As climate change intensifies, what workers wear to the factory, farm or construction site becomes a question of survival, a dire prospect explored by a new Cornell University Library exhibit.

“Weathering the Storm: The Role of Labor in an Era of Climate Change” examines the intersection of the environment, labor and work wear. The exhibit opens Oct. 8, 4:30-6 p.m., with a reception and light refreshments, at the Catherwood Library located in the ILR School.

Credit: Collections of the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives.

The exhibit features materials from the library’s Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, including historical photographs, environmental reports and work clothing, such as the red bandana. It appears in the history of U.S. labor – from a symbol of solidarity worn by striking coal miners during the West Virginia Mine Wars of the early 1900s, to the head covering donned by “Rosie the Riveter,” a stylized icon of women factory workers in the 1940s, said Marcie Farwell, the Gordon and Marjorie Osborne Textile Industry Curator based in the Kheel Center.

Garments and accessories from the Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection (CF+TC) are also on display. Students chose the pieces as part of their Project Management for Creative Practice class in College of Human Ecology.

Catherine Kueffer Blumenkamp, M.P.S. ’15, the associate director of CF+TC and assistant teaching professor in the Department of Human Centered Design, led the class in investigating the tensions and dichotomies that shape the fashion industry, such as when garments originally designed for labor are adapted for luxury.

“Denim started out as work wear, for example, but now is also worn in high fashion,” said Blumenkamp, who collaborated with Farwell to plan the exhibit.

The juxtaposition of materials from Kheel and CF+TC helps to “bring archival collections and materiality and questions about the environment into the conversation in a more relatable way,” Farwell said.

“Students might not always relate to static documents that they see behind glass, but hopefully we can create a connection to labor history by linking the environmental role clothing has played in the past to clothing that they might see themselves wearing today,” she said.

The exhibit also highlights the environmental advocacy of the labor mediator for whom the Kheel Center is named, Theodore W. Kheel ’35, L.L.B. ’37, particularly his work to promote the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, known as the Earth Summit, in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

“Weathering the Storm” runs through August 2027. It is part of a series of exhibits titled “From the Brink: Contributions to a Sustainable Future from across Cornell,” hosted by unit libraries of Cornell University Library in partnership with departments and groups on campus.

Jose Beduya is a writer and editor for Cornell University Library.