Primary Sources - What and Where?
Primary sources are actual records that have survived from the past, such as photographs, articles of clothing, oral histories, etc. Written primary sources include news reports, cases, letters, and other papers written during an era or historical event.
The Kheel Center contains many primary artifacts and documents that illuminate labor and workplace history - specifically, of the needle trades, railroads, teachers, arbitration, mediation, and management theory. Many of the Kheel Center's collections are described in finding aids.
The resources listed in the Electronic Primary Sources box are subscription databases that highlight and provide access to primary sources not physically available on campus. For online primary source collections and historical resources, see the Digital Labor History box.
Electronic Primary Sources
- American Federation of Labor records : The Samuel Gompers era, 1877-1937Provides a comprehensive understanding of the activities and priorities of Samuel Gompers and the American Federation of Labor from the 1880s through World War I and Gompers's death in 1924. The collection includes correspondence, executive council records, newspaper clippings, convention records, circular letters, speeches, writings, and legal documents, including court records. Important correspondents include Gompers, Frank Morrison, John McBride, Woodrow Wilson, John B. Lennon, Gabriel Edmonston, and a wide variety of union leaders around the world.
- AncestryProvides access to historical documents and photos, local narratives, oral histories, indexes and other resources in over 30,000 databases that span from the 1500s to the 2000s. The Library Edition of Ancestry.com has fewer personalized functions and options than the versions available to private subscribers.
- American PeriodicalsAmerican Periodicals includes two full text resources: American Periodicals Series Online (APS Online) and American Periodicals from the Center for Research Libraries. Both contain digitized images of American special interest and general magazines, labor and trade publications, scientific and literary journals, and photographic periodicals, as well as other historically significant titles, from the 19th century through the dawn of the 20th century. Because the database contains digitized images of periodical pages, researchers can see all of the original typography, drawings, graphic elements, and article layouts exactly as they were originally published.
- Digital National Security ArchiveThe National Security Archive is a non-profit research institute and library in Washington, D.C., which provides unprecedented public access to declassified documents obtained through extensive use of the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Through the Digital National Security Archive, the National Security Archive and Chadwyck-Healey have joined forces to produce the most comprehensive collection available of significant primary documents central to US foreign and military policy since 1945.
- Labor unions in the U.S., 1862-1974 : Knights of Labor, AFL, CIO, and AFL-CIOThis digital collection offers unique and important documentation on the growth, transformation, successes and failures of one of the important American social movements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the modern American labor movement. Four major national organizations are documented in substantial detail in this module: the Knights of Labor, AFL, CIO, and AFL-CIO.
- Making of AmericaPrimary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction. The collection is particularly strong in the subject areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology.
- Proquest CongressionalProvides users with access to a comprehensive collection of historic and current congressional information. Includes full text of congressional publications, finding aids, a bill tracking service, public laws and other research materials. The database is an effective source for general research in many academic disciplines, in addition to research related to specific legislative proposals and laws. Researchers can access information about Congress, including member biographical and committee assignment information, voting records, and financial data.
- ProQuest Historical Annual ReportsDatabase offers corporate annual reports for U.S. companies from 1884 to the present. Key data (financial, Fortune 500 ranking, industry classification, key people, geographic location, auditor, and related companies) are indexed in the citation and can be searched. Reports can be browsed by company name, industry or date. Cross-searchable to other historical periodical databases.
- ProQuest Historical NewspapersThis database offers full-text and full-image articles for newspapers dating back to the 19th century. For most titles, the collection includes digital reproductions of every page from every issue, cover to cover, in downloadable PDF files. The database is an ongoing project.
