The Stanley Works: The Community of Factory Life in New Britain
Factory Working Conditions of the Early 20th Century
Factory life in the 20th century is known best for its poor working conditions, casualties, long hours, and dispensable treatment of workers. In the age of booming industry and manufacturing, most businesses followed a model of quantity and speed over quality and pride in your work. Stanley Works, of New Britain, Connecticut, was different in their approach to manufacturing, however.
Working conditions across the country were steadily and slowly improving into the early 20th century out of the height of the industrial revolution. However, things were far from perfect for the average factory worker. While child-labor laws were set in place and many dangerous jobs were replaced with machinery, many factories still exploited their employees; whether through long rigorous hours, physical harm, or prohibiting them from joining labor unions. Employees often were stuck in dead end positions, feeling a lack of pride or passion for the work they did. This fostered a hostile work environment, where employees rarely befriended one another, sometimes fighting tooth and nail to be noticed for their hard work, and just possibly, awarded a promotion; one that would never come. Stanley Works, while still being a product of its time, was revolutionary in their career opportunities and working conditions, when compared to many companies of the same caliber, or a general industry standard of the time period; the 1930s-1960s. This difference in approach to workers treatment would set Stanley Works apart from their competition, leading New Britain to boom with industrial and manufacturing success for generations.
Building The Foundation for Success
The Stanley Works Corporation got its start in 1852, when brothers Frederick and William Stanley expanded their bolt manufacturing business, Stanley’s Bolt Manufactory, to include a wider variety of cast iron hardware. By 1900, New Britain was responsible for $35.8 million dollars worth of hardware production, and Stanley Works was a large portion of that. With more manufactured goods than prevalent cities like Chicago and New York City combined, there was a great deal of pressure on Stanley Works to produce goods at a high quantity, quickly. This would have potential to quickly become a labor-intensive, hostile work environment in order to meet quotas, but Stanley Works took a different approach.
From the start, the Stanley brothers, and subsequent leaders of the company, placed a high importance on the quality of the goods they produced, and pride in the manufacturing of such goods from their employees. Rather than seeing their employees as disposable, Stanley Works fostered a family-like environment amongst their workers. The Stanley World is a book published by the company for Stanley employees each month, and served as a lynchpin for this dynamic. The Stanley World editions were lengthy, and covered topics such as fellow employees promotions, personal achievements, changes to the workplace, and information about employees outside of work as well, for their fellow coworkers to learn about each month.
In the Stanley World January 1937 edition, under the ‘Personals’ heading, we can see acknowledgements of employees who have lost loved ones, with words of sympathy and support. We also can see acknowledgements of the hard work of Madeline and Lou Clough, who answered the phones, on learning a new switchboard system and adapting so well. Beyond work life, we can also see information and congratulations for George Yuhas, Assistant Purchasing agent, for his 2 week exhibit of his water colors, block prints, pencil drawings, and pen and ink drawings. These postings in the Stanley World, which all employees likely read, served as a way to spark conversation amongst unacquainted coworkers, allowing everyone to converse deeper on the topics shared in the book; Whether it be a newfound shared love of the arts, or a connecting conversation about the shared struggle of losing a loved one.
The Stanley World edition of 1956 featured multiple pages celebrating Sadie E. Tokonaur on 50 years of service with the company. She was gifted a pin and 50 silver dollars, along with a ceremony to celebrate her journey through the company and her decades of hard work. Gifts were not uncommon for Stanley employees to receive from the company, as within the archive we have countless Christmas gifts, anniversary pins, and awards gifted to each employee over the years.
On a broader scale, the margins of each Stanley World edition are riddled with club and sports meeting times for employees to get involved. A Stanley Basketball League, Bowling club, Girls Club, and Foremans club, only scratch the surface of activities set in place for coworkers to connect and find community within Stanley Works. Fostering a sense of community and friendship between employees was ahead of its time, especially for the scale that the Stanley Works Corporation functioned at. By valuing employee’s lives off the clock, and providing enriching activity beyond work, it is no wonder their production quality was exceptional in the industry. Employees were not worked to the brink of exhaustion, with no time off for recreation, as was commonplace for the 20th century factory worker. By allowing workers to live full, versatile lives, they could arrive at the factory in a good headspace, able to produce their best work. From other entries in the various editions of Stanley's World, we also know that the Stanley Works provided workers with a 24 hour cafeteria service, with quality meals. There are also postings within the books that ask for suggestions from the employees on how to make Stanley Works a better Corporation, something that would be unheard of in many other workplaces of the time.
Stanley Works also created a career for employees with the opportunity to grow and climb the corporate ladder. As seen by Ethelbert Allen Moore, President of the Stanley Works from 1918-1929, he began his career with the Stanley Corporation in 1889 as a clerk. By enabling growth within employees' career paths, it is more likely for an individual to work hard, and maintain employment with the company, on top of experiencing a more hopeful attitude towards the work they do. This set Stanley Works apart from many other big-name manufacturers at the time, that would often keep factory workers in the same position, with no promotion or pay raise, and little opportunity to grow.
Leading figures within the Stanley Works also upheld standards of pride and hard work, as the Stanley World 1937 edition features a quote from Col. J.J. Carty, a prominent American electrical engineer, on success. It reads: “What is Success? “Success means that internal satisfaction which each man and woman feels who does the best he or she can and everybody who gets success, nominal success, that he is not entitled to, is not as happy as the one who does not get the recognition he is entitled to; because afterall, it is the internal satisfaction that counts, knowing that you have done the best you could, that you have done right.” This is a sentiment echoed throughout the pages of many Stanley World editions, showcasing a continuous push for each and every employee to take pride in the work they do for Stanley Works.
While Stanley Works undeniably prioritized production quantity, especially as main manufacturers for wartime goods, it is undeniable that the Stanley Works treated their employees well, and upheld a clear mission statement through the chaos of export manufacturing, to a degree well ahead of its time. In a time of disconnect from those around us, it could be beneficial to take some inspiration from the Stanley Works, and foster pillars of community, pride, and friendship within our own workplaces.
Works Cited
Jackston, Bart. 2021. “Working Conditions during the 1900s – Factory Working Conditions.” Factory Working Conditions. December 9, 2021. https://factoryworkingconditions.com/history/working-conditions-during-the-1900s/.
(1937). Published for Employees. The Stanley World , 2(1), 1–16.
The Stanley Works. (1956). The Published for Employees. The Stanley World, 30, 1–26.
(Four Decades with the Stanley Works : 1889-1929 : Ethelbert Allen Moore : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive, 2018)