October 11 - Remembering Mary Heaton Vorse

Labor History in 2:00 · Oct 11, 2026 · 1m

On this day in Labor History the year was 1874. That was the day that Mary Heaton Vorse was born in New York City.

She grew up in Amherst, Massachusetts in a well-off family. She traveled across Europe with her parents, receiving her education and learning to speak multiple languages fluently.

She then worked as a book reviewer for the Criterion magazine. In 1912 Mary and the man who would be her husband witnessed the Massachusetts’s textile strike. The experience was a turning point in her life. She later wrote: “Both Joe O’Brien and I had come a long road to get to Lawrence…Together we…