[MANUFACTURING] [COMPANY MAGAZINES] The Forge: The Pollak Steel Co. Employees Magazine [three issues: October, November, and December, 1919] by [Pollak Steel Company] - 1919

[Cincinnati]: Pollak Steel Company, 1919. Staplebound. Near fine. Quarto. 3 issues, 18pp., 18pp., 22pp., illustrated. All staple-bound, in original printed wrappers, with thecover of the December issue printed in several colors. All issues near fine, with mild isolated soiling to the covers, and an occasional tuny edge tear, but really a well-preserved group. A charming and engaging employee magazine for this Cincinnati-based steel company. The contents center on the lives and exploits of ordinary workers in the vast corporation, with photographs and descriptions of company-sponsored sporting events, leusire activities, and the like. There are a number of brief (often one-sentence) classified advertisements from various employees peppered thorughout (ex: "Wanted, A Wife. Good-looking, good cook, experienced in general housekeeping and sewing. State age and color. Apply Mr. Edgar Simpson, Electrical Department." Some unsigned poetry and occasional "Safety First-"style aphorisms also throughout. Various company-authored news articles describing the latest techonology or company expansion are also well-represented. Women were well-represented in the workforce (if not at the higher levels), and there is a terrific group photograph of a dozen female employees captioned "Group of Red Cross Girls - Cincinnati Pollak Works" at the end of the November issue. These women had raised a large sum of money for the greater Cincinnati Red Cross, in service of the vast humanitarian efforts in the immediate aftermath of World War I.

Surprisingly scarce; we found just a single individual issue (from 1920) recorded in OCLC, held by the Ohio History Connection. As such, an important record of the social and labor dimensions of manufacturing history in the Midwest.