United War Work Campaign poster. Lithograph by Adolph Treidler for the American Lithographic Company, ca. 1917–1918.

Employees of the food wholesaler Griggs, Cooper & Company (probably its candy division) in Lowertown St. Paul, ca. 1910s. From the collection of Harold Rutstein; used with permission.

Employees of Sanitary Foods in St. Paul during a break from work, ca. 1916.

Women working at Hamm’s Brewery in St. Paul, ca. 1904.

Women at work in a Minneapolis macaroni factory, 1892.

Postcard advertising the Cascade Steam Laundry in Minneapolis, ca. 1885-1890. The undercover reporting of Eva McDonald (pseudonym Eva Gay) in 1886 revealed that working conditions at the Cascade Laundry did not match this public image. “It looked more like a rat hole than a place where women were forced to work,” she wrote in the St. Paul Globe in that year. “The steam, darkness, heat and smell from dirty clothing made a disgusting combination…Such a work room is a disgrace to humanity.”

Minneapolis students sit in front of the Minneapolis Public Schools Administration Building to display signs showing their support for striking teachers on April 9, 1970. Photograph by Charles Bjorgen for the Minneapolis Star. From box 299 of the Twin Cities Newspapers Negatives Collection, Minnesota Historical Society.

Minneapolis students climb the Minneapolis Public Schools Administration Building to display signs showing their support for striking teachers on April 9, 1970. Photograph by Charles Bjorgen for the Minneapolis Star. From box 299 of the Twin Cities Newspapers Negatives Collection, Minnesota Historical Society.

Minneapolis students show support for striking teachers, April 10, 1970. Photograph by Buzz for the St. Paul Dispatch/Pioneer Press. From box 281 of the Twin Cities Newspapers Negatives Collection, Minnesota Historical Society.