Singing and Morale-Building on the Shopfloor in World War I Waterbury.

A case study is presented which examines the use of singing as a means of building worker morale at the brass manufacturer Scovill Company in Waterbury, Connecticut during World War I. Beginning in 1918, company management allowed workers a five-to-ten minute period of rest in which they would engage in choral singing. According to the author, these sessions were enjoyed by many of the workers across lines of gender and ethnicity. Details on labor strikes at the factory are also presented.