Peterson, Esther Eggertsen, 1906-1997

See the finding aid for the Esther Peterson Papers, MC 450.

From the guide to the Audiotapes, 1959-1990, (Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute)

Esther Peterson was born Esther Eggertsen in Provo, Utah, on December 9, 1906. She was one of six children: Luther ("Bud"), Algie, Thelma, Anna Maria, Esther, and Mark. Her parents, Lars and Annie (Nielsen) Eggertsen , were the children of Danish immigrants who walked across the plains to Utah seeking freedom to worship as Mormons. The Eggertsens were Republicans, but Esther Peterson became an active Democrat, working in the fields of education, labor, women's rights and consumer affairs all her adult life.

Peterson attended public schools, was graduated from Brigham Young University (1927), taught in Utah for two years, and came east in 1929 to attend Teachers College at Columbia University. There she met her future husband, Oliver Peterson, and completed her masters degree (1930). Between 1930 and 1939, EP taught at the Winsor School in Boston; married Oliver Peterson; volunteered in the Industrial Department of the YWCA; was a labor organizer; joined Hilda Smith, a pioneer in workers' education, at the Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Workers; and had her first child.

The 1940s were devoted to her family (Oliver Peterson and four children: Karen, Eric, Iver, and Lars), and to the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. Most of the next ten years the Petersons spent overseas, where Oliver Peterson, a foreign service officer, was the United States Labor Attaché to Sweden, and later to Belgium. EP worked with the trade union movement and helped organize the first International School for Working Women.

When the Petersons returned to the U.S. in 1957, EP became legislative representative for the Industrial Union Department of the AFL-CIO (1958-1961), serving until President John F. Kennedy chose her to head the Women's Bureau in the U.S. Department of Labor, and later the same year, to serve as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Labor Standards. In addition, she was appointed executive vice chairman of the first President's Commission on the Status of Women (1961-1963), chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt until her death in 1962. EP also helped found the National Committee on Household Employment, an organization that brought together voluntary organizations and government agencies under the auspices of the Women's Bureau (1964-1965) to improve the working conditions of household workers, develop training programs, and change public attitudes about household employees. According to EP, the "Committee began with a suggestion I made to the National Association of Women when they gave me the year's award which carried $3,000. This was the seed money to get the Committee started. Sears and Whirlpool helped."

After President Kennedy's assassination in 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson asked EP to remain as Women's Bureau director, and also named her to the newly created post of Special Assistant to the President for Consumer Affairs, a position she held until 1967. Until her re-appointment to this post by President Jimmy Carter in 1977, she worked as the legislative representative to the Amalgamated Clothing Workers Association (1969-1970), and then as Consumer Advisor to Giant Food, a grocery store chain in the Washington, D.C. area (1970-1977). Oliver Peterson died in 1979 at the age of 76, ending a mutually devoted, lifelong partnership.

After serving in the Carter Administration, EP worked with various organizations concerned with the rights of consumers, both in the United States and abroad. She was appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve as a public member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations General Assembly in 1993. Esther Peterson died in her home in Washington, D.C. on December 20, 1997, at the age of 91.

Peterson helped to organize textile and garment workers as well as teachers; was instrumental in bringing about legislative victories for the minimum wage, amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Equal Pay Act, and the Occupational Safety and Health Act, truth-in-packaging, truth-in-lending, unit pricing, and product labeling of ingredients; worked actively for the rights of women, minorities, workers, consumers, and household employees; campaigned extensively for Democratic candidates; and traveled and lectured to a wide range of groups.

For additional biographical information, see below and papers in Series I and Series VIII. EP has additional papers in the presidential libraries of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Jimmy Carter (see #1935), and in the archives of the National Consumers' League. She has been a participant in various oral history projects; transcripts are available in Series I and elsewhere in the Schlesinger Library (see OH-2, OH-50, OH-55). Some highlights of her busy professional and personal life are reflected in the following chronology.

