Benjamin Glassberg was born in Poland in 1889 and moved to the United State when he was five years old. He taught high school history in the New York public schools from 1912-1919. In 1913, he became active in the Teachers' League which was the forerunner of the Teachers' Union. He was one of five charter members of Local 5, Teachers Union, American Federation of Teachers. In 1919, he became acting director of the labor research department of the Rand School of Social Science and was co-editor of the American Labor Yearbook published by the school. In 1927, he moved to Wisconsin to become the executive director of the Federated Jewish Charities of Milwaukee. During this time, he was very active in the Wisconsin Conference of Social Work and helped to write child welfare legislation. From 1932-1943, he was appointed superintendent of the Department of Outdoor Relief. For five months in 1934, he left to work for the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. In 1943, he left Milwaukee and joined the Public Housing Administration. With the exception of a brief period during 1943 and 1944 when he served as a displaced persons officer in Europe with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, he worked on housing issues until his death in 1953. eanette Glassberg was involved in the women's suffrage movement in Washington D.C. where she grew up and attended George Washington University. After moving to Milwaukee, she helped create the first nursery school in Wisconsin. After Benjamin died, she moved to northern Virginia where she worked for the Department of Public Welfare and other social agencies.
From the guide to the Benjamin and Jeannette Glassberg Papers, undated, (Tamiment Library / Wagner Archives)
