Smithsonian Seeks Items From Sweatshop For Exhibit

The clothing-manufacturing sweatshop where more than 70 Thai nationals were discovered last August working in near-slavery already has written its way into U.S. history as an ugly episode of labor abuse. Before long, it may become part of a museum exhibit in the nation’s capital, too.

Representatives of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History are talking to the California labor commissioner’s office about acquiring various items seized in last year’s raid of the nearby El Monte plant. The details haven’t been worked out, but museum officials are interested in obtaining a few sewing machines used by the Thai workers, along with such things as samples of the clothing produced and pieces of the barbed wire that enclosed the compound.

The aim is to set up a display that would give museum visitors “an emotional or visual sense of what it was like to live and work” at the sweatshop, said Lonnie G. Bunch, the museum’s assistant director for curatorial affairs.

Items from the sweatshop likely will be included in a proposed exhibit titled “Work and Worth” that the museum hopes to open in roughly two years, said Bunch, who was in Los Angeles Wednesday to inspect the materials. In the meantime, some of the “artifacts” also might be displayed in temporary showcases.

Bunch said museum officials were struck by several themes raised by the sweatshop episode. “It tells you about immigration, and the hopes of what hard work will get you in America. But it also tells you about the limits of hard work and the limits of immigration.”

Expressing mixed feelings about the museum’s plans, however, was Julie Su, a lawyer representing many of the Thai workers. “There’s always a benefit to remembering what happened and not sweeping it under the rug,” she said. But, Su added, “It’s not enough to just look at the relics of El Monte without taking steps to prevent abusive practices in the industry.”