Title

Interview with Shirley Lally

Authors

Michael G. Hillard PhD, University of Southern MaineFollow

Files

Date of Interview

10-27-2000

Duration of Audio File

0:45:07

Interviewee

Shirley Lally

Age

Born approximately 1930 or 1931, 69 or 70 at date of interview

Gender

Female

Description

Lally worked 40 years at the mill in the predominantly female finishing department, inspecting and counting reams of paper by hand. She was married to another mill worker. At the time of unionization in the late 1960s, she led a group of activist women who rebelled against the mill's practice of laying off women with greater seniority than men, successfully changing seniority policy for women for the better.

Birth Place

Westbrook, Maine

Residence

Westbrook, Maine

Occupation/Work History

Worked in finishing department at S. D. Warren as a paper counter inspector, 1950s-1990s; shop floor leader for women's issues in the 1960s

Role

Union

Mill or Principal Employer

S.D. Warren Company

Keywords

Westbrook, Maine

Comments

Reminiscences include life and work in finishing department - how women counted reams of paper by hand while inspecting their quality, rampant favoritism in job assignments and sexual harassment. Also discusses legendary mill paternalism, for example financially rescuing workers. She and her husband purchased one of the mill's original housing for workers, a John Calvin Stephens designed home on Brown Street in Westbrook, Maine.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Hillard, Michael G. PhD, "Interview with Shirley Lally" (2000). S.D. Warren Company. 6.
https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/sd-warren/6