Silk program for Monster Benefit Performance supporting striking telegraphers: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Silk program for a 1907 benefit performance held for the striking members of the Commercial Telegraphers Union of America at the Garrick Theatre in Chicago, Illinois. The white silk program features information about the performance in black (now faded) ink text, with a border around edges with scroll-like design in corners and the logo for the Commercial Telegraphers Union of America in the upper left corner. Main text reads, "Monster / Benefit / Performance / for / Striking Telegraphers / at Garrick Theatre, Chicago / Friday Afternoon, September 13, 1907". Performance featured Blanche Walsh in the first act of The Straight Road. Printed by B. R. Hyman & Co., Printers, 121-27 Plymouth Place, Chicago.

The CTUA was a labor union organized to promote the interest of commercial telegraph operators. The labor organization was established in March 1903, when the Commercial Telegraphers Union merged with the Order of Commercial Telegraphers to form a new and more powerful union, numbering approximately 8000 members in 60 locals, in both the U.S. and Canada, at its inception. The CTUA’s stated goals included equal wages for equal work for both men and women, modifications to the "bonus" system that paid operators on a per-message basis, and better working conditions for operators in branch offices. The CTUA joined the American Federation of Labor in July 1903.

American telegraph workers had long complained of low pay, long hours, and poor working conditions, and by May 1907, relations with major employers had reached a breaking point. That month, the CTUA presented telegraph company Western Union with a "Bill of Grievances” hoping to negotiate better working conditions with management, but Western Union ignored the demands and discharged employees for union activities. A June 1907 strike by San Francisco telegraph workers soon erupted into a nationwide walkout of more than 10,000 telegraphers, some 25% of whom were women. The strike disrupted telegraph communications across the United States and Canada, with Western Union struggling to maintain limited service by employing strikebreakers. By November 1907, the CTUA had been unable to negotiate any concessions with Western Union and decided to call off the strike.

According to the program, on Friday, September 13, 1907, a “Monster Benefit Performance” was staged at the Garrick Theatre in Chicago to support the striking telegraphers of the CTUA. Arranged by brothers E. P. Hearn, P. J. Hogan, H. C. Bowen, H. E. Wright, and C. E. Shea, the benefit featured performances by some major stars who were then appearing on Chicago stages, including Dorothy Russell (with the White Hen Co. Chorus), Victor Moore (appearing as Kid Burns and assisted by chorus in songs from The Talk of New York, then playing at the Colonial Theatre), and Blanche Walsh in the first act of The Straight Road, a new play in four acts by Clyde Fitch.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1907
• referenced: Walsh, Blanche
• Object Name: program
• Physical Description: silk (overall material)
• Physical Description: ink (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 9 3/4 in x 6 in; 24.765 cm x 15.24 cm
• place made: United States: Illinois, Chicago
• associated subject: Theater
• associated subject: Labor Unions
• associated subject: Charities
• associated subject: Telegraph
• ID Number: 2025.0063.01
• catalog number: 2025.0063.01
• accession number: 2025.0063
• Credit Line: Kathleen M. Tully
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.