Nelle Swartz

Nelle Swartz
Swartz, from a 1928 newspaper
Born(1881-02-25)February 25, 1881
Ashland, Ohio, U.S.
DiedMarch 5, 1952(1952-03-05) (aged 71)
New York, New York, U.S.
OccupationsLabor official, social worker

Nelle Swartz (February 25, 1881 – March 5, 1952) was an American social worker and labor official, head of the New York State Bureau of Women in Industry and member of the State Industrial Board.

Early life and education

Swartz was born in Ashland, Ohio, the daughter of Joseph R. Swartz and Samantha Ciphers Swartz. She graduated from Wells College in 1904.

Career

Swartz was a settlement worker and social worker in Brooklyn after college. She was superintendent of the Charity Organization Society of Elizabeth, New Jersey from 1910 to 1913, and executive secretary of the Consumers League of New York from 1913 to 1918. She was involved in the investigations after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in 1911.

In 1918, Swartz was appointed first chief of the Bureau of Women in Industry, in the New York State Department of Labor. In 1919 she traveled with the Women's Industrial Commission delegation to study postwar labor issues in England, France, Belgium and Italy. She spoke to live audiences and on radio broadcasts about workers' issues.

Swartz was appointed to the New York State Industrial Board by governor Franklin Roosevelt in 1929. In 1930 she spoke in support of unemployment insurance as preferable to charity. In 1938 she joined the Citizens Committee for Planned Parenthood, and organized in opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment. She retired from the State Workmen's Compensation Board in 1951.

Publications

Personal life

Swartz died in 1952, at the age of 71, in New York City.

References

  1. ↑ February 25, 1881 is the birthdate given on Swartz's application for a United States passport, dated March 11, 1919, via Ancestry.
  2. 1 2 The New York Red Book. Williams Press. 1929. p. 162.
  3. ↑ "Miss Nell Swartz, Prominent Ashlander, Dies in New York". News Journal. 1952-03-07. p. 6. Retrieved 2026-09-11 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Miss Swartz Dies; Welfare Worker; Leader in Developing Labor Laws of New York State; Was in Field 47 Years". The New York Times. March 6, 1952. p. 31. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-09-11.
  5. ↑ "Labor Bureau for Women; Miss Swartz Named as Head of State Industrial Board Branch". The New York Times. 1918-07-22. p. 9. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-09-11.
  6. ↑ "Labor Bureau of New York Has Woman at Its Head; Miss Swartz Will Head Women's Section". Seattle Union Record. 1918-07-30. p. 9. Retrieved 2026-09-11 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ "Women's Mission to Sail; Delegates Will Consider Industrial Conditions at Foreign Conferences". The New York Times. April 7, 1919. p. 21. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-09-11.
  8. ↑ "Miss Swartz to Go Abroad". The Bulletin. 4 (7): 138. April 1919.
  9. ↑ "Binghamton's Married Women Workers Lead State in Number Employed". Press and Sun-Bulletin. 1928-05-17. p. 3. Retrieved 2026-09-11 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Disease Causes in Industry Can Be Stamped Out, Director of Women's Bureau Says". The Daily Worker. 1926-11-22. p. 5. Retrieved 2026-09-11 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "Says Women Match Men in Industry; Miss Nelle Swartz Addresses Lafayette Hotel Meeting". The Buffalo News. 1925-01-30. p. 13. Retrieved 2026-09-11 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "3 Named by Roosevelt; Appointments Include Miss Swartz as Industrial Board Member". The New York Times. February 7, 1929. p. 3. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-09-11.
  13. ↑ "A Tea for Miss Nelle Swartz". The New York Times. 1929-03-04. p. S31. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-09-11.
  14. ↑ "Jobless Insurance Favored Over Charity; Miss Nelle Swartz of the State Industrial Board Calls Latter Worse Than Dole System". The New York Times. 1930-11-19. p. 3. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-09-11.
  15. ↑ "123 Leaders Back Birth Control Aid; Citizens' Committee Formed to Plan Educational Drive and Raise Funds". The New York Times. February 9, 1938. p. 15. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-09-11.
  16. ↑ Petersen, Anne (February 27, 1938). "' Fight to the Last Ditch' Mapped Against Equal Rights Proposal; Campaign is Begunby 10 Women Here; Leaders Would Arouse Nation to 'Critical Situation' if Amendment Wins". The New York Times. p. 77. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-09-11.
  17. ↑ "They Blazed a Trail; Women's City Club Held Leader for Labor Legislation". The New York Times. May 15, 1947. p. 26. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-09-11.
  18. ↑ "The cost of clean clothes in terms of health: a study of laundries and laundry workers in New York city". Digital Collections, National Library of Medicine. 1917. Retrieved 2026-09-11.
  19. ↑ Swartz, Nelle. (1919). A new day for the colored woman worker; a study of colored women in industry in New York City. s.l.: s.n.]
  20. ↑ Swartz, Nelle (May 1929). "The Trend in Women's Wages". The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 143 (1): 104–108. doi:10.1177/000271622914300112. ISSN 0002-7162.