• 1906: Born December 9 in Provo, Utah
• 1927: Brigham Young University, A.B.
• 1927 - 1929 : Teacher, Branch Agricultural College, Cedar City, Utah
• 1930: Columbia Teachers College, M.A.
• 1930 - 1936 : Head, Dept. of Physical Education, Winsor School, Boston, Mass.
• 1932: Married Oliver A. Peterson in May
• 1932 - 1939 : Teacher, Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Workers, and Hudson Shore Labor School; Chair, Industrial Committee of YWCA; American Federation of Teachers' union organizer (1 year); Education Director of International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (briefly); loaned to Textile Workers Organizing Committee for strike work; participant in general garment workers' strike (Boston, 1932)
• 1938: Karen born
• 1939: Eric born
• 1939 - 1944 : Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA) assistant director of education (to J.B.S. Hardman)
• 1942: Iver born
• 1944: Sent to Utah by CIO-PAC to campaign for Sen. Elbert Thomas and Congressman Granger
• 1945 - 1948 : ACWA Washington legislative representative; United States Department of Labor (USDL) Women's Bureau advisory committee; Minimum Wage Board for D.C.
• 1946: Lars born
• 1948 - 1952 : Living in Stockholm; worked with Swedish Confederation of Trade Unions; represented American trade unions at various international conferences
• 1952 - 1957 : Living in Brussels; worked with International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU)
• 1958 - 1961 : AFL-CIO legislative representative for Industrial Union Department (IUD); member of Women's Africa Committee, 1958; associate member of Committee of Correspondence
• 1961 - 1964 : USDL Women's Bureau director
• 1961 - 1969 : USDL assistant secretary for labor standards
• 1961 - 1963 : President's Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW), executive vice chairman
• 1963 - 1965 : Interdepartmental Commission on the Status of Women (ICSW)
• 1964 - 1967 : Special Assistant to the President for Consumer Affairs (SAPCA)
• 1964 - 1967 : President's Council on Consumer Interests (PCCI), chairman
• 1964: National Committee on Household Employment, honorary chairman
• 1969 - 1970 : ACWA legislative representative
• 1969: Traveled in Asia as American Specialist for U. S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs
• 1970 - 1977 : Giant Food consumer advisor
• 1974 - 1976 : National Consumers' League, president
• 1975 - 1977 : Federal Commission on Federal Paperwork, member
• 1977 - 1981 : Special Assistant to the President for Consumer Affairs
• 1978 - 1981 : U.S. Office of Consumer Affairs, director
• 1979 - 1981 : Consumer Affairs Council, chairperson
• 1980 - 1980 ? : Committee on Consumer Policy, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), U.S. member
• 1981: Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom by Jimmy Carter
• 1981: National Consumers' League, honorary president
• 1982: Visiting professor, U. of Illinois, Urbana - Champaign
• 1983 - 1993 : International Organization of Consumers Unions (IOCU) representative to United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
• 1986 - 1993 : International Medical Services for Health (INMED), Board of Directors member
• 1987 - 1993 : Consumer advisor to National Association of Professional Insurance Agents
• 1993 - 1993 ? : Public member of US delegation to the UN General Assembly
• 1997: Died at home in Washington, DC on December 20

From the guide to the Papers, 1884-1998 (inclusive), 1929-1988 (bulk), (Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute)

See the finding aid for the Esther Peterson papers.

From the guide to the Videotapes, 1979-1998, (Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute)

Trade-unionist.

From the description of Oral history interview with Esther Peterson, 1977. (Wayne State University, Archives of Labor & Urban). WorldCat record id: 32321626

Consumer adviser; government executive; interviewee married Oliver R. Peterson.

