Garment Industry Oral History Collection

Interview with Marshall Miller
Title
Interview with Marshall Miller
Description
Interview with Marshall Miller about his family's experience in the dry cleaning and laundry business in Kansas City. He discusses his grandfather Isaac Miller immigrating to the United States, founding Miller's Quick Service Dry Cleaning Company in 1907, and Marshall's father Leon taking over the business by the mid-1940s. Miller recalls how both men sought to modernize the business, bringing in new technologies and methods, and focused on quality work. He discusses the changes in the business over the decades, from dry cleaning being a high volume, low cost business when people regularly wore suits and dresses, to a low volume, higher cost business as people shifted to wearing more casual, machine-washable fabrics. He also discusses the business's work with local garment manufacturers and hotels, his own experience working for the company as a young man, and the small tailoring business operated by his maternal grandfather, Sam Schultz.
Date
2010-05-06
Object Type
Video Recording