James L. Jackson's Ingalls Shipbuilding Personnel Records from Jackson v. Armstrong Cork (1953–1971)

Selected pages from the personnel file of James L. Jackson, a sheet-metal worker at the Ingalls Shipbuilding yard in Pascagoula, Mississippi, gathered for his asbestos suit, Jackson v. Armstrong Cork Company. The forms, letters and notices trace his career from his hiring as a sheet-metal apprentice on January 21, 1953, through work as a mechanic, leaderman and supervisor on ventilation and sheathing for the yard's ships, to his transfer to Litton Ship Systems in May 1971 and his resignation that November. A 1970 appraisal called him "a very dependable supervisor."

What it shows

The file shows how long Jackson worked in the shipyard and on what kind of work: the forms name hulls such as 1061, 1156 to 1160 and the Farrell Line ships, and record layoffs, vacations, training courses and pay. His lawyers used records like these to tie his work, ship by ship, to the insulation products in use (see Jackson v. Armstrong Cork, Summary Exhibits of Exposure Documents (1982) and List of Ships Built, Repaired or Overhauled at Ingalls Shipbuilding (1940s-1970s)). A memo of April 22, 1970, asks that his pay continue during sick leave, saying he had been hospitalized for tests and surgery.

About this copy

This copy is from the Motley 1,000 set certified by the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust's records facility (CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-004870 to 004983). Of the file's 114 pages of personnel and medical papers, 37 are published. Pages carrying Jackson's Social Security number (more than thirty forms, his Social Security earnings statement and his tax certificates) are left out. So are his medical bills and insurance papers from 1978 to 1981, which are medical records after 1976, and one stray page from another document. The rest of the WARD file repeats the two Motley documents linked above.