The collection spans from 1882 to 1996 and is arranged alphabetically into two series: Interviews and Research. The bulk of the collection dates from 1990 to 1991. The Interviews series is comprised of the transcripts, notes, interview summary sheets, and tape indexes relating to the interviews conducted by Sister Prince in 1990 and 1991. There are also clippings about the interviewees and two obituaries. The Research series contains: notes for interviews; photocopies of newspaper clippings, articles, and book excerpts; and research on individuals who were not interviewed for the project.

Vida “Sister” Prince conducted all interviews, volunteering her time to interview 28 people (26 interviews) during 1990 and 1991 for the project. Interviewees ranged in age from approximately 62 to 87, active in the garment industry at various points from the 1930s through the 1970s. Prince talked to former designers, workers, executives, and labor relations staff members. She asked similar questions of all interviewees relating to the invention of the junior dress, what ethnic groups made up the workforce, market weeks in St. Louis, the effects of World War II, and copying styles. Prince introduced each interview by explaining that they would talk “about the development and the decline of the garment industry in St. Louis.”

Not all of the 26 interviews were transcribed. Other interview documentation, such as Interview Summary Sheets and tape indexes, were not consistently produced for each interview. Therefore, there are five names for which there is no file, but for whom there may be an interview tape. Please consult the Moving Image and Sound Collections.

1. Myrtie Allen: Interview on February 26, 1991 (1 tape). No consent noted.

2. Arlen Chaleff (1941- ): Interview on April 29, 1990 (1 tape). Consent signed. Daughter of Sam Chaleff who founded Toby Lane in 1939, a company which at one time occupied four floors at 1111 Washington Avenue.

3. Lucy C. Englund ( - ): Interviewed on March 25, 1991 (1 tape). Consent signed. Englund worked as secretary to the executive director at the Associated Garment Industries of St. Louis.

4. Aaron Landau (1917-2010): Interviewed on January 31, 1991 (2 tapes). Consent signed. Landau was vice president of Toby Lane, Inc. In 1955, he married dress designer Elizabeth Burner. [see also A0870]

5. Sam Levitch ( - ): Interviewed on February 4, 1991 (2 tapes). Consent signed.

Leo Brownstein (1911-1994): Interview and consent signed on December 29, 1990 (1 tape). Brownstein started in 1948 with Paul Brooks, which was previously Carafiol-Silverman. He used his engineering background to conduct time and motion studies. Rather than a single worker making an entire dress, the garment was broken up into pieces and workers made sections of each garment. Brownstein explained why they did the time studies and how it affected productivity at Paul Brooks. He continued to describe the process of making a dress at Carlye, where he worked as production manager after two years at Paul Brooks. Other topics included individual shop strikes relating to pricing on particular dresses, employees, and labor relations.

Sylvia Carafiol (1909-1993): Interview and consent signed October 9, 1990 (1 tape). Carafiol was the daughter of Alex Carafiol. He left his first firm, Carafiol Silverman, and started Alex Carafiol, Inc., which had the Frances Dexter and Classic Gill lines. She explained how their company worked, how they often used the same basic dress style and altered details and fabrics; sold locally only to Sinefeld’s. Carafiol discussed their lines, the atmosphere on Washington Avenue and her father’s and brother Joseph’s, roles in the Garment Industry Association.

Glen Clay ( - ): Interview and consent signed on January 3, 1991. Clay became active in the garment industry and its trade union in 1938 when Meyer Perlstein was the director and vice president of the International Ladies’ Garment Worker’s Union. He remembered Perlstein’s fondness of arbitration to settle disputes and described the process. Clay also recalled the several unions present in the garment industry, representing certain crafts or types of apparel; the qualities that make a strong union and a good union member; race and employment; and the time and motion studies done in the manufacturing process. He speculated about causes for the St. Louis garment industry decline including unions and cost of employment; lack of strong family commitment to companies; the average life of a garment company was 7 years; and more competition from domestic and foreign markets. In 1983, Clay was vice president of the Associated Garment Industries of St. Louis. He also recalled names of the various clothing lines and manufacturers.

