At only sixteen years old, Mercedes Herman stepped forward as one of the first Wisconsin women to join the local manufacturing workforce in Door County during the second World War, operating as a shipyard welder at Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding and Drydock Company. This company played a particularly significant role in the production of steel maritime vessels, launching a total of eighty-five ships throughout the war years. Mercedes Herman began her employment in 1943, when it began manufacturing fifteen-hundred-foot cargo ships for the Quartermaster Corps, 176-foot supply vessels for the Transportation Corps, and 45-foot motor tenders. The work of welders like her — along with many female electricians, factory workers, stock clerks, operatives, and shipfitters — is what held these massive metal ships together. Her unique welding uniform carries the story of her own work, while concurrently reflecting the broader movement for women’s industrial employment that arose from the wartime demands of the early 1940s.

Above all else a practical garment, the material design of standard welding uniforms shielded their wearers from direct contact with dangerous conditions in daily working life. Acting as full-coverage attire made entirely of leather — a decent electrical insulator and retardant shield against sparks — the uniform would have actively protected its wearer from exposure to the flame-related hazards of welding jobs, like Mercedes Herman’s at Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding and Drydock Company. The front of the jacket closes neatly over ordinary flammable clothes with seven metal snaps, while an additional snap button secures each roll-up cuff. Gold buckles connect to the shoulder straps and the waistband of the overalls, while silver fasteners clasp on the fly and along the side of the waist, ensuring that the garment remains in place through any range of motion. Large back pockets on the overalls also acted as a practical place to hold one’s tools.