Name/Title
B+W photo of workers boarding train at Lackawanna Terminal, Hoboken, for trip to work at Kaiser shipyards in Oregon, Sept. 26, 1942.Entry/Object ID
2014.001.0123Description
Black-and-white photo of workers boarding train at Lackawanna Terminal, Hoboken, for trip to Oregon to work at Kaiser shipyards, September 26, 1942.
7" x 9" wide print. Photo taken by Acme Newspictures, Inc, New York (inkstamp credit on reverse). Reverse has; mimeographed caption; dated inkstamp: Reference Dept., Sep 29 1942 PRESS; red china marker number: A13100.
A view of mostly men with a few women seeing them off on their trip. One couple at the lower right are embraced in a kiss and are referred to in the caption.
The group's destination was the Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation or Company shipyard (Portland, Willamette River near the Columbia). See notes for where they were going to perform important production work for World War II military needs.
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Text of caption:
662964 ... New York Bureau
CHARGE OF THE KAISER BRIGADE.
HOBOKEN, N.J. - All aboard for the Kaiser shipyards. The first six hundred Eastern workers to head for the hungry Oregon ship-plane enterprise, clamber aboard a special train of 11 day coaches, 3 diners and a baggage car. The Hoboken railroad terminal was a noisy combination of families shouting good-by [sic], Kaiser agents getting workers' identifications, and railway officials shouting directions. Note to young man second row from left -- maybe she can come West and visit you, fellah.
CREDIT LINE (ACME) 9/26/42 (JR)
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====Acquisition
Accession
2014.001Source or Donor
PurchaseAcquisition Method
PurchaseCredit Line
Museum Collections.General Notes
Note
Notes: 2014 URL:
http://www.shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/4emergencylarge/wwtwo/koregon.htm
Oregon Shipbuilding Company was one of the original nine emergency yards, built by Todd and Kaiser with 8 ways, with $23mm from the USMC. Its 8 ways were increased to 11 in the second wave of shipbuilding expansion. Kaiser bought out Todd's interest in 1941. At its peak, Oregon Shipbuilding employed over 35,000 people, 30% of them women. After the war, the yard was closed and liquidated. It was located on the east side of the Willamette River, almost at its intersection with the Columbia.
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2014 URL: http://www.ohs.org/education/oregonhistory/historical_records/dspDocument.cfm?doc_ID=00088A33-E7AE-1E91-891B80B0527200A7
The Oregon History Project.
In 1940, Henry J. Kaiser signed an agreement with the British government to build 31 cargo ships to aid that country in their war effort. After scouting several sites, Kaiser chose to construct a new shipbuilding yard in Portland, Oregon, and on May 19, 1941, his Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation launched the first Liberty ship, The Star of Oregon.
By the time the United States entered World War II, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Kaiser already had connections with the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Maritime Commission. He also knew how to manage resources effectively, getting projects done on time and under budget. Among the testaments to Kaiser’s skills, he had organized the completion of Hoover Dam in half the time expected and his various social and business connections made his company a natural choice to win U.S. wartime shipbuilding contracts.
Kaiser opened a yard in Vancouver and began producing baby aircraft escort carriers in January 1942, and workers started on T-2 tankers at a new Swan Island yard in March of that same year. The company set a record when the Joseph N. Teal was built in ten days in the fall of 1942. In all, the Oregon Shipbuilding Yards delivered 455 ships to the U.S. Maritime Commission. Twenty of them were sent to the Soviet Union under the lend-lease program.
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Original or Copy: Original
Status: OK
Status By: dw
Status Date: 2014-04-08
