Guide to the Scrapbooks of Thomas J. Gallagher, 1932-1969
- Repository
- Heinz History Center
- Title
- Scrapbooks of Thomas J. Gallagher
- Creator
- Gallagher, Thomas J.
- Collection Number
- MSS#279
- Extent
- 1 cubic feet (1 envelope of photocopied clippings and 5 scrapbook volumes)
- Date
- 1932-1969
- Date
- 1932-1937
- Abstract
- Thomas J. Gallagher (1883-1967), a local and state legislator, is best known as the author and administrator of the Gallagher Sweatshop Commission to eliminate abuses of women and children in industry. These scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings, cartoons, photographs, correspondence, and other sundry items, most of which chronicle the events of Gallagher's political life from 1932 to 1937.
- Language
- The material in this collection is in English.
- Sponsor
- This finding aid has been encoded as a part of the Historic Pittsburgh project, a joint effort of the University of Pittsburgh and the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Funding for this portion of the project has been donated by the Hillman Foundation.
- Publisher
- Heinz History Center
- Address
- 1212 Smallman St.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
library@heinzhistorycenter.org
URL: https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org
Biography of Thomas J. Gallagher (1883-1967)
Thomas J. Gallagher was born November 20, 1883 in Pittsburgh's South Side. He attended St. John's School but quit at age 12 and went to work at the Oliver Iron and Steel Company. A year later he started his 30-year employment at the United States Glass Company. From a low-level job as carrier, he advanced to become a handler, i.e. a glassblower, skilled in fashioning handles for glass objects. Meanwhile, he continued his education by attending Birmingham Night School and, later, evening courses at South High. During his employment at the glass company he became interested in the labor movement and, after helping to organize the local branch of the Glass Workers Union, he served on the Wage Conference Board for 11 years. He also attended national conventions as a union delegate and eventually became the national representative of the American Flint Glass Workers Union, to act as advisor, arbitrator, mediator and organizer.
Gallagher married Florence Cleis and was the father of five daughters and two sons. When his wife died in 1921, he assumed the responsibility of raising the children, whose ages ranged from 18 months to 16 years. In 1937 he remarried, this time to Ann Wilson, a stenographer in the office of John Kane.
Gallagher entered politics in 1924 as a ward chairman for the "LaFollette for President" campaign and in 1932 ran for office in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives as a Republican. He won both the Republican and Democratic nominations, with Democratic votes exceeding Republican votes by 4,500. Throughout his tenure as a legislator he consistently voted with his Democratic colleagues for social reform laws, such as those providing for old age pensions, workmen's compensation, and minimum wage. He himself introduced numerous legislation for social and labor advancement, including a resolution calling for an investigation of poor living conditions in the "company towns" of the bituminous coal fields of Pennsylvania. He is best known, however, as the author and administrator of the Gallagher Sweatshop Commission to eliminate abuses of women and children in industry. As a result of the work of the Commission, Pennsylvania became the twentieth state to ratify the twentieth constitutional amendment prohibiting the employment of children under the age of 18 years. In July of 1933, Gallagher shifted his party affiliation to Democratic, stating that a number of members of the Republican leadership constantly suppressed badly needed social reform bills.
While still a state legislator, Gallagher campaigned for a seat on the Pittsburgh City Council. He was elected as a Democrat in 1933 and resigned from the State Legislature thereafter. He became Council president in 1952 and served in that capacity until 1962. In the interim, in 1959, he took leave to assume the office of mayor when David L. Lawrence became governor of Pennsylvania. As mayor, he made no major changes in his predecessor's policies. The most important events of his term were the visit of Nikita Khrushchev, the first by any Communist world leader, and the celebration of Pittsburgh's Bicentennial.
Gallagher did not enter the next mayoral race. Following the election of Joseph M. Barr as mayor, he returned to his position as president of the City Council where he remained until his retirement in 1965, having served as councilman longer than any other in the history of the Pittsburgh City Council. Shortly after his retirement he entered a nursing home where he died at age 83 on March 14, 1967.
In addition to his political activities, Gallagher participated in various civic affairs. He was a member of several charitable and fraternal organizations and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and an ex-officio member of the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Institute and the Carnegie Institute of Technology.
Scope and Content Notes
These scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings, cartoons, photographs, correspondence, and other sundry items, most of which chronicle the events of Gallagher's political life from 1932 to 1937. The first page of each scrapbook contains a photograph of Gallagher, accompanied by a brief biographical comment by his son, Thomas.
Arrangement
The Thomas J. Gallagher collection consists of one envelope of photocopied clippings and five scrapbook volumes which are housed on open shelves and are arranged chronologically.
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Acc.#1996.0119 Gift of Helen Southworth and Noreen Lipps, (Scrapbooks. Daughters of Thomas J. Gallagher.), 1996.
Preferred Citation
Scrapbooks of Thomas J. Gallagher, 1932-1969, MSS #279, Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania
Processing Information
This collection was processed by D. Kish and C. Moore on February 10, 1998.
Revision and rearrangement for the encoded version of the finding aid provided by Jennifer Marshall on June 10, 1999.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights reside with the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or publish, please contact the curator of the Archives.
Subjects
- Pennsylvania -- House of Representatives -- Gallagher Sweatshop Commisssion
- Herron, John S., -- 1872-
- Hungerford, Cy, 1889-1983
- Lawrence, David Leo, -- 1889-1966
- Khrushchev, Nikita
- Ireland -- Description and travel
- Pennsyvlania -- Politics and government -- 1932-1965
- Pittsburgh (Pa.) -- Flood -- 1936
- Pittsburgh (Pa.) -- Politics and government
- Pittsburgh (Pa.) -- Bicentennial, 1958
- Caricatures -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
- Caricatures and cartoons -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
- Children -- Employment -- Pennsylvania
- Coal Mines and Mining -- Pennsylvania
- Company towns -- Pennsylvania
- Elections -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
- Mayors -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
- Municipal government -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
- Water -- Pollution -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
- Women -- Employment -- Pennsylvania