WWII Homefront Shipyard Periodical
Chi-Bridge Minuteman, Vol. III (1945, complete year)
Notes: Ten issues of the third and final year of this house organ for the military shipbuilding operation in Humboldt Bay, near Eureka, California. About 300 pages. 6 by 9 inches.
An interesting look at the rapid war manufacturing build-up in the United States during the Second World War. In January 1942, employees of the Chicago Bridge and Iron Co. came to Eureka to select a site to build floating drydocks (Yard Floating Docks, or YFDs). Construction of the plant began almost immediately and by June the first YFD was under construction.
For security reasons, the specific work is not described in this magazine during the war, but it is filled with day-to-day life, social gatherings, and plant news. Much of the support staff and some of the production workers were women, offering insight into the non-traditional jobs assumed by women during the war. The issues from after the war offer many retrospective details and photographs of the ships built on Humboldt Bay. There is a month-by-month chronology which details production and includes details about women passing the welding exams, the provision of day care facilities, and housing construction for workers.
A very interesting glimpse into homefront war work. No copies of this periodical are recorded on OCLC.
Edition + Condition: A fine copy in green cloth, bound for one of the department heads at the shipyard. All issue covers bound in.
Publication: Eureka, CA: Chicago Bridge and Iron Co., 1945.
Item No: #306907
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