Research

New York State Factory Investigating Commission Cost of Living Report, Draft and Background Notes


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Overview of the Records

Repository:

New York State Archives
New York State Education Department
Cultural Education Center
Albany, NY 12230

Summary:
The cost of living report, draft and background notes were used to study the laboring class in New York City. This series contains data on cost of living for single women and men; cost of living for families; workers' living conditions; and workers' earnings and expenditures. The series also contains notes from interviews with workers used as background material for the report. The notes provide information on cost of living, living arrangements, and wages of individuals.
Creator:
Title:
Factory Investigating Commission cost of living report, draft and background notes
Quantity:

0.5 cubic feet

Quantity:

1 35mm microfilm roll(s)

1914
Series Number:
A3016

Scope and Content Note

This series contains a typescript draft, with handwritten revisions, of a "Report on the Cost of Living" and notes used in preparing the report.

The report, by Frank Hatch Streightoff of DePauw University, has sections on: 1. cost of living to single women, including information on homes of factory workers in New York City; board and lodging costs; the importance of savings; availability of spending money for "incidental expenses" such as health care, amusements, and night school; low wages and slow advancement; cost of living estimates from other states; and cost of living estimates prepared by social workers; 2. cost of living to single men, including information on cost of living estimates prepared by social workers and cost of room and board; 3. cost of living for a family -- defined as a working father, a mother keeping house, and three unemployed children -- including information on food prices and nutritional standards; cost of a house; type of housing available in New York City, Buffalo, Syracuse, and Troy; fuel and light costs; clothing costs; and carfare, insurance, health, furnishings, education, recreation, and other costs; 4. workers' living conditions, standards, and apartment floor plans; and 5. statistical tables on earnings and expenditures.

The series also contains typed notes from interviews with workers, mostly women, used as background material for various sections of the report. The notes generally provide information on cost of living, living arrangements, and wages of individuals.

Alternate Formats Available

Microfilm is available for use at the New York State Archives or through interlibrary loan.

This report was published in the Fourth Report of the Factory Investigating Commission, Volume IV (1915). The published report differs somewhat in the numbering of pages and appendixes.

Other Finding Aids

Available at Repository

Table of contents in Fourth Report of the Factory Investigating Commission, Vol. IV, Appendix VII (1915).

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of this material.

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