- The quest for labor equality in household work: National Domestic Workers Union, 1965-1979This digital archive of records from the National Domestic Workers Union (U.S.) contains legal documents, minutes, printed material and voluminous correspondence with such notables as Julian Bond, Sam Nunn, Herman Talmadge, Andrew Young, and other Georgia and national political figures. The National Domestic Workers Union was founded in Atlanta in 1968 by Dorothy Bolden to help women engaged in household work. The subject files (1967-1979) cover a myriad of 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. The collection contains minutes of the Union (1968-1971, 1978), the Citizen's Advisory Committee on Transportation (1970-1972), the Citizens Neighborhood Advisory Council (1972-1978), and MARTA (1973-1975). The collection also contains financial documents (1968-1979) and files relating to Equal Opportunity Atlanta, which funded many of the Union's projects; and legal documents including agreements and contracts with Economic Opportunity Atlanta.
- Reader's Guide Retrospective: 1890-1982 This link opens in a new windowA database containing comprehensive indexing of the most popular general-interest periodicals published in the United States. Reflects the history of 20th century America. Covers these areas: Aeronautics, African-Americans, Aging, Archeology, Astronomy, Automobiles, Biographies, Business, Children, Education, Environment, Fashion, Film, Fine Arts, Food, Foreign Affairs, Gardening, Health, History, Hobbies, Home, Journalism, Leisure Activities, Literature, Medicine, Music, News, Nutrition, Photography, Politics, Popular Culture, Radio, Religion, Science, Sports, Technology, Television, Travel. The complete database covers the years 1890 through 1982.
- U.S. Congressional Serial SetDatabase of texts from the bound, sequentially numbered volumes of all the reports, documents, and journals of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Texts constitute a rich source of primary source material on all aspects of American history. Upon completion, the digital version of the Serial set will consist of over 12 million pages. Database searchable by subject, publication category, standing committee author, and other parameters.
- The Union Label and the Needle TradesThis digital collection consists of two full series and one partial series from the Records of the United Garment Workers of America, which are held at Georgia State University Library: Series I: Time and Motion Studies; Series III: Office Files, 1899-1994—Meeting Minutes of the General Executive Board subseries; and, Series VIII: Index Card Files for plants and/or locals in.
- Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000The Scholar's Edition includes all features of the Basic Edition that have been published since March 2004. It currently includes 102 document projects and archives with more than 4,050 documents, and 145,000 pages of additional full-text documents, written by some 2,200 primary authors. It includes book, film and website reviews, notes from the archives, and teaching tools. Those subscribing to the Scholar's Edition can access the online version of Notable American Women or the database on Commissions on the Status of Women.
- Workers, Labor Unions, and the American Left in the 20th Century: Federal RecordsA wide range of primary source collections documenting the American workers and labor unions in the 20th century, with a special emphasis on the interaction between workers and the U.S. federal government.
Digital Labor History
- Bob Fitch Photography Archive (Stanford University Libraries)Includes United Farm Workers (UFW)/Cesar Chavez gallery,1968-1974.
- Bracero History Archive"The Bracero History Archive collects and makes available the oral histories and artifacts pertaining to the Bracero program, a guest worker initiative that spanned the years 1942-1964."
- Child Labor Coalition. History of Child Labor in the US.The history, causes, and results of child labor in the United States are documented in photographs, articles, and testimony by young workers, with study guides and links to other sites.
- CIRL (Community of Industrial Relations Libraries)The Community of Industrial Relations Librarians (formerly the Committee of Industrial Relations Librarians) is an international group of information professionals from academic, union, government, corporate, and nonprofit organizations in the field of industrial relations and human resource management who cooperate on projects, share resources and information, and learn from one another.
- DC Justice for Janitors: A Digital History (Georgetown Univ.)A project of the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University that aims to preserve the history of working people in Washington, D.C., and to make that history accessible to scholars, students, and the general public.
- Digital Collections (IRLE Library)This database, originally maintained by UC Berkeley's Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, serves as a directory for the complete text of union contracts. Most of these contracts were found on the public Web in a wide variety of file formats. **Please note that this collection is no longer active, and it has been moved to the University of California's eScholarship archive.
- Digital Collections (Library of Congress)The Library of Congress has made available hundreds of photographs, texts, films and audio recordings from its archival collections. There are over 100 digitzied collections, including African American Odyssey, Voices from the Dustbowl, Votes for Women, Work and Leisure, Haymarket Affair" and New York City.
