Browse Items (34 total)

Arnan Finkelstein talks about being born in Tel Aviv, Palestine (this is prior to the establishment of the State of Israel) and spending his young childhood there. In the early 1940s, during World War II, the Finkelstein family returned to the U.S. …

Arnold Delin talks about how he was raised in Nashua, New Hampshire. After World War II he moved to Brooklyn, worked there and met and married Dolores. A few years later the Delin family moved to Pottsville, PA when Arnold landed a good job in…

Bernie Filler talks about how he grew up in the Bronx, worked part-time for his uncle who was in the textile business and attended FIT after high school. After graduating and being in the service, Bernie worked as a manager and an engineer at…

Bruce Sheftel talks about how his grandfather (Abe), a young immigrant, started as a junkman with his brother-in-law. Later, when Abe’s sons (Milt and Harold) were in the business, they bought textile waste from the many mills that existed up and…

Dolores Delin talks about her close relationship with her grandmother and how she encouraged Dolores to be independent and resilient. Those traits were very important later in Dolores’s life when she opened an up-scale women’s clothing store in…

Esther Halperin talks about how she became a successful sewing contractor due to financial necessity. Esther’s husband died suddenly, leaving her with two children to support. Esther decided to operate her husband’s factory in Slatington even though…

Irwin Salitsky talks about how his father (Barney Salitsky) and his partner (Izzy Weinstein) moved the business from New York to Allentown in 1932 to escape the unions. Irwin was four years old. Irwin’s father and his partner started Clyde Shirt and…

Irwin Schneider talks about his father’s journey from being a sixteen year old immigrant textile factory worker, to foreman, to owner of a contract sewing factory. The Schneider business prospered due to hard work and good timing. Irwin joined the…

Jim Hartzel talks about how his mother, Goldie Hartzell, went from being a worker in a clothes factory to being the forelady, later a silent partner in the business and finally an owner of a contract sewing business with her son, Jim. Goldie and…

Judy Miller talks about growing up in New York and New Jersey then later attending Cedar Crest College in Allentown. While there, she met Mort. Many years later, when their children were older, Judy opened a small outlet store at the family factory.