Charlotte E. Carr
A young white woman facing the camera
Charlotte E. Carr, from a 1928 newspaper
BornMay 3, 1890
Dayton, Ohio
DiedJuly 12, 1956
New York City
Occupation(s)Labor activist, state official
Known forPennsylvania's Secretary of Labor and Industry, 1933–1934; Head resident at Hull House, 1937–1943

Charlotte Elizabeth Carr (May 3, 1890 – July 12, 1956) was an American labor activist and state official. She was appointed Pennsylvania's Secretary of Labor and Industry in 1933. She was the head resident at Chicago's Hull House from 1937 to 1942.

Early life and education

Charlotte Elizabeth Carr was born in Dayton, Ohio, the daughter of businessman Joseph Henry Carr and Edith Carver Carr. She attended the Madeira School in Washington, D.C., and graduated from Vassar College in 1915. She pursued further studies at Columbia University.[1][2][3]

Career

After college, Carr worked in New York City in several jobs, including as a charities aid investigator for the state, and as a probation officer.[4][5] She worked in personnel at American Lithographic and at Knox Hat Company during and after World War I, and at Stark Mills in New Hampshire for a time. She worked for the American Association of Social Workers in New York. In 1923, she became assistant director of the Bureau of Women in Industry, part of the New York State Department of Labor under Frances Perkins. In 1925, she took a similar position with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.[6] Following several other promotions within the state bureaucracy, Carr became Pennsylvania's first female Secretary of Labor and Industry in 1933, appointed by Governor Gifford Pinchot.[7][8][9][10]

In 1934, she returned to New York City, where she was a governor's advisor on relief programs. In 1935, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia appointed Carr head of the city's Emergency Relief Bureau. In 1937, Carr moved to Chicago,[11] when she was chosen by the Hull House board as the new head resident, replacing Adena Miller Rich.[12][13] Carr's tenure included welcoming the first black residents to Hull House. She was fired in 1942, after repeated clashes with the board of trustees over her political activities and the direction of the program.[1][14]

After Hull House, Carr held leadership positions with the War Manpower Commission and the Congress of Industrial Organizations. From 1944 to 1952, she was the founding director of the Citizens Committee on Children of New York City. She continued working in a variety of projects involving labor in the city until her death in 1956.[1]

Personal life and legacy

Carr was involved in a fatal car accident in 1931, when the state car she was driving from Harrisburg to Philadelphia[15] hit a truck, and the truck's driver died.[16] The Dauphin County coroner's office ruled the Carr was driving "in a reckless manner" and recommended she be charged with involuntary manslaughter,[17] and she lost her driver's license.[18][19]

Carr attended a meeting about housing rehabilitation hours before she died in her sleep in 1956, aged 66 years, in New York.[2][20][21] Eleanor Roosevelt attended Carr's funeral and wrote a column in her memory. "Her life was so full and so valuable to so many people that one can only be thankful that she had 66 years in which to give of her extraordinary powers," wrote Roosevelt, adding "I don't think she was ever afraid of any situation."[22] There is a collection of Charlotte E. Carr's papers at the Schlesinger Library, Harvard University.[23]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Opdycke, Sandra (2000). "Carr, Charlotte Elizabeth (1890-1956), social worker and reformer". American National Biography. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1500114. ISBN 978-0-19-860669-7. Archived from the original on 2018-06-03. Retrieved 2021-03-07.
  2. 1 2 "Charlotte Carr, Relief Aide, Dies; Noted Social Worker Served With La Guardia and Was Hull House Director Reduced Relief Cases Succeeded Jane Addams". The New York Times. 1956-07-13. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-03-07.
  3. ↑ "Speaks Here". The Tribune. 1928-02-08. p. 6. Retrieved 2021-03-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ "Former Policewoman Fights for Fair Working Conditions". Chattanooga Daily Times. 1933-08-13. p. 28. Retrieved 2021-03-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ "Labor Expert Will Give Address Here". The Tribune. 1934-01-11. p. 4. Retrieved 2021-03-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ Carr, Charlotte E. (1925). "The State's Regulation of Home Work". Laws Administered by the Department of Labor and Industry, Pennsylvania: 88–92.
  7. ↑ "Charlotte E Carr". Department of Labor & Industry. Retrieved 2021-03-07.
  8. ↑ "Miss Carr Named to Pinchot Cabinet; Miss Perkins's Ex-Aide Chosen for Labor and Industry Post in Pennsylvania". The New York Times. 1933-07-18. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-03-07.
  9. ↑ Miller, Nancy R. (2008). "Cornelia Bryce Pinchot and the Struggle for Protective Labor Legislation in Pennsylvania". The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. 132 (1): 33–64. ISSN 0031-4587. JSTOR 20093980.
  10. ↑ "Second Woman in Pinchot Cabinet Takes Oath of Office". Harrisburg Telegraph. 1933-07-18. p. 2. Retrieved 2021-03-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ Roosevelt, Eleanor (November 19, 1937). "My Day". The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition. Archived from the original on 2015-09-22. Retrieved 2021-03-07.
  12. ↑ "Charlotte E. Carr Heads Hull House". The Dayton Herald. 1937-07-16. p. 30. Retrieved 2021-03-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ "Quits New York Relief Work to be Head of Hull House". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 1937-07-16. p. 10. Retrieved 2021-03-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ "Prominent Social Worker Charlotte E. Carr Dies". The Journal Herald. 1956-07-14. p. 26. Retrieved 2021-03-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ↑ "Miss Charlotte Carr Held Responsible for Death of Daniel Peters, Campbelltown". Lebanon Semi-Weekly News. 1931-10-26. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-03-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ↑ "Jury Blames Miss Carr in Peters Death". The Evening News. October 24, 1931. p. 6. Retrieved March 7, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ↑ "Woman Autoist Accused in Man's Death". Lancaster New Era. 1931-10-24. p. 2. Retrieved 2021-03-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ↑ "Miss Charlotte E. Carr Will Defend Right to Driver's License Today". The Daily News. 1931-11-09. p. 4. Retrieved 2021-03-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ↑ "Woman Official of State Loses Driving License". New Castle News. November 23, 1931. p. 12. Retrieved March 7, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ↑ Charlotte E. Carr, May 3, 1890-July 12, 1956: Tribute by Her Friends, Given at the Memorial Services at Saint Philip's Church. 1956.
  21. ↑ "Charlotte E. Carr (Obituary)". Daily News. 1956-07-13. p. 67. Retrieved 2021-03-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ↑ Roosevelt, Eleanor (July 18, 1956). "My Day". The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition. Archived from the original on 2014-05-05. Retrieved 2021-03-07.
  23. ↑ "Papers of Charlotte, E. Carr, ca.1900-1956". Harvard Library. Archived from the original on 2020-12-03. Retrieved 2021-03-07.
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