Don’t miss this unique discussion with the experts – including one who has lived the history – on Tuesday, September 15, 2026, 6:30 p.m., at the Ellsworth Public Library, 20 State Street. This event is a special feature of the ongoing exhibit, Twelve Maine Women: Portraits of Change, at the next-door Heart of Ellsworth Makerspace.

Reserve your space for this free event

The New Deal at Work: Frances Perkins, Labor Reform and the Continuing Legacy

In the depths of the Great Depression, the New Deal did more than rebuild America’s infrastructure; It charted a new course for the American worker. Under the visionary leadership of Labor Secretary Frances Perkins, the federal government created programs to shore up the national economy following the nation’s most serious economic crisis- helping to create the modern middle class. These groundbreaking efforts included: the Social Security Act of 1935, which established old-age pensions, unemployment insurance, and survivor benefits; the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, which established the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively; and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which implemented maximum hours and minimum wages in all intersate industries and restrictions on child labor.

This panel explores the legacy of Frances Perkins, the first female cabinet member, the Labor Reform of the New Deal, and how these programs must continue to evolve to support workers in America into the future.

Reserve your space for this free event

Presenters:

Dillon Murray: Legislative Liaison, Maine Department of Labor
Kate Webber: Frances Perkins Center Curator
Peter Kellman: Lifelong labor activist, teacher and lawyer, and AWTT portrait subject

Dillon Murray

Dillon Murray serves as the Legislative Liaison for the Maine Department of Labor, where he works with the Maine Legislature, employers, workers, and community partners on labor policy and workforce issues. In this role, he helps advance initiatives that strengthen Maine’s workforce and promote safe, fair, and equitable workplaces.

A graduate of the University of Maine, Murray is deeply committed to public service and civic engagement. He has been an advocate for equity and inclusion, speaking publicly about his experiences growing up in Maine and the importance of creating communities where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

Kate Webber

Webber joined the Frances Perkins Center as Curator in 2026. She has been working with Maine’s cultural organizations for fifteen years, from cities to islands. She holds an M.A. in Museum Studies from the Cooperstown Graduate Program, where she focused on programming and public history. Kate has worked at the Maine State Museum, Museum L-A, and the Maine Humanities Council. She spent two years on Swan’s Island as a Historical Preservation Fellow with the Island Institute. Kate is a graduate of Bates College, where she studied Anthropology with a concentration in Environment, Place, and History. Kate currently serves on the board of the Maine Association of Archives and Museums.

Peter Kellman

Kellman is a lifelong labor organizer, educator, author, and social justice activist whose work has helped shape the modern labor movement in Maine and beyond. For more than six decades, he has dedicated his life to advancing workers’ rights, economic justice, and democratic participation through grassroots organizing, education, and public advocacy.

Kellman’s activism began during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, when he participated in the historic Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march and worked with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Alabama. He also became active in the anti-war movement before turning his focus to labor organizing, where he would leave a lasting mark on the American labor movement.

Throughout his career, Kellman has organized workers across New England, served as President of the Southern Maine Labor Council, represented the Council on the Maine AFL-CIO Executive Board, and helped develop innovative organizing strategies that emphasized worker leadership and solidarity. He is perhaps best known for his role in the landmark 1987–1988 International Paper strike in Jay, Maine, one of the defining labor struggles of the late twentieth century, where his organizing helped transform a local strike into a nationally recognized movement for workers’ rights.

A respected labor historian and author, Kellman has written extensively on union organizing and labor history, including Divided We Fall: The Story of the Paperworkers’ Union and the Future of Labor, Building Unions: Past, Present and Future, and Pain on Their Faces. His work has inspired generations of labor leaders, organizers, and advocates committed to building a more just and democratic society.

View Kellman’s AWTT portrait

Sponsors

Ellsworth Public Library

Susan and John Kirk