.A. Miller, plaintiff-in-error, vs. F.P. Wilson, sheriff, William B. Bosley et. al., appellants, vs. John P. McLaughlin, labor commissioner of the State of California, William B. Bosely, et. al., appellants, vs. John P. McLaughlin, labor commissioner of the State of California, et. al. New York: C.P. Young, printers [1914?].
Frankfurter, Felix; assisted by Josephine Goldmark. The case for the shorter work day: Supreme Court of the United States, October term, 1915, Franklin O. Bunting, plaintiff in error, vs. the state of Oregon, defendant in error: brief for defendant in error. New York: Reprinted by National Consumers League, 1916.
Goldmark, Josephine Clara. "The Supreme Court and the 8-Hour Day," in The eight hours day for wage earning women. New York: The National Consumers League, 1916. Pages 5-8.
Oregon. Industrial Welfare Commission. Oregon minimum wage cases: Supreme Court of the United States, October term, 1916. New York: Reprinted by National Consumers League, [1916?].
Brandeis, Louis Dembitz; assisted by Josephine Goldmark. The people of the State of New York, respondent, against Charles Schweinler Press, a corporation, defendant-appellant. New York: National Consumers League, [1918?].
Goldmark, Josephine Clara. Comparison of an eight-hour plant and a ten-hour plant. Washington, D.C.: G.P.O., 1920.
Web Resources
National Consumers League