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Analyzing Photographs of a Tragic Event

Focusing on Details: Compare and Contrast

All documents and text associated with this activity are printed below, followed by a worksheet for student responses.

Introduction

Analyze the following images related to a major historical event in New York City history. These images come from the same event. Answer the questions that follow and imagine and predict how these images are connected. 


Name:
Class:

Worksheet

Analyzing Photographs of a Tragic Event

Focusing on Details: Compare and Contrast

Examine the documents included in this activity and write your response in the space provided.


Look carefully at the pictures above.  Create and fill out a 3-column chart with the following categories for each photograph:
  • What I See
  • What I Think
  • Questions I Have
What tragic event in New York City history is depicted in these photographs? Support your answer with evidence from the images.

Your Response




1

Activity Element

Photograph of the Building Interior after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire




2

Activity Element

Photograph of Police Officers, Civilians and Victims on the Sidewalk during the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire




3

Activity Element

Photograph of a Broken Fire Escape after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire




Conclusion

Analyzing Photographs of a Tragic Event

Focusing on Details: Compare and Contrast

Click on "View Entire Document" on any of the photographs to reveal the event.


Your Response




Document

Photograph of the Building Interior after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

3/25/1911

On March 25, 1911, a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory on New York City‘s East Side killed 146 young immigrant workers. The building, which was ten stories high, was overcrowded and filled with flammable material.

The fire started in a wastebasket on the eighth floor, and the flames jumped up onto the paper patterns that were hanging from the ceiling. Locked doors kept the workers from escaping; there was not enough water to put out the flames, and firemen’s ladders were too short to reach the upper stories. Many of the young women and men working there leapt out the windows and fell to their deaths onto the sidewalk outside. Others were crushed in the elevator shaft or when the fire escape collapsed.

Protests after the fire led New York State to revamp laws governing working conditions, increase the number of fire inspectors, and write new fire safety codes.
This primary source comes from the Collection FDR-Photos: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Photographs.
National Archives Identifier: 6040082
Full Citation: Photograph of the Building Interior after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire; 3/25/1911; Photographs from the Depression and World War II, 1870 - 2004; Collection FDR-Photos: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Photographs, ; Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/building-interior-triangle-shirtwaist-factory-fire, March 19, 2024]


Photograph of the Building Interior after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

Page 1



Document

Photograph of Police Officers, Civilians and Victims on the Sidewalk during the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

3/25/1911

On March 25, 1911, a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory on New York City‘s East Side killed 146 young immigrant workers. The building, which was ten stories high, was overcrowded and filled with flammable material.

The fire started in a wastebasket on the eighth floor, and the flames jumped up onto the paper patterns that were hanging from the ceiling. Locked doors kept the workers from escaping; there was not enough water to put out the flames, and firemen’s ladders were too short to reach the upper stories. Many of the young women and men working there leapt out the windows and fell to their deaths onto the sidewalk outside. Others were crushed in the elevator shaft or when the fire escape collapsed.

Protests after the fire led New York State to revamp laws governing working conditions, increase the number of fire inspectors, and write new fire safety codes.
This primary source comes from the Collection FDR-Photos: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Photographs.
National Archives Identifier: 6040083
Full Citation: Photograph NPX 77-121 (18); Photograph of Police Officers, Civilians and Victims on the Sidewalk during the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire; 3/25/1911; Photographs from the Depression and World War II, 1870 - 2004; Collection FDR-Photos: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Photographs, ; Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/police-officers-victims-triangle-shirtwaist, March 19, 2024]


Photograph of Police Officers, Civilians and Victims on the Sidewalk during the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

Page 1



Document

Photograph of a Broken Fire Escape after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

3/25/1911

On March 25, 1911, a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory on New York City‘s East Side killed 146 young immigrant workers. The building, which was ten stories high, was overcrowded and filled with flammable material.

The fire started in a wastebasket on the eighth floor, and the flames jumped up onto the paper patterns that were hanging from the ceiling. Locked doors kept the workers from escaping; there was not enough water to put out the flames, and firemen’s ladders were too short to reach the upper stories. Many of the young women and men working there leapt out the windows and fell to their deaths onto the sidewalk outside. Others were crushed in the elevator shaft or when the fire escape collapsed.

Protests after the fire led New York State to revamp laws governing working conditions, increase the number of fire inspectors, and write new fire safety codes.
This primary source comes from the Collection FDR-Photos: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Photographs.
National Archives Identifier: 6040085
Full Citation: Photograph NPx 77-121 (20); Photograph of a Broken Fire Escape after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire; 3/25/1911; Photographs from the Depression and World War II, 1870 - 2004; Collection FDR-Photos: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Photographs, ; Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/broken-fire-escape-triangle-shirtwaist-factory-fire, March 19, 2024]


Photograph of a Broken Fire Escape after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

Page 1