From the description of Reminiscences of Esther Peterson : oral history, 1983. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 309725994

Active in the fields of labor, education, women's rights, and consumer affairs, (Brigham Young University, B.A., 1927; Columbia University Teachers College, 1930) Peterson was involved in union organizing, worker education, and labor and consumer legislation lobbying. She was head of the Women's Bureau (1961-1964), Assistant Secretary of Labor for Labor Standards (1961-1969), executive vice chairman of the President's Commission on the Status of Women (1961-1963), Special Assistant to the President for Consumer Affairs (1964-1967, 1977-1981), legislative representative for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (1969-1970), consumer adviser to Giant Food, Inc. (1970-1977), and representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Council for the International Organization of Consumers Unions (1983-1993). Descended from Danish immigrants, she married Oliver Peterson in 1932. They had four children. For further information see Who's Who of American Women, 1982-1983. She died in Washington, D.C., in 1997.

From the description of Papers: Series V-X, 1920-1997 (inclusive), 1948-1997 (bulk). (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 122506693

From the description of Papers: Series I-IV, 1884-1998 (inclusive), 1929-1998 (bulk). (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 232009032

From the description of Papers, 1884-1998 (inclusive), 1929-1998 (bulk). (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 122557367

Active in the fields of labor, education, women's rights, and consumer affairs, (Brigham Young University, B.A., 1927; Columbia University Teachers College, M.A., 1930), Peterson was involved in union organizing, worker education, and labor and consumer legislation lobbying. She was head of the Women's Bureau (1961-1964), Assistant Secretary of Labor for Labor Standards (1961-1969), executive vice chairman of the President's Commission on the Status of Women (1961-1963), and Special Assistant to the President for Consumer Affairs, (1964-1967, 1977-1981). Descended from Danish immigrants, she married Oliver Peterson in 1932. They had four children. For further information see Who's Who of American Women, 1982-1983.

From the description of [Videotape collection] [videorecording]. 1979-1988. (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 122614739

Esther Peterson was born Esther Eggersten on December 9, 1906 in Provo, Utah. She received a B.A. in physical education from Brigham Young University in 1927, and a master's degree from Columbia University's Teachers College in 1930. She married Oliver A. Peterson on May 28, 1932. While living in Boston in the early 1930s, Peterson taught at the Winsor School for Girls and volunteered at night to teach gymnastics and tap dancing at the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA). Many of her night students were garment workers, and she organized a strike for them. Her tactics succeeded when the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union helped secure higher wages for the women. Following the strike, Peterson taught in the Summer School for Women Workers in Industry at Bryn Mawr College, a program that took women out of ill-kept factories and put them into college. In 1938, she continued to support the rights of working women in her position as a union organizer for the American Federation of Teachers. In 1939, she moved to New York and accepted a position as the assistant director of the Department of Cultural Activities of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA). In this capacity, she worked to get African-American women into the labor union. In 1944, she became the ACWA's first legislative representative in Washington, D.C. In 1958, she became a lobbyist for the Industrial Union Department of the AFL-CIO. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy appointed her assistant secretary of the Department of Labor and director of the Women's Bureau. During the 1970s, Peterson also began working in the private sector as the nation's first industry-employed consumer advocate when she took a job as vice president for consumer affairs at Giant Food Corporation. Peterson convinced the United Nations (U.N.) to pass the International Guidelines for Consumer Protection, and also got the U.N. to distribute a list of products that had been banned or restricted in the United States, hoping other countries would follow suit. From April 1977 to 1981, she served as Special Assistant to the President for Consumer Affairs. She acted as consumer spokesperson and advocate, and advised the President on consumer matters. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1981. Peterson died on December 20, 1997 in Washington, D.C.

From the description of Peterson, Esther, 1906-1997 (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration). naId: 10572696

Active in the fields of labor, education, women's rights, and consumeer affairs, Peterson was involved in union organizing, worker education, and labor and consumer legislation lobbying. She was head of the Women's Bureau, (1961-1964), Assistant Secretary of Labor for Labor Standards (1961-1969), executive vice chairman of the President's Commission on the Status of Women (1961-1963), and Special Assistant to the President for Consumer Affairs, (1964-1967, 1977-1981). For further information, see Who's Who of American Women, 1982-1983. Peterson died in 1997.

From the description of Papers, 1991-1999 (inclusive). (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 122593602