I remember hearing about this fire, which occurred in 1911, in my Social Studies class, which was long enough ago that it obviously made an impression, since I can still remember it now. That was only a paragraph or two, and this is an entire book. Obviously, the story is even more memorable when you know more about the events that preceded it, some of the personalities involved, and more detail about the outcomes. Also, there is an appendix that lists the names and some information about those killed in the fire. One of the most chilling things is that there were six individuals who were never identified.
The book begins by describing the time and place where the fire took place, not just the building itself, but part of New York City where it was located. It was very much an immigrant neighborhood, with a mixture of Eastern European Jews, Italians, and a few Irish. Things were starting to change, since there was the beginning of unionization, which meant that sometimes workers would go on strike. It was usually for better pay; not so much for better conditions. Also, the Suffragettes were campaigning for the vote. Even if they couldn’t yet vote, women could go out on strike. And the staff of the Triangle Waist Company was primarily female.
Tammany Hall was in its heyday, and while they wanted and needed votes from the working people, they also wanted the money from wealthy factory owners. Before the fire, Tammany-controlled police were not friendly to the strikers. But the devastation of the fire was so shocking, that it changed the political equation. It was not a rapid process, but the fire at the Triangle factory led to laws for safer conditions for workers. While there might not have been justice directly for the individuals killed in the fire, their deaths led to improvements for hundreds of thousands of others.
If this was your family, how would you research them? What did your ancestors do for a living? Odds are, you had at least one who worked in an occupation that was dangerous. If they lived in an era when death certificates were issued, check to see what the cause of death was. Sometimes the handwriting can be challenging to decipher. However, many will have a number and possibly a letter code in that field as well. If you go to http://www.wolfbane.com/icd/index.html, you will find the International Classification of Diseases, which list the codes you see on death certificates. In the list used from 1909 to 1920, for example, 57A was occupational lead poisoning. Even if their job didn’t lead to their death, injuries were also common. You might check newspapers, using the name of the employer or the industry, to see if any accidents occurred during the period your ancestor might have worked somewhere.