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Labor and Economic History:

Primary Sources:

Below are some primary sources that can be found at Hunt Library, Carnegie Mellon; Hillman Library, the University of Pittsburgh; the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh; and on the Web. Repositories of other primary sources can be found using the resources at History: Databases and Indexes: Archival Resources. If you need help finding primary sources, ask at the Hunt Library reference desk.

• Audio Materials
• Collections, Papers, and Diaries
• Government Documents
• Newspapers, Magazines, and Journals

Primary Sources:

Audio Materials See also the resources in History: Audio Resources: General.

• Flint Sit-Down Strike Audio Gallery (HistoricalVoices.org, Michigan State University)

• U. S. Labor and Industrial History World Wide Web Audio Archive (Department of History University at Albany, State University of New York)

• Working in Paterson: Occupational Heritage in an Urban Setting: Audio Title Index (American Memory, Library of Congress)

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Labor and Economic History

Primary Sources:

Collections, Papers, and Diaries

• American Bureau of Industrial Research. American Bureau of Industrial Research Manuscript Collections on the Early American Labor Movement, 1862-1908. Frederick, MD: University Publications of America, 1985.
  UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH, HILLMAN LIBRARY Microforms (Ground Floor) Microfilm HD 36

• American Federation of Labor. American Federation of Labor Records. Frederick, Md.: University Publications of America, c1985.
  UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH, HILLMAN LIBRARY Microforms (Ground Floor) Microfilm Microfilm HD 34

• Asher, Robert. Connecticut Workers and Technological Change: Connecticut Workers and a Half Century of Technological Change, 1930-1980, Project. Storrs: Center for Oral History, University of Connecticut, c1983. Microfiche.
  HUNT MFICHE-3 306.3 W926
  Over 150 interviews from workers, union leaders, engineers, and management which offer insight into the impact of technological change on work skills, job satisfaction, relationships between workers, etc. The printed guide, arranged by name of the individual interviewed, gives a brief summary of the interview. An index by occupation is also included. A printed supplement provides overviews of technological changes within the industries included in the study.

• Black Workers In The Era Of The Great Migration, 1916-1929. Edited by James R. Grossman. Frederick, MD: University Publications of America, 1985. Microfilm.
  HUNT MFILM-3 331.63 B627 no.1-25 and Guide
  The movement of southern blacks to northern industrial cities was called the Great Migration. Focusing on both migration and labor, this collection contains records relating to agricultural labor, industrial work, unionism, housing, race relations, returning veterans and their search for employment, and the process of migration from the South to the North. Record groups included are: National War Labor Board, U. S. Housing Corporation, National Mediation Board, U. S. Railroad Administration, U. S. Shipping Board, U. S. Coal Commission, Bureau of Agricultural Economics, U. S. Women's Bureau, Department of War and U. S. Conciliation Services. Only those materials which explicitly mention Black workers, however, are included. The guide describes the contents of each reel, and includes a detailed subject index so that relevant material can easily be identified.

• Bisbee Deportation of 1917 (University of Arizona Library)

• Centralia Massacre Collection (University of Washington Libraries)

• C.I.O. Organizing Committee. Operation Dixie: the C.I.O. Organizing Committee Papers, 1946-1953. Sanford, N.C.: Microfilming Corporation of America, 1980.
  UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH, HILLMAN LIBRARY Microforms (Ground Floor) Microfilm HD 32

• The CIO files of John L. Lewis. edited by Randolph Boehm. Frederick, MD: University Publications of America, c1988.
  HUNT MFILM-3 331.88 C576 and guide

• Condition of the French Working Class in the 19th Century. Paris: Microeditions Hachette, 1971. Microfiche.
  HUNT MFICHE-3
  Documentation on the economic and social conditions of working-class life in 19th-century France, with a special effort to include varying viewpoints. While there are a number of ideological works in the collection, most are statistical and factual studies, including official government reports and the private works of physicians, economists, statesmen and men of letters. Each title is catalogued separately and, therefore, has a different call number. To see the titles available, search Condition of the French Working Class in the 19th century as a series in Cameo. If you need help, ask at the Hunt reference desk.

• Everett Massacre Collection (University of Washington Libraries)

• Gompers, Samuel. The Samuel Gompers Papers. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, c1986-
  Print: HUNT STACKS-2 HD6508 .S218
  The Samuel Gompers Papers
  Includes biography, sample documents, index, timeline, etc.

• Haymarket Affair (American Memory, Library of Congress; Chicago Historical Society)

• Like a Family: The Making of A Southern Cotton Mill World (Southern Oral History Program, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)

• Memories of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) by Elizabeth Gurely Flynn

• Papers of the Women's Trade Union League and Its Principal Leaders. edited by Edward T. James. Woodbridge, Conn: Published for the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College by Research Publications, 1981.
  UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH, HILLMAN LIBRARY Microforms (Ground Floor) Microfilm HD27.

• The Peonage Files of the U.S. Department Of Justice, 1901-1945. Edited by Pete Daniel. Frederick, Md.: University Publications of America, c1989. Microfilm.
  HUNT MFILM-3 306.363 P419 no.1-26 and Guide
  Though banned by the 13th Amendment, peonage, the practice of holding a person in servitude or partial slavery in order to pay off a debt, was still in existence in the early half of the twentieth century. Most of the victims of peonage were African American, though some were recent white immigrants. This collection contains court case files, correspondence between the Justice Department and such groups as the NAACP, Southern Tenant Farmers Union, Federal Council of Churches of Christ, Workers Defense League and the International Defense League. There are also the investigative reports of the Bureau of Investigation, which later became the Federal Bureau of Investigation. While the majority of this material covers the South, there is material relating to the West Virginia coal mining industry.

• Randolph, A. Philip. The Papers of A. Philip Randolph. Edited by August Meier and John Bracey. Bethesda, Md.: University Publications of America, 1990. Microfilm.
  HUNT MFILM-3 305.896073 R19p no.1-35 and Guide
  Once called "the most dangerous black in America," A. Philip Randolph was a labor leader, civil rights advocate, black activist and Socialist. Included in collection are: Family Papers; General Correspondence, 1926-1979, including that with members of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, prominent American political figures, civil rights leaders and others; Subject File, 1901-1978, which covers a wide variety of topics including the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, Committee to End Jim Crow in the Armed Forces, Fair Employment Practices Committee, March on Washington Movement, White House Conferences, and the Youth March for Integrated Schools; Speeches and Writings File, 1941-1978; Biographical File, 1945-1979, which includes articles and biographies about Randolph by a variety of authors; Miscellany File, 1920-1979, which are scrapbooks, one on the early efforts to organize the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, and the other on the campaign for the Fair Employment Practices Committee. The guide describes the contents of each reel, and includes a detailed subject index so that relevant material can be easily identified.

• The Triangle Factory Fire (Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University and UNITE!)

• United Electrical Workers/Labor Collections (University of Pittsburgh)
  Historical records at the national, district, and local levels of the United Electrical Workers. The Labor Collections have an emphasis on Pittsburgh, Allegheny County and southwestern Pennsylvania and include labor records from all types of unions.

• Women Working, 1870-1930 (Harvard University Library Open Collections Program)
  A site in development that will eventually offer access to 2,000 digitized books and pamphlets, manuscripts (10,000 pages) and images (1,000) from the Harvard collections. Those working on this project are interested in your feedback. There is a question/comment link on the site.

• Working in Paterson: Occupational Heritage in an Urban Setting (American Memory, Library of Congress)
  470 interview excerpts and 3882 photographs from the Working in Paterson Folklife Project

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Labor and Economic History

History