Labor History

Articles on County Labor History

Bibliography

Chronologies

Journals

Labor Archives and Libraries

Tours of Labor History Sites in the Pittsburgh Region

 

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Articles on County Labor History

This section contains articles by labor activists and historians covering over 200 years of Allegheny County's rich labor history. Additional content will be added continuously.

• Pittsburgh Town is a Union Town An introduction to the region's dramatic and rich labor history.
• The Forgotton Advocate of Labor Thomas A. Armstrong should be remembered as a loyal organizer and propagandist who defined a practical framework for labor during its crucial, formative period in the late nineteenth century.
• The Railroad Strike of 1877 In 1877 Pittsburgh was at the center of an explosion of working-class protest that rocked the United States and propelled the labor movement forward in the struggle for economic and social justice.
• The Founding of the American Federation of Labor The story of how the AFL was created in Pittsburgh in 1881.
• The Homestead Strike of 1892 A defining event which revealed in the starkest terms the respective strength of labor and management in America in the l890s.
• Unemployed Organizing in the 1930s In the depths of the Great Depression, the unemployed organized a powerful movement demanding government aid.
• Congress of Industrial Organizations: Constitutional Convention An account of the founding of the CIO in Pittsburgh in 1938.

Bibliography

This section contains a list of books and articles on the labor history of the United States and Allegheny County. New sources will be added continuously.

• Readings on Labor History

Chronologies

Look for lists of events in this section which outline important events in labor history.

• Historic Pittsburgh Chronology A chronology of Pittsburgh history from 1717 to the present on the Historic Pittsburgh web site of Pitt's University Library System.
• Pennsylvania AFL-CIO: Labor History A chronology of 200 years in the history of Pennsylvania labor.

Journals

In this section we will continue to add links to information about various labor history journals.

• International Labor and Working-Class History Stimulating--often pathbreaking--articles on the history of the working class and of the labor movement. ILWCH is a semiannual publication of Cambridge University Press affiliated with the Graduate Faculty's Committee on Historical Studies at the New School University in New York City. Web site includes abstracts of some articles, tables of contents, and subscription information.
• Labor History Possibly the foremost labor history journal in the United States. Published quarterly by Tamiment Institute. Site includes tables of contents of current and back issues plus subscription information.

Labor Archives and Libraries

• Historic Pittsburgh This web site of the University Library System of the University of Pittsburgh includes the full text of nearly 300 books, maps of the Pittsburgh area 1972-1939, Pittsburgh census schedules 1850-1880, and an exhaustive chronology of Pittsburgh from 1717 to 1999.
• Industrial Relations Libraries, Urban and Labor Archives Links. Walter P. Reuther Library Directory of links to web sites of the major labor archives in the United States.
• Senator John Heinz Regional History Center: Library & Archives Collections in the center document 250 years of life in western Pennsylvania. This web page provides an overview of the collection and access to the library catalog, photographic archives, and information about services and library merchandise.
• Special Collections and Unversity Archives, Indiana University of PA Includes exhibits and articles on the labor history of Western PA and a list of labor and industrial history manuscript collections at IUP.
• UE/Labor Archives, University of Pittsburgh Description of holdings in the archives of the United Electrical Workers and other labor collections of the Unversity of Pittsburgh.
• Western Pennsylvania Labor Legacy "This web site opens up vistas on the development of labor unionism and industrial relations over a period of approximately 120 years, from 1880 to 2000 . . . " The site includes a databank and profiles of many local labor unions, scanned copies of historical documents, and much more.

Tours of Labor History Sites in the Pittsburgh Region

The Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area offers bus and boat tours of historic labor and industrial sites in southwestern Pennsylvania.

Toil and Turmoil is a virtual tour based on the brochure created by Pittsburgh a Union City. (Our thanks to that group for making this available.)

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Last updated March 21, 2003