Library Guides: Historical Primary Sources: United States: Labor

Collections

American Federation of Labor Records: The Samuel Gompers Era, 1877-1937 (HV)
Focuses on the American Federation of Labor (AFL) under Samuel Gompers’ leadership. Topics include labor organizing, policy advocacy, and negotiations with employers. The collection provides insights into early labor movements and the AFL’s role in shaping labor laws.
Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project at Stanford University
Seeks to give a voice to the Chinese migrants whose labor on the Transcontinental Railroad helped to shape the physical and social landscape of the American West. The Project coordinates research in North America and Asia in order to publish new findings in print and digital formats, support new and scholarly informed school curriculum, and participate in conferences and public events. While still functional, the project site is no longer active.
Labor Priests: Progressive Politics and the Catholic Church, John A. Ryan Papers, 1892-1945 (HV)
This collection focuses on the work of John A. Ryan, a Catholic priest who advocated for labor rights, economic justice, and social reform. The papers include sermons, correspondence, and writings on topics such as living wages, worker rights, and the intersection of Catholic social teaching and progressive politics during the early 20th century.
Labor Unions in the U.S., 1862-1974: Knights of Labor, AFL, CIO, and AFL-CIO (HV)
Features records from major U.S. labor organizations, including the Knights of Labor, American Federation of Labor, and Congress of Industrial Organizations. Topics include labor strikes, union formation, political advocacy, and worker protections. This module traces the evolution of organized labor in the U.S.
National Child Labor Committee Collection
Working as an investigative photographer for the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC), Lewis Hine (1874-1940) documented working and living conditions of children in the United States between 1908 and 1924. The NCLC photos are useful for the study of labor, reform movements, children, working class families, education, public health, urban and rural housing conditions, industrial and agricultural sites, and other aspects of urban and rural life in America in the early twentieth century.
National Farm Worker Ministry: Mobilizing Support for Migrant Workers, 1939-1985
This collection reproduces correspondence, reports, speeches, minutes and other materials relating to the farm workers, poverty programs, Public Law 78, Braceros, labor camps, the United Farm Workers Union and the Delano Grape Strike. [1965-1980]
The Quest for Labor Equality in Household Work: National Domestic Workers Union, 1965-1979
"The collection consists of records of the United Domestic Workers Union (U.S) from 1965-1979.
Content: 8,853 images. Source Library: Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library" [1965-1979]

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The correspondence (1965-1979) reflects efforts in organizing the Union and includes such correspondents as Julian Bond, Senator Sam Nunn, Senator Herman Talmadge, Allen Williams, Andrew Young, and other Georgia and national political figures. The subject files (1967-1979) cover myriad topics illustrating the Union’s involvement in the Black community, the Manpower Program, the Career Learning Center, the Homemaking Skills Training Program, Maids Honor Day, the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), and various federal agencies.

Southern Tenant Farmers' Union papers, 1934-1970 [microfilm]
Call Number: BANC MSS 72/188 z FILM Bancroft Library

Correspondence, reports, press releases, legal documents, pamphlets, etc., documenting the formation of the union and its activities to improve the lot of sharecroppers, tenant farmers, small landowners and migratory farm workers; its relations with government agencies, other unions and other organizations; its affiliation and break with the CIO and affiliation with the AFL; the change of name to National Farm Labor Union and to National Agricultural Workers Union; efforts to organize farm workers in California; the formation of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, AFL-CIO; the union's merger with the Amalgamated Meat Cutters' Union, etc. Guide to the microfilm.
The green rising, 1910-1977: a supplement to the Southern Tenant Farmers Union papers [microfilm]
Call Number: BANC MSS 80/24 z FILM Bancroft Library

Includes papers of Howard L. Mitchell, co-founder of the union, relating to his union activities, with material also on Mexican farm laborers; papers of Thomas H. Gibbins, a migrant worker, including articles and an autobiography; papers of Clyde L. Johnson documenting his career as a trade unionist, with scattered issues also of union serials corresponding to his career; papers of David S. Burgess, a minister working with migrant farm laborers, relating to his various positions and his labor union activities. Guide to the microfilm collection.

Workers, Labor, and Race: Records of the Fair Employment Practices Committee, 1941-1946 (HV)
Documents the efforts of the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC) to combat workplace discrimination during World War II. Records include reports, case files, and correspondence addressing racial and gender inequality in war industries. The collection highlights the challenges and successes of early government efforts to enforce workplace equity.
Workers, Labor Unions, and the American Left in the 20th Century: Federal Records (HV)
This module examines federal government interactions with labor unions and leftist organizations in the 20th century. Topics include union activities, labor strikes, anti-communist efforts, and government surveillance. It highlights struggles for labor rights and the dynamics between unions and federal agencies during key periods like the Great Depression, World War II, and the Cold War.

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Historical Primary Sources: United States: Labor

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