Historic American newspapers selected and contributed by state partners in the National Digital Newspaper Program. You can do an Advanced search on the names of individual unions or people as well as events like strikes and lockouts. Newspapers of note include the Daily Worker (Chicago) and the United Labor Bulletin (also known as the Denver Labor Bulletin) the official publication of the United Label League, The Wageworker, and The CIO News founded in 1937 and published by the Western Maryland Industrial Union Council of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).

This is the source for the Congressional Record back to 1899 and is where to find what was said on the House and Senate floor related to specific pieces of legislation as well as commentary on current events.

Find photographs and prints in the Library of Congress collection by doing an Advanced search on the names of individual unions or people as well as events like strikes and lockouts, picket, picketing, strikes, union, union workers, workers, industrial workers, specific strikes, names of people involved. You can also search on union names like UAW or teamsters, or the names of union presidents. The photo collections also include images related to congressional activity as well as images of people working. Specific collections of note: Lewis Hine's dramatic child labor photographs from the early 1900s, Dorothea Lange's photo-documentation of rural and migrant workers in the 1930s, and the photographic collection of the National Women's Trade Union League.

This guide from the staff in Newspapers & Current Periodicals includes articles and search strategies. In 1916, demand for 8-hour work days led to involvement of Pres. Woodrow Wilson, Congress, and the U.S. Supreme Court. This guide provides access to material related to the "8-Hour Day" in the Chronicling America digital collection of historic newspapers.

This is an entry in Business Reference's This Month in Business History guide about the Fair Labor Standards Act which signed in June 1938 and created the right to a minimum wage and overtime pay.

This is an entry in Business Reference's This Month in Business History guide about The founding of the Department of Labor in 1913.

This is an entry in Business Reference's This Month in Business History guideabout the National Labor Union which was founded on August 20, 1866. It was the first attempt to create a national labor group in the United States and one of their first actions was the first national call for Congress to mandate an 8-hour work day.

This is an entry in Business Reference's This Month in Business History guide about labor leader Mother Jones.

This is an entry in Business Reference's This Month in Business History guide about the creation and history of Labor Day.

This guide from the staff in Newspapers & Current Periodicals includes articles and search strategies. Labor Day was created by the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. This guide provides access to materials related to “Labor Day” in the Chronicling America digital collection of historic newspapers.

This is an American and Canadian labor union formed in 1903. This is an archive of the LIUNA website from 2002.

Manuscript Division
Catalog Record
Finding Aid [PDF, 140 KB]
Correspondence, official records, reports, speeches, pamphlets, newspaper clippings, and scrapbooks containing form letters, press releases, and newspaper clippings relating to the committee. Includes reports on child labor conditions in various industries and minute books and proceedings of annual meetings and national conferences.

American Folklife Center
Multi-year project by the American Folklife Center (AFC) to document the culture of contemporary American workers during an era of economic and social transition. To date, fieldworkers across the United States have recorded more than 600 audio and audiovisual oral history interviews with workers in scores of trades, industries, crafts, and professions. Online collection includes:
Cultural Traditions of Ironworkers in the Midwest
Western Folklife Center: Gold Mining in Nevada
The "Big Top" Show Goes On
Working the Port of Houston
Stable Views: Voices and Stories from the Thoroughbred Racetrack
Hairdressers and Beauty Shop Culture in America
Taking Care: Documenting the Occupational Culture of Home Health Care Workers

This is a page in a larger guide that focuses specifically on Bureau of Labor Statistics and includes resources from the BLS. Of particular note is the Monthly Labor Review and the Labor Bulletin which regularly reported on analyzed labor issues like wages, strikes/lockouts, and women like Bulletin number 1016 (1950), Table E-1 and Bulletin number 2000 (1978), Table 150.