Date/Time
Date(s) - Sun: Mar 19, 2023
2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Location
Stoneham Historical Society & Museum
Categories
Join us at our first open house of 2023 for a special traveling exhibit on France Perkins–FDR’s Secretary of Labor and the first woman to serve as a cabinet secretary, who was the driving force behind the New Deal, credited with formulating policies such as the landmark Social Security program, the 40 hour week and unemployment insurance.
The special exhibit on the Massachusetts native, was created by the Frances Perkins Center, and highlights her accomplishments through historic photographs, text, and personal memorabilia.
Our March Open House will also feature an exhibit on Stoneham’s New Deal architecture as well as several showings of a special 30-minute documentary Highlights from the Life and Legacy of Frances Perkins.
Perkins is credited with formulating policies to shore up the national economy following the nation’s most serious economic crisis and helping to create the modern middle class. She was in every respect a self-made woman who rose from humble New England origins to become America’s leading advocate for industrial safety and workers’ rights. When, in February 1933, President-elect Roosevelt asked Frances Perkins to serve in his cabinet as Secretary of Labor, she outlined for him a set of policy priorities she would pursue: a 40-hour work week; a minimum wage; unemployment compensation; worker’s compensation; abolition of child labor; direct federal aid to the states for unemployment relief; Social Security; a revitalized federal employment service; and universal health insurance.