Augusta Clawson

Who was Augusta Clawson?

Augusta H. Clawson was an American civil servant, and author of Shipyard Diary of a Woman Welder, a diary about welding in World War II.

Clawson was a graduate of Vassar. In 1943, she was assigned by the United States Office of Education to work undercover as a welder at the Swan Island shipyard in order to discover the difficulties faced by women workers and the reasons why many women welders were leaving the job shortly after completing training. Her book based on her experiences there, Shipyard Diary of a Woman Welder, was published in 1944 by Penguin. She retired from government service in 1973.

Clawson gave a collection of items from her time as welder, including her welding helmet, to the Smithsonian Institution.