Why's it called that? Before a library carried her name, Frances Perkins was top labor official

An appropriate book to read during Labor Day weekend would be "Frances Perkins: Champion of the New Deal."

Of course, it can be found in the stacks of the Frances M. Perkins Branch of the Worcester Public Library, at 470 West Boylston St., in the Greendale section of the city. It's in the Biography section on the main floor, middle shelf.

Long before the library was renamed in her honor, Perkins served as the U.S. secretary of labor under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The appointment, which took effect March 4, 1933, made her the first woman to serve in a presidential Cabinet. She held the post for 12 years, also serving under Harry S. Truman.

Perkins spent much of her childhood in Worcester, living on Cottage Street and attending Oxford Street School and Classical High School. She went to Mount Holyoke College.

Her father was a Boston businessman who opened the F.W. Perkins paper and twine store on Main Street in Worcester in the 1880s. The business later became Perkins & Butler .

The Perkins family home at 18 Cottage St. was later used as a transitional home for women.

After Worcester, following a stint as a teacher, Perkins became a social worker in New York, with a focus on worker rights. She was a member of the New York industrial commission and later the federal industrial commission, appointed by FDR. He asked her to join his Cabinet after he became president.

In a 2014, Al Southwick, a columnist for the Telegram & Gazette, outlined her time in the cabinet:

"It was a tumultuous time for any Secretary of Labor. She had to mediate hundreds of strikes and lockouts, some brutal and violent. She had to deal with labor leaders like John L. Lewis, George Meany, Walter Reuther and Harry Bridges, none of them gentle, reasonable types.

"In 1933, more than 15 million Americans were out of jobs. Although several people helped shape the New Deal, her fingerprints are all over the main items, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the National Recovery Act (NRA), the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and, most important, the Social Security Administration.

"She was bitterly attacked by conservatives who resented her pro-labor liberal views. She was called a radical, a communist, a Jew, all deemed detrimental by some. As for being Jewish, she retorted that she was not but would be proud if she were. She was even 'impeached' by the House Un-American Activities Committee for not deporting Harry Bridges, an Australian and fiery leader of West Coast longshoremen."

In 1994, the public library branch in Greendale, one of three branches built in the early 1900s with money from Andrew Carnegie, was renamed in honor of Frances Perkins.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Why's it called that? Before a library carried her name, Frances Perkins was top labor official