Dimensions / Weight

Dimensions: 12" H x 8.5" W x 10.5" D

Physical Description

Type LPSFF steel welder’s mask marked "Lincoln Electric Co./Cleveland O/Patented." It bears white numbers on the wearer’s right side, and on the left side the owners initals.

Specific History

Augusta Clawson donated her welder’s mask to the Smithsonian in 1988. In 1943, the recent Vassar graduate was a specialist with the United States Office of Education. She was given an undercover assignment at the Swan Island Shipyard in Portland, Oregon. Her mission was to find out why women recruited as welders were quitting as soon as they finished their training. Her two months' experience as a welder became the basis of her 1944 book Shipyard Diary. In her diary, Clawson wrote: “I am today the proud owner of one check drawn by The Shipyard and payable to one A.H. Clawson, Badge 44651 - $20.80 for the three days of last week. ... And I shall keep the stub as a record for posterity. I must have a grandchild, even if I have to adopt one, so that I can say, “Darling, in the last war your grandmother built ships.” (Probably by then my granddaughter will be an Admiral and won’t be impressed at all.)”