Oral history interview with Clara Gordon Rubin, May 13, 1982.

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Rubin, Clara Gordon,. Oral history interview with Clara Gordon Rubin, May 13, 1982.

Oral history interview with Clara Gordon Rubin, May 13, 1982.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/50493137

Rubin focuses the interview primarily on the life and work of Solomon A. Gordon, her father. Gordon (b. 1886) was raised in a Hasidic home in Lithuania, received training as a machinist and plumber, and developed an affinity for socialism. At age 19 Gordon settled in Dallas, where he worked as a candy maker and participated in founding the Dallas branch of the Workmen's Circle. Clara was born in Dallas in 1907, and the family came to Seattle in 1917. After working in the shipyards during World War I, Gordon worked as a streetcar conductor and a bus driver for the city of Seattle. He was an influential member of the Streetcarmen's Union and fought for the hiring of black bus drivers during World War II. Rubin describes the Seattle branch of the Workmen's Circle in detail. The membership consisted of laborers and small entrepreneurs, most of whom did not belong to synagogues. The W.C. had a socialist (yet anti-communist) political identity and offered education, Yiddish cultural activities, and mutual aid. Failure to attract younger members caused the W.C. to die out. Rubin concludes by discussing her own career (as a personnel administrator for the city of Seattle) and that of her sister, Ruth Gordon Schnapp (as a structural engineer). Rubin also describes her volunteer work in professional associations and in the Evening Branch of the Council of Jewish Women.

Sound recordings: 2 sound cassettes (ca. 90 min.) : analog, mono.Transcript: 17 leaves.

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