History of Work in America since 1877

The following databases are available to researchers with a Penn State Access Account.

America : History and Life
America : History and Life includes annotated or abstracted references to American and Canadian history. Published since 1964, the database includes state and local historical journals, major humanities and social science journals, as well as book and media reviews, citations to published books, and dissertations.

EconLit (economics)
International in scope, EconLit is an index to research in all aspects of economics from books, journals and dissertations. This is an enhanced version of the Journal of Economic Literature.

Sociological Abstracts
Index for English language journals in Sociology, Social Work, and other Social Sciences. Provides abstracts for articles and is international in scope.

ProQuest
ProQuest indexes magazines, journals, and dissertations. It contains full text or images to over 2,000 journals.

LexisNexis Academic
Provides access to a wide range of news, business, legal, and reference information. Court cases and statutes from all federal and state jurisdictions are included. Most resources can be searched in full text.

America's Historical Newspapers, 1690-1922
America's Historical Newspapers allows researchers to search more than 1,000 U.S. historical newspapers published between 1690 and 1922, including titles from all 50 states.

New York Times Historical
Includes a digitized image of every backfile issue of The New York Times from cover to cover, including news stories, editorials, photos, graphics, and advertisements. Coverage from 1851 [latest 3 years not available].

ABI/INFORM
A business-oriented article database for subjects such as advertising, marketing, company information, industry trends, human resources, economic policy, health care, consumer products and services.

CQ Researcher
Weekly "magazine" that explores in-depth a single "hot issue" currently being discussed in the news. Topics include social issues, politics, economics, the environment, education, science, and more. Each issue includes an essay outlining the issue, a pro-con feature, a chronology, and a bibliography.

The Nation Digital Archive (1865- present)
Magazines for Libraries, (12th ed.) says of The Nation "Proud of being a 'wholly owned subsidiary of our own conscience' rather than a publication from a media conglomerate.... The writing is crisp and concise, a joy to read." The Nation serves as an important historical window on the United States--its policies, its people, and events.

The primary resource for locating books and research materials in the University Libraries is The CAT. To search the CAT effectively by keyword, use the Advanced Search page (the button is in the upper right quadrant of the screen). To do an effective topic search —

• Use keywords such as labor, labor unions,labor movement, industrial relations, blue collar workers, etc.

• Limit by country's name (i.e., America or United States)

• Find one or two records that are on target

• Use the subjects on those records to refine your search. Among the many subject headings used, the following will give an idea of the types of resources that will be used in the CAT for items on American Labor:

  • Labor - United States - History

  • Working Class - United States

  • Labor Unions - United States

  • Labor Movement - United States

  • Labor Laws & Legislation - United States

  • Employee Rights - United States

  • Labor Unions Organizing

  • Labor Movement - History

  • Labor Unions - History

  • Industrial Relations - United States

  • African American - Labor Union Members

  • Women labor - union members - United States - History

  • Strikes and lockouts - United States

• If your search results are too large, use the limit button to refine your search by material type or date.

Please Note: Materials on labor, unions, work, etc., are split between the Arts & Humanities, Business, and Social Sciences Libraries' Stacks. Additional materials may be elsewhere.

Using Reference Books is often a good way to begin gathering information on your topic, especially if you are unfamiliar with it. The following are reference titles that might be helpful:

The ABC-CLIO Companion to the American Labor Movement

Encyclopedia of U.S. Labor and Working-Class History

Historical Encyclopedia of American Labor

Work in America : an Encyclopedia of History, Policy, and Society

Labor Conflict in the United States : An Encyclopedia

American Federation of Labor : History, Encyclopedia, Reference Book

American Decades
10 volumes - each volume has a section on business and economy

American Decades : Primary Sources
10 volumes - each volume has a section on business and economy

American Eras
Volume 8: "Development of the Industrial United States, 1878-1899" (pages 85-116)

Beacham's Encyclopedia of Social Change : America in the Twentieth Century
Volume 4: "Work and the Workplace" (pages 1857-1906)

Encyclopedia of American Social History
Volume II, part IX: "Work and Labor" (pages 1391-1588)

Encyclopedia of American Social Movements
Volume 2, part 4: "Labor Movement" (pages 455-692)

Working Americans, 1880-2005 (6 volumes)