- Documenting the American South (Univ. of North Carolina)DocSouth is a digital publishing project providing Internet access to texts, images, and audio files related to southern history, literature, and culture. Currently DocSouth includes ten thematic collections of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs.
- Ellis Island Oral History ProjectSince 1973, the National Park Service has interviewed more than 1,700 Ellis Island immigrants so that they could tell their own stories.
- Farmworker Movement Documentation Project (UC San Diego)"Primary source accounts: photographs, oral histories, videos, essays and historical documents from the United Farm Worker Delano Grape Strikers and the UFW Volunteers who worked with Cesar Chavez to build his farmworker movement."
- Hearth, Home Economics ArchiveHEARTH is a core digital collection of historic books and journals in Home Economics and related disciplines published between 1850 and 1950. It includes the full text of these materials, as well as bibliographies and essays on the wide array of subjects.
- History: Labor (U. of Washington)A research guide to primary and secondary sources for labor history.
- Kheel Center (DigitalCollections@ILR)Digitized collections from the Kheel Center, including ILGWU and Milton Konvitz lectures.
- Kheel Center ILGWU CollectionThis site presents highlights from the ILGWU's rich history and archives, from the extensive and heavily used collection at the Kheel Center
- Kheel Center Labor Photo DatabaseLabor photos available from the Kheel Center. Especially strong for needletrade workers.
- Labor Archives in the U.S. and CanadaDirectory prepared by the Labor Archives Roundtable of the Society of American Archivists (SAA).
- Labor History Links (LAWCHA)This site offers one of the most comprehensive collections of bibliographies, documents, and links to other U.S. labor history sites available on the internet. It was developed by labor historian Rosemary Feurer for the Labor and Working Class History Association.
- Labor and Social Justice Collections (University of Maryland)Includes historical records and personal papers related to labor and social justice movements in America from the late 19th century to today, including a large collection of photographs, audio recordings, video, posters, and artifacts.
- Labor & Working-Class History Association (LAWCHA)LAWCHA is an organization of scholars, teachers, students, and activists who seek to promote awareness of labor and working-class history. See the Resources section for links to online oral history projects, exhibits, talks & tours, journals, listservs, conference reports, and the web sites of museums and archives.
- New York State Historical LiteratureCollection of selected monographs, pamphlets and other material with expired copyrights chosen from the Cornell Library's extensive collection of New York State Literature.
- Political Posters from the Labadie Collection (Univ. of Michigan)A digital collection of over 2,000 posters from political movements including labor, anarchism, ecology, women, and youth.
- Southern Labor ArchiveGeorgia State University's Southern Labor Archives, established in 1971, is dedicated to collecting, preserving and making available the documentary heritage of Southern workers and their unions, as well as that of workers and unions having an historic relationship to the region.
- Trade Union Publications: The Official Journals, Convention Proceedings, and Constitutions of International Unions and Federations, 1850-1941Reynolds,Lloyd George and Charles C. Killingsworth (editors). Baltimore, The: Johns Hopkins Press, 1944.
Volume 1 contains a listing of trade unions and their publications. It also contains a brief chronology for the unions listed. Volumes 2 and 3 contain a subject listing to point to individual articles in trade union publications. The time period covered is 1850-1941. - Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (Kheel Center, Cornell ILR School)Presented by the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives in cooperation with the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE!). Includes political cartoons, photographs, oral histories, bibliographies and more.
- Walter P. Reuther Library (Wayne State University)This major labor archives has mounted excellent digital exhibits on their web site, including: Brown v. Board of Ed. 50th Anniversary; SEIU District 925: Organizing for Raises, Rights and Respect; I AM A MAN-Honoring the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Worker's Strike; Sit-Down: A Brief History of the Flint Sit-down Strike; La Causa: A United Farm Workers Exhibition.
- WWW Virtual Library: Labour HistoryThe Labour History Virtual Library is maintained by the International Institute of Social History to assist historians and researchers. They have put together an extensive listing of scholarly and content-rich web sites from around the world.