The author of a new book on Ottawa’s Radium Dial plant will sign copies of his book Saturday, July 11, at Prairie Fox Books in Ottawa.
Jim Ridings, formerly of Ottawa, will be at the bookstore at 719 La Salle St. from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The book, “The Society of the Living Dead: The Illustrated History of Ottawa’s Radium Dial Scandal,” is published by America Through Time, a division of Arcadia Publishing.
The book was scheduled to be published May 25, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the publication date of all spring titles was postponed to Aug. 25. As the author, Ridings was able to secure a number of copies to sell now.
Radium Dial opened in September 1922 in the former high school building at 1022 Columbus St. Young women painted radium on clock dials to make them glow in the dark. The company knew the extreme dangers of exposure to radium, Ridings said. Women in New Jersey and Connecticut facilities already were dying of radium poisoning. However, the company still instructed workers to tip the paint brushes to their tongues to get a better point on the brushes.
A “Society of the Living Dead” was formed by the ailing dial painters in 1937 to bring attention to their situation.
The scandal hit a peak in 1938, when hearings were held before the Illinois Industrial Commission in the courthouse in Ottawa. The case centered on Catherine Donohue, a former dial painter who was in the last weeks of her life.
The controversy caused Radium Dial owners to set up Luminous Processes, another company that performed the same deadly work at 801 Clinton St., Ottawa. Luminous Processes continued for another 40 years until closing in 1978.
Ridings wrote about Luminous Processes in 1978, when he was a reporter for The Daily Times in Ottawa. The book includes the stories of Radium Dial and Luminous Processes and the cleanup of other contaminated sites in Ottawa up to the present day.
The book contains many photographs never seen before, and stories from families of victims and survivors, according to a news release. Ridings said his intent was more than to just tell the story of the scandal but also to tell personal stories and to put a human face on the tragedy.
Ridings also is the author of “The Illustrated History of the Cherry Mine Disaster of 1909.” The book contains more than 400 photographs of the disaster and its aftermath at a coal mine north of La Salle. The incident killed 259 men and boys in a fire. Copies of that book also will be available at Prairie Fox Books.
Anyone interested in the new book can call the bookstore at 815-433-7323 and reserve a copy for Saturday, July 11.
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