Scholastic
Scholastic: Jane Addams of Hull House
Biography of Jane Addams from childhood to death. Includes information on Hull house, the juvenile courts and her campaign against sweatshops.
US Department of Labor
Bureau of Labor Statistics: Announcers
This resource provides occupational information about announcers. Topics covered include working conditions, training, job outlook, earnings, and related careers.
US Department of Labor
Bureau of Labor Statistics: Forestry, Conservation, and Logging Occupations
Complete description of careers in logging, including loggers, fallers, buckers, equipment operators, choke setters and riggers, sorters, log graders and scalers, and others who work in the wood harvesting occupations. Page contains...
US Department of Labor
Bureau of Labor Statistics: Forest and Conservation Workers
This resource provides information about forestry and conservation careers. The page contains nature of the work, training, wages, and outlook.
US Department of Labor
Bureau of Labor Statistics: Physicians and Surgeons
Occupational outlook for all doctors that details expected job market in future, salary, working conditions, etc.
Victorian Web
Brown University: Victorian Web: Chadwick's Report on Sanitary Conditions
This site from the Victorian Web provides a summary of Edwin Chadwick's report on the sanitary conditions of the working class in 19th century England. Links are also provided for additional information on this subject.
US National Archives
Our Documents: Keating Owen Child Labor Act of (1916)
Read the history behind the first child labor bill in 1916 and view the original document.
Other
Tsu: The Progressive Era and World War I
A comprehensive outline covering the major ideas, leaders, and actions of the Progressive Era and the transformation of the United States as a result of World War I.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Biography of Amer: Philip Armour and Packing House Conditions
Philip Armour, an industry titan in the meat industry, made his money by exploiting the need of his workers for jobs. Read about the deplorable conditions the workers endured in the packinghouses and in the shanty towns in which they...
Other
Mass Moments: January 12, 1912: Bread and Roses Strike Begins
The Bread and Roses Strike was given a very slight chance of accomplishing anything for women who worked in poor conditions in the textile mills in Lawrence, Massachusetts. See how wrong the mill owners and even the leaders of the...
Library of Congress
Loc: Working Conditions at the Westinghouse Works, 1904
Read about the progressive ideas the companies comprising the Westinghouse Works instituted in relation to their employees.
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: Supreme Court: Capitalism and Conflict: Court History
During the Progressive Era many state laws were passed that dealt with regulation of working conditions. Read about the Supreme Court history in judging the constitutionality of these laws.
Other
Holmes Safety Association Bulletin: The Boys in the Breakers [Pdf]
A heartbreaking account of child labor in the coal mines at the turn of the century - 1904. Click on the article title in the table of contents to read this account published in 1904 by Peter Roberts.
Blackdog Media
Classic Reader: The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
Classic Reader provides numerous classic works from famous authors. First published as a serial in the Appeal to Reason 1905, one work is The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair. It exposed harsh working conditions in the meat packing industry.
University of Minnesota
The Fourteenth Amendment and the Rights Revolution: Muller v. Oregon
In the Progressive Era many states passed laws to protect workers and establish decent working conditions. Read the text of Muller v. Oregon, heard before the Supreme Court in 1908, that upheld Oregon's laws as constitutional.
Curated OER
History Matters: A History of American Sweatshops, 1820 Present
Called "Between a Rock and a Hard Place," this article details the history of American sweatshops. General information.
Hartford Web Publishing
World History Archives: Bread & Roses: The Strike Led and Won by Women
An article from Workers World describes the Bread and Roses Strike and explains why it ended up to be so effective. One interesting aspect is that there were immigrants working in the Lawrence textile mills speaking 25 different...
Curated OER
History Matters: Eight Hours for What We Will!
Passage of the Adamson Act in 1916 was a huge victory for labor unions pushing for an eight-hour day. Read about that victory and find an illustration celebrating that fact.
Hartford Web Publishing
World History Archives: Hartford Web Publishing: Hispanic Women Energize Unions
This article tells of the growing number of women that belong to unions, especially Hispanic women, and how women are taking a bigger role in union leadership. (Published June 23, 2002)
Digital History
Digital History: Samuel Gompers and the American Federation of Labor
A good look at not only Samuel Gompers and the formation of the American Federation of Labor, but also of the course of unionism in general, its successes and failures, its goals, and membership in the late 19th century.
Internet History Sourcebooks Project
Fordham University: Modern History Sourcebook: Industrial Manchester 1844
This site from the Modern History Sourcebook of Fordham University provides an exerpt from "The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844". Personal account of what life was like for textile mill workers in Manchester.
Internet History Sourcebooks Project
Fordham University: Modern History Sourcebook: "Lowell Mill Girls" by Harriet Robinson
Archived news article. A personal account of young female cotton mill workers in Massachusetts during the mid-1800's.
Digital History
Digital History: Labor Protests
A sure sign that manufacturing was moving from the home to the factory was the organization of skilled workers to protest wage reductions and working conditions. Read about the tension between these skilled workers and their employers as...
Digital History
Digital History: The Movement for a Ten Hour Day
A brief look at the success the workers in several industries had in reducing their work day to ten hours.