Billings Numbers and Pamphlet Volumes
Many of our materials are classified by Billings numbers, an idiosyncratic classification system developed early in the library’s history. Browsing the catalog by Billings numbers can be a good way to get a sense of the library’s holdings in a specific area, but keep in mind that these numbers had been largely replaced with a new system by the 1970s. Because much of our most-used material related to trade unionism predates that time, a lot of relevant material is discoverable using Billings numbers.
To browse by Billings number, visit the Legacy Catalog and select “Staff call no.” from the drop down menu. Then enter the beginning of the Billings number.
Books on the subject of "Capital and Labor" are categorized under Billings number TD. For researchers interested in labor unions, the following will be especially salient:
TDR: Labor Associations and Organizations
TDRA: Labor Associations and Organizations, Periodicals and Society Publications
Other helpful Billings numbers to keep in mind:
TDG: Strikes and Lockouts. Arbitration. Conciliation
TDI: Working Classes, History and Condition of
Many of our holdings related to trade unions are Pamphlet Volumes, known as “p.v.”s. P.v.s are multiple pamphlets bound together in a single volume. These pamphlets are not always catalogued individually online, so they can sometimes only be found in the Black Books. The bibliographic information for p.v.s is often sparse compared to other periodicals and books, so a record may not contain subject headings or an author. To find p.v.s related to trade unionism, search for, e.g., “TDR p.v.” using the method described above
Bibliographies
Trade Union Publications: The Official Journals, Convention Proceedings, and Constitutions of International Unions and Federations, 1850-1941, by Lloyd G. Reynolds and Charles C. Killingsworth
This immensely helpful three-volume reference work indexes the publications of trade unions representing a vast range of industries and locations. The full text is available online from Cornell University's Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives. The three volumes are also available at the Library.
Though not a bibliography, another very helpful source is Florence Peterson's Handbook of Labor Unions (1944). Organized by trade, this book includes entries on both major and lesser-known unions across the country, and each entry includes the title of the union's organ when applicable.
For more bibliographies, indexes, and directories, see the following subject headings. Where "United States" is included, remove that subheading or replace it with the name of another country to view sources that are international in scope. Adding a country's name between, e.g., "Labor Movement" and "Bibliography" is also a possibility.
Labor Unions -- United States -- Bibliography
Labor Unions -- United States -- Directories
Labor Unions -- Periodicals -- Bibliography
Labor Movement -- Bibliography
Industrial Relations -- Bibliography
Some further bibliographies, though mostly histories, may be found under Press, Labor -- United States.
Replace "Bibliography" in the above with "Periodicals" to see newspapers and magazines, e.g. Working Class -- Periodicals.
Histories and other academic works
Try looking under the following headings. As with the above, remove or replace "United States" to see more results. Where "History" is appended to the end of a heading, that can also be removed to see more results.
Collective bargaining -- United States
Labor disputes -- United States
Labor movement -- United States -- History
Labor unions -- United States -- History
Mediation and conciliation, Industrial -- United States
Strikes and lockouts -- United States
Recent Titles in Labor History
The Jewish Unions in America by
Newly arrived in New York in 1882 from Tsarist Russia, the sixteen-year-old Bernard Weinstein discovered an America in which unionism, socialism, and anarchism were very much in the air. He found a home in the tenements of New York and for the next fifty years he devoted his life to the struggles of fellow Jewish workers. The Jewish Unions in America blends memoir and history to chronicle this time. It describes how Weinstein led countless strikes, held the unions together in the face of retaliation from the bosses, investigated sweatshops and factories with the aid of reformers, and faced down schisms by various factions, including Anarchists and Communists. He co-founded the United Hebrew Trades and wrote speeches, articles and books advancing the cause of the labor movement. From the pages of this book emerges a vivid picture of workers' organizations at the beginning of the twentieth century and a capitalist system that bred exploitation, poverty, and inequality. Although workers' rights have made great progress in the decades since, Weinstein's descriptions of workers with jobs pitted against those without, and American workers against workers abroad, still carry echoes today. The Jewish Unions in America is a testament to the struggles of working people a hundred years ago. But it is also a reminder that workers must still battle to live decent lives in the free market. For the first time, Maurice Wolfthal's readable translation makes Weinstein's Yiddish text available to English readers. It is essential reading for students and scholars of labor history, Jewish history, and the history of American immigration.
Call Number: JFE 19-4037ISBN: 9781783743544Publication Date: 2018-02-06
Labor in America by
Even since the last edition of this milestone text was released six years ago, unions have continued to shed members; union membership in the private sector of the economy has fallen to levels not seen since the nineteenth century; the forces of economic liberalization (neo-liberalism), capital mobility, and globalization have affected measurably the material standard of living enjoyed by workers in the United States; and mass immigration from the Southern Hemisphere and Asia has continued to restructure the domestic labor force. Yet even in the face of anti-union legislation, a continuing decline in the number of organized workers, and the fear of stateless, if not faceless terrorism-the shadow of "911" in which we still live, in preparing this new edition of his classic text Professor Dubofsky has hewn to the lines laid out in the previous seven in seeking to encourage today's students of labor history to learn about those who built the United States and who will shape its future. In addition to taking the narrative right up to the present, a recent history that includes the election of 2008 as well as the tumultuous blow suffered by the U.S. and world economy in 2008-09, this eighth edition features an entirely new (fourth) bank of photographs and, in light of the avalanche of new scholarly work over the last decade, a complete overhauling of the book's extensive and critical Further Readings section in order to note the very best works from the profuse recent scholarship that explores the history of working people in all its diversity.
ISBN: 9781118817629Publication Date: 2014-08-26
Knocking on Labor's Door by
The power of unions in workers' lives and in the American political system has declined dramatically since the 1970s. In recent years, many have argued that the crisis took root when unions stopped reaching out to workers and workers turned away from unions. But here Lane Windham tells a different story. Highlighting the integral, often-overlooked contributions of women, people of color, young workers, and southerners, Windham reveals how in the 1970s workers combined old working-class tools--like unions and labor law--with legislative gains from the civil and women's rights movements to help shore up their prospects. Through close-up studies of workers' campaigns in shipbuilding, textiles, retail, and service, Windham overturns widely held myths about labor's decline, showing instead how employers united to manipulate weak labor law and quash a new wave of worker organizing. Recounting how employees attempted to unionize against overwhelming odds, Knocking on Labor's Door dramatically refashions the narrative of working-class struggle during a crucial decade and shakes up current debates about labor's future. Windham's story inspires both hope and indignation, and will become a must-read in labor, civil rights, and women's history.
ISBN: 9781469632070Publication Date: 2017-09-04