Betty Deall (1927-2015): Consent signed January 22, 1991. (not on interview list) She graduated from Washington University in 1949 with a fine arts degree and a major in fashion design. Her design for a girl’s velvet suit was on the cover of the first Seventeen magazine. Her first job was with Forest City and in 1969 she began a long career with Bridal Originals (1717 Olive St.). [see also Betty Deall Papers (A0367)]

Anna (1905-2005) and Ray M. Gathemann (1910-1997): Interview and consent signed February 19, 1991 (2 tapes). The Gathemann’s were garment workers. Ray was a cutter; Anna was an operator, working for Joe Portnoy, George Glass, and then as a contractor for Bridal Originals. She began working in 1939 and learned how to use a power machine at Hadley Technical School. Ray worked at Rice-Stix, Wildman Dress Company, and Bridal Originals. They discussed wages and the unions, employers, and working with different materials.

Mel Greenspoon (1910-1998): Interviewed by Sister Prince and Sharon Fivel on February 20, 1991. No signed consent - RESTRICTED. For 40 years, Greenspoon operated The Greenspoon Co., a coat manufacturer that was organized in 1928. The company started with men’s coats and expanded into both men’s and women’s wear. Greenspoon served as a member of the St. Louis Fashion Creators and had been president of the St. Louis Men's Apparel Group.

M. Henry (1910-1999) and Michael Hess: Interview and consent signed on December 27, 1990 (2 tapes). M. Henry Hess married Maxine Spitzer, oldest daughter of Simon Spitzer who was chairman of the board at Forest City Manufacturing, and Michael was their son. Henry joined Forest City Manufacturing in 1946 as a salesman, after being discharged from the Army. He became president of Martha Manning division, which took over many of the accounts of Forest City in 1961. He recalled designers Grace Dozier Durocher and Alice Topp Lee, the Forest City factory at 1641 Washington for black employees.

Helen Kassel (1908-1994): Interview and consent signed on February 19, 1991 (1 tape). Kassel worked at Lang-Kohn from 1926 to 1939 and at other garment companies for about 49 years.

Sam Klein (1903-1996): Interview and consent signed December 4, 1990 (2 tapes). A second interview on January 22, 1991 (2 tapes – begins on Tape 2/side B of previous interview) President and co-owner of both Mary Muffett (with Morris Sobelman) and Kerry Kricket, Inc. He was the first president and former board chairman of the Associated Garment Industries of St. Louis, was a founder of the Garment Industry Medical Center, and was an officer of the St. Louis Fashion Creators. Klein started in garments in 1932 with Kay-Vee as a jobber, i.e. contractor, for Stix, Eli Walker, and other retailers. From about 1936 to 1952, his company started their own lines. After Sobelman’s death, he sold his business and worked with Forest City from 1954 to 1960. He recalled the strike of 1933, conditions in his factory with music and painted walls, rationing and federal guidelines affected their styles (and popularity). Klein also remembered details of the unions, a lawsuit he brought accusing a company of copying their styles, the style piracy commission, and paying $15 for design patents on his company’s dresses.

Harvey R. Kornblum (1925-2004): Interview and consent signed January 14, 1991 (2 tapes). Kornblum was raised in University City and served two years in the Air Force during World War II as a radio operator and gunner on a B-17. He returned to St. Louis, received a bachelor's degree in business from St. Louis University, and in 1948 went to work at Leader Garment, a manufacturer of coats and suits founded by his grandfather, Jacob Kornblum. His uncles had owned the Frelich Skirt Company. In 1954, Kornblum married Elaine Seldin, whose parents owned Sel-Mor Garment Company and Miss Elaine, and had a daughter and two sons. In 1970, he sold the family clothing business. Kornblum explained the coat/suit manufacturing process, how it differed from other garment manufacturing, and how technology streamlined the process. Despite joining the company after WWII, he recalled the fabric shortages and the constraints it placed on clothing manufacturers. He explained that single story factories were more efficient that the buildings on Washington Avenue. Kornblum identified labor costs, technology, loss of leadership in style, and an aging industry as reasons for the industry’s decline in St. Louis.

Elizabeth Landau (1928-2019): Interviewed on February 13, 1991. No consent. Landau earned a degree in fashion design from Washington University. She became a dress designer with Toby Lane. In 1955, she married Aaron Landau and left the industry to raise a family. [see also A0870]

Ralph “Buddy” Lowenbaum (1925-2014): Interview and consent signed February 14, 1991 (2 tapes). Lowenbaum Manufacturing Company (1910- ) was founded by his grandfather, originally making muslin lingerie with labor from the House of the Good Shepherd. He recalled that Margie Wilton, an ad agency, came up with the names of lines, Minx Mode (1938) and Lion Tree. Other lines included Dottie Low, Margie Low, Jon McCauley misses dresses. Lowenbaum explained that he and his father did not get along, that the company had essentially been run as a sweatshop by his grandfather and father. Lowenbaum purchased Lang-Kohn (Ellen Kay line).

