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Chronicling America is a searchable digital collection of historic newspaper pages through 1963 sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
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Also, see the Directory of U.S. Newspapers in American Libraries, a searchable index to newspapers published in the United States since 1690, which helps researchers identify what titles exist for a specific place and time, and how to access them.
"Labor's Monster Parade! The First Workingmen's Holiday to be Fitly Observed!" In 1894, following several years of individual city parades and celebrations, Congress declared the first Monday of September to be Labor Day, an unprecedented holiday dedicated to the working man. Read more about it!
The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.
The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.
| September 5, 1882 | The first Labor Day holiday, planned by of the Central Labor Union, is celebrated on a Tuesday in New York City. |
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| June 28, 1894 | Congress enacts a law to make Labor Day a national holiday, to be observed the first Monday in September. |
