Frances Perkins, later US Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945, was visiting a friend across the square from the Triangle factory when she saw the fire. Because of her experience investigating work place health and safety conditions,she was asked to join the Factory Investigating Commission that was formed as a result of the terrible loss of life. The commissions work include inspecting factories and holding hearings which led to passage of the Sullivan-Hoey law, expanding the Fire Commisioner's powers and duties and forming the Bureau of Fire Prevention. More than 50 years later, she described the fire and its impact on legislation to students at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations. Photographer unknown. /4117 P box 7 ff53