Wertheimer served as an associate professor at Cornell University from 1977 to 1983, where she cofounded and directed the Institute for Women and Work at the Industrial and Labor Relations School.
[1] Wertheimer was also the first president and founding member of the New York Labor History Association,[2] and is known for her monograph We Were There: The Story of Working Women in America (1977).
[citation needed] Early in her career Wertheimer worked in Pennsylvania as an organizer for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and was an acting national education director from 1947 to 1958.
The organization works to increase communication between women and connect the public with forms of women-based media.
[4] The Barbara Wertheimer Prize from the New York Labor History Association is named in her honor.