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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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Antoinette Mauro
Oral history interview conducted by Jennifer Egan
July 31, 2006
Call number: 2010.003.037
0:00 - Introduction and questions about the project
2:24 - Summer defense course and being assigned to the Navy Yard electrical department
4:56 - Process of entering the Navy Yard and clocking in, along with morning commute
6:29 - Worked in Building 3 and Building 77 and wasn't allowed on ships
7:14 - Husband was a sailor on the USS Miller and memories of the USS Frankli
8:13 - Often saw ships but never went on, movement around the Yard was limited
9:03 - Pay and hours in the Navy Yard
10:21 - Seeing ships launch from the Navy Yard and from other side of the East River
10:54 - Sharing photos and identifying people in the photos
13:45 - Husband's career at the Navy Yard, then at an applied science library
16:52 - Met husband on the bus line on Atlantic Avenue while commuting
18:00 - Describes wartime job of transcribing electrical repairs from blueprint to plan
21:33 - Description of tools she used
22:39 - Describes work after the war, and how the technology had changed
23:59 - Structure of the workday
25:30 - Experience of being one of only two women among twenty-seven people
28:01 - Explains what “blacking out the blueprint” meant
29:23 - Damage on the USS Franklin
29:59 - Husband's World War II reunions have been on battleships
31:07 - Interactions in the Yard and office layout
32:46 - Men going to drafting school to avoid being drafted
33:21 - Description of drafting boards and desks, and how huge the production was
34:32 - Specifics of watching launches from the other side of the East River
36:24 - Layoffs and rehirings
37:49 - Names of former coworkers, and cultural and racial background of Navy Yard women
39:01 - Socializing, including parties at Michael's on Flatbush and at her boss's house
42:28 - Colleagues getting drafted, their reactions and the reactions of the people they dated
44:56 - Writing letters to men in the military
46:34 - Descriptions of Michael's, where they had work parties
47:59 - Working at the Navy Yard felt patriotic and secretive; brief interruption in audio
48:57 - Description of boss, including where he lived and how he kept the men respectful
50:29 - Workplace lunch routine
51:54 - Giving blood at the Navy Yard hospital and getting a drink at the Grenada Hotel after
54:37 - Time off policy, tardiness policy, and the experience of being late
55:39 - Layout of workspace before and after the war, and being moved for talking
58:01 - Coworker going to college, narrator taking night courses
58:34 - Remembers friendships with female coworkers, both before and after the war
59:40 - Layouts of and relationships between Building 3 and Building 77
61:05 - President Roosevelt coming to the Navy Yard, and employee opinions of him
62:00 - Seeing ships in the Navy Yard
63:08 - What’s in the Navy Yard now and what the interviews will contribute
64:19 - Neighbor who worked on the USS Constellation
65:27 - Watching Margaret Truman launch the USS Missouri
66:47 - Role in building the USS Missouri
68:17 - How work environment changed between first and second stint at the Navy Yard
70:43 - Permissions and restrictions to move around the Navy Yard
71:46 - Early mornings and commuting
72:50 - Memories of Sands Street, having breakfast there
73:36 - Performances for servicemen, which Navy Yard employees could sometimes attend
74:22 - Sailors were everywhere, but they didn't interact with them
75:12 - Office gossip about coworkers’ dating
76:51 - Ladies room matron, only Black employee she remembers interacting with
79:22 - Money was good because the government gave annuities not social security
80:11 - Stayed home after having children
80:35 - Worked for a repurposed defense plant between Navy Yard stints
81:38 - Parents liked that she worked in the Navy Yard
82:07 - What happened to people she knew, and identifying people in photos
83:33 - Felt at home at the Navy Yard
84:43 - Worked for cerebral palsy organization
85:11 - Ships she worked on, and whether or not there were launches for repaired ships
86:15 - Women’s job options in the Navy Yard, and strictness about not being on ships
88:30 - Recalls seeing the USS Franklin coming in with burn marks
89:09 - Age when she started at the Navy Yard and thoughts on layoffs and rehires
90:07 - Husband's Navy Yard career, and how it matched up with hers
90:42 - Talks about person she wants to put Interviewer in touch with
Interview Description
Oral History Interview with Antoinette Mauro
Antoinette Irrera Mauro (ca. 1925- ) began working at the Brooklyn Navy Yard just after she finished high school at the age of 18. She worked as a draughtswoman from 1943 until she was laid off just a few weeks after the war ended in 1945. Mauro was called back in 1947 and again in 1950. Her husband (Louis Mauro) worked at the Navy Yard after he came back from the War with blueprints and then in the technical library until the yard was decommissioned. Mauro left in 1951 when she was pregnant with her son.
In her interview, Antoinette Irrera Mauro (ca. 1925- ) details the work she did as a draughtswoman in the electrical department at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. She emphasizes how nice her coworkers were, even though there were only two women working in her department of 27 workers. Mauro started working in Building 3 and later in Building 77 when her department was moved. She also discusses her commute, Yard security, friendships with coworkers and watching various ship launchings. 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
Mauro, Antoinette Irrera, Oral history interview conducted by Jennifer Egan, July 31, 2006, Brooklyn Navy Yard oral history collection, 2010.003.037; Brooklyn Historical Society.People
- Mauro, Antoinette Irrera
- New York Naval Shipyard
Topics
- Blueprints
- Drafters
- Missouri (Battleship : BB 63)
- Naval ships
- Security systems
- Women--Employment
- Work
- Work environment
- World War, 1939-1945
Places
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
Finding Aid
Brooklyn Navy Yard oral history collection