Dorothy Lowenbaum (1906-1993): Interview and consent signed November 18, 1990 (1 tape). Dorothy was married to Ralph Lowenbaum ( -1972), mother of Buddy Lowenbaum. She did not know her father-in-law, founder of the company. She started work as her husband’s secretary and later designed dresses.

Bob Mayes (c.1915- ): Interview and consent signed January 28, 1991 (2 tapes). Mayes was an artist and designer. Irving Sorger brought him to St. Louis in 1941 to head the design department at Washington University and design for a junior evening wear line called Pat Casey Junior. Mayes left Pat Casey and did Paul Sachs dresses (Carafiol-Silverman) and then to Martha Manning (Forest City) until 1960. He recalled colleagues at Washington University, the relationship between the garment industry and the design department, and many designers/lines in St. Louis.

Joseph N. Moore (1919-2004): Interview and consent signed February 16, 1991 (3 tapes). Moore served in the U.S. Navy during WWII, and soon after his return to St. Louis he purchased Henry Schiffman’s business from his estate in 1946. In 1972 he was vice president of R. Lowenbaum Manufacturing Company. He also served as president and executive director of the Associated Garment Industries (AGI) for 15 years. Moore’s mother, Ollie (1897-1985) was in the garment industry, owned Moore Quality Frocks. Moore remembered Meyer Pearlstein and changes wrought by the unions, factory/shop conditions in the early 1930s, and how St. Louis created the junior dress sizing standard. The Fashion Creators was the promotional branch of the AGI and explained that it settled disputes relating to local style piracy, “everybody knocked off dressed but they didn’t knock off each other in St. Louis.” They spent part of the interview discussing photographs.

Harold I. Sachs (1921-2002): Interview and consent signed January 5, 1991 (1 tape). Sachs was a salesman for Paul Sachs Originals. His father, Frank Sachs, co-owned the company with Paul Goldman. They reorganized the Classy Jean Dressy Company (1926-c.1941), which was a design house, with advice from Irving Sorger, into a line of misses dresses with junior style. Sachs felt there was a lack of change or unwillingness to compete with the New York once the junior market was established in St. Louis. [see also Paul Sachs Collection (A1337)]

Queenie Schiele (Mrs. Herbert): Possibly interviewed on August 31, 1990 (1 tape).

Selma Seldin (1904-2000): Interview and consent signed December 12, 1990 (1 tape). She and her husband, Herman (1896-1971), started Sel-Mor Garment Company in 1926, a lingerie company, which was later named Miss Elaine, Inc., after their daughter. Miss Elaine remains in business (2019) and still has the company headquarters in St. Louis. Seldin discussed several topics including the early manufacturing process and segregation in their factories.

Anna Tibbe (1916-2009): Interview and consent signed January 13, 1991 (2 tapes). Tibbe was a designer, graduating from the University of Missouri in Columbia with an art degree in 1938. She started with Stix as a designer and moved to several shops in St. Louis (Doris Dodson) and in Dallas. She explained the design process and recalled working with Alice Topp-Lee. Tibbe said that people talked about what the fashion industry would be like after WWII, when allotments were no longer in effect. She identified the end of the war as the decline for St. Louis’s garment industry. Tibbe also taught at Washington University in the design department with Bob Mayes.

Lois Weinberger (1919-2011): Interview and consent signed February 18, 1991 (? tapes). Weinberger Garment Company was founded after World War II and designed the Jon Michaels line of women’s clothing (trademarked 1952). Lois and her husband, Jonas (1909-1989), both had father’s who were tailors. The Weinberger’s manufactured clothing from approximately 1945 to 1982. At the time of the interview, Lois was still working on Washington Avenue as a retail jobber.

Donald Wildman (1924-2009): Interview and consent signed February 26, 1991 (1 tape). Son of Corinne and Oscar Wildman (1891-1968), founder of Wildman Manufacturing Company, a dress company. The company operated from approximately 1940 to 1965. While Donald worked for the family business, he ultimately left and worked for the Department of Defense.