Label
Slide Whistle, 1916-1922
Ludwig & Ludwig (1909-1929)
Chicago, Illinois
Metal
Given in memory of Rinaldo Calcagni, #2010.27
Barre granite workers held strikes in 1915, 1922, 1933, and 1938. Rinaldo Calcagni (1872-1947), a granite cutter originally from Lombardi, Italy, blew this whistle at French-Canadian strike breakers during the 1922 Barre Granite strike. As in prior and later strikes, state authorities were called in to forcibly end the labor action. Like many of his coworkers, Rinaldo Calcagni died of silicosis, a disease of the lungs caused by the inhalation of granite dust.