“Radium to Extend Life to 100 Years,” The New York Herald, October 14, 1921, p. When Marie and Paul Curie discovered radium in 1898, it was soon viewed as a wondrous and powerful element: a cure for cancer, and a source of beauty and vitality. A different company, Radium Dial, opened a facility in Ottawa, Illinois in late 1922 and Donohue was hired. Radium watches and clocks continued to be popular after World War I. “Radium Dial Studio” employment ad, Free Trader-Journal and Ottawa Fair Dealer (Ottawa, IL), October 25, 1922, 4 O’Clock Edition, p. ad, The New York Times, November 4, 1917, Rotogravure Picture Section, part 6, p. “Xmas Gifts for Men Over There, and Those Who Are Going!”įranklin Simon & Co. They painted watch dials for soldiers and instrument panels for military equipment-all glowing in the dark. With America entering the First World War on April 6, 1917, some viewed their work as a patriotic contribution to the war effort. The women were hopeful when they began working in the radium dial factories.įor its time, the work was well-paid skilled labor for women.īy 1917, women were dial-painting at the United States Radium Corporation plant in Orange, New Jersey. “‘Living Death’ Victims,” The Times-News (Hendersonville, NC), February 14, 1938, p.1.ĭonohue, along with others, fought back: they brought lawsuits against the companies that employed them and they won, even though some did not live to receive their compensation. She was among the women who painted luminous numbers on watch, clock, and instrument dials using radium-laced paint in factories in New Jersey, Illinois, and Connecticut.ĭubbed “Radium Girls” and “Living Dead,” they suffered radium poisoning and painful, early deaths. Catherine Wolfe Donohue is not a well-known name, but in the late 1930s newspapers featured her as she lay dying.
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