Jack Dale
Labor Studies
Labor studies are not a part of many of the curricula we teach. However, labor studies are often embedded in Economics courses or in studies of the Industrial Revolution. The Internet does have some excellent resources of this topic. If you wish start with a listing web sites, check out the WWW Virtual Library - Labor and Business History <http://www.iisg.nl/~w3vl/vl-res.html#lab>. It lists 27 sites that are associated with labor history.
For a comprehensive look at the trade union movement in Britain, The Spartacus Internet Encyclopedia <http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TU.htm> is a fabulous site in which to bury yourself for a very long time. It is a part of the National Grid for Learning. The Trade Union Movement is but one of a score of topics covered. As I surfed around the site I came across references to Peterloo, the massacre of 1819 Manchester. My interest was piqued. As I delved into the site I realized that all of the articles within the Spartacus site have links to other articles of interest. I could easily skip from article to article in a search for more information. Rather than doing so, I choose to focus on the one topic.
The articles on Peterloo are great for those who wish to find contrary views of the events. One page is a listing of the estimates of the crowd size. The estimates range from 30,000 to 153,000. There are 38 eyewitness accounts, including magistrates, soldiers, radical and moderate reformers, and newspapers. Each of the accounts includes biographical information. Eighteen articles set the stage for the Peterloo massacre. These include articles on the Luddites, The Corn Laws, Moderate and Radical Reformers, Women Reformers and Child Labor. Interspersed throughout the