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[Last name, First name], Oral history interview conducted by [Interviewer’s First name Last name], [Month DD, YYYY], [Title of Collection], [Call #]; Brooklyn Historical Society.
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Sidonia Levine
Oral history interview conducted by Jennifer Egan
November 18, 2006
Call number: 2010.003.035
0:00 - Introduction and discussion of pre-Navy Yard job at Western Electric
4:59 - Navy Yard job test and job offer
6:20 - Discusses photo of herself at the Navy Yard that was taken for The Shipworker
8:06 - Husband shipped out for World War II
8:26 - Was interviewed by the Brooklyn Eagle during World War II
9:12 - Starting at Navy Yard and attending a blueprint reading and drafting school
10:23 - Description of work making templates from blueprints in the Navy Yard mold loft
13:44 - Movement about the Navy Yard, and discussion of buildings and layout of the Yard
15:14 - Recounts watching Marine exercises out the window
15:32 - Made her own uniform
15:51 - Discussion of equipment and tools, particularly use of the band saw
17:34 - Describes making the template for a ship’s bow
19:16 - Career dreams before marriage
19:37 - Length of time at Navy Yard and departments she worked in
22:25 - Hours worked and snacks
23:39 - Interrupted by and discussion about cuckoo clock
24:05 - Camaraderie and talking about husbands with Navy Yard coworkers
24:59 - Discussion of bill of ladings
26:20 - Steps that went into making template
27:02 - Friendship with coworker Pearl
27:34 - Story about husband and brother both coming home from World War II
29:18 - Describes husband's sense of humor and taste in food
30:26 - Quit Navy Yard when husband came home and went to North Carolina for furlough
31:32 - Reminisces about Navy Yard friend Rita
32:33 - Reunion and getting back in touch with Pearl
33:02 - Old coworkers giving her a card with picture of her in overalls
33:40 - Reminisces about husband and family life
34:09 - Locker room and uniforms, and story about getting poked by pencil through uniform
35:55 - Talking about getting in touch with Rita and the Brooklyn Navy Yard interview project
37:30 - Typical workday and layout of the Navy Yard
39:24 - Sands Street businesses and limited experiences
39:59 - Length of relationship with husband
40:33 - Continuation of typical day and layout of mold loft, shop and school
42:12 - Signing people up to give blood and giving blood herself
43:52 - Discussion of current health
45:21 - Legs affected by Navy Yard work
45:50 - Continued description of template work and the ships she made them for
49:12 - Environment and atmosphere of the mold loft
50:03 - Other women working in the mold loft, their friendships and backgrounds
52:40 - New Years party at shop where they everyone shared a bottle of alcohol
54:16 - Had no time to socialize with coworkers outside of work
56:20 - How the men and women worked together, rapport, income disparity, titles, etc
58:39 - Income, pay schedule, and gambling on paycheck numbers
60:04 - Remembering supervisors, particularly a Mr. Blackwood
61:11 - Impressions of wider Navy Yard, including housing for officials and errands
62:36 - Latrine layout with fountain instead of sink
63:15 - Continued discussion of current health
64:05 - Lunch habits in the Navy Yard
65:39 - Turnstiles at gates like going to the ballpark
66:11 - Events at the shipyard that she was never allowed off work for
66:48 - Discussion of current meal and her current Century Village community
71:25 - Watching Marines from the window and the lack of cars in the Navy Yard
73:00 - Interactions with Pearl and Rita now and their differing memories
73:35 - Going out together as a group after work
74:22 - Missing her husband, and propositions from and interactions with male coworkers
76:29 - Friendship with Charlie Burke, the quartermaster's nephew
78:33 - Limited interactions with rest of the Yard outside shift-mates
80:09 - Women leaving when husbands came home and continued relationship with Rita
80:44 - Discussing entry into Yard, and different entrances and layout of Yard
82:58 - Memories of Building 77
84:00 - Not allowed to take stenography after getting caught eating in high school
84:40 - Belong to baseball league that played in Madison Square Garden
85:42 - Interrupted by phone call from younger brother
87:08 - Received black mark on her record for walking out on a general
88:54 - Where she lived after and before she was married
89:36 - Discussion about talking with Pearl and a break in audio
90:01 - Backgrounds of men and management at the Navy Yard
90:40 - Atmosphere of the mold loft, "a special place"
91:05 - Matchmaking for coworker and friend and staying with friend
92:20 - Story about her friend's brother going to a "house of ill repute"
93:30 - Continued conversation about playing baseball
96:25 - Interviewer taking photo of narrator
Interview Description
Oral History Interview with Sidonia Levine
Sidonia Kessler Levine (1919- ) began working at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in November of 1942. She worked as a mechanic helper and shipfitter in Building 4 while her husband was deployed. Levine currently lives in Florida.
In this interview, Sidonia Kessler Levine (1919- ) talks about how she came to work at the Brooklyn Navy Yard after spending some time at Western Electric. She mentions that she did very well on the Navy Yard test, on which she received the 15th best score out of 500 participants. While at the Navy Yard, Levine had her picture taken for the Shipworker and did an interview with the Brooklyn Eagle. She talks a lot about the camaraderie in the yard and the lasting friendships she made with the women she worked with in Building 4. She also details her job where she converted blueprints into wooden templates and attended extra school at Pratt for blueprint reading. She made her work uniform herself. Levine describes her visit to the Navy Yard in the 1990s as "sterile" compared to the liveliness of the atmosphere while she worked there. Interview conducted by Jennifer Egan.
The Brooklyn Navy Yard oral history collection is comprised of over fifty interviews of men and women who worked in or around the Brooklyn Navy Yard, primarily during World War II. The narrators discuss growing up in New York, their work at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, their relationships with others at the Yard, gender relations and transportation to and from work. Many narrators bring up issues of ethnicity, race, and religion at the Yard or in their neighborhoods. Several people describe the launching of the USS Missouri battleship and recall in detail their daily tasks at the Yard (as welders, office workers and ship fitters). While the interviews focus primarily on experiences in and around the Yard, many narrators go on to discuss their lives after the Navy Yard, relating stories about their careers, dating and marriage, children, social activities, living conditions and the changes that took place in Manhattan and Brooklyn during their lifetimes.
Citation
Levine, Sidonia Kessler, 1919-, Oral history interview conducted by Jennifer Egan, November 18, 2006, Brooklyn Navy Yard oral history collection, 2010.003.035; Brooklyn Historical Society.People
- Levine, Sidonia Kessler, 1919-
- New York Naval Shipyard
Topics
- Baseball players
- Blueprints
- Family
- Friendship
- Jews, American -- New York (State) -- Kings County
- Mechanics (Persons)
- Naval ships
- Shipbuilding
- Shipfitting
- Women--Employment
- World War, 1939-1945
Places
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
Finding Aid
Brooklyn Navy Yard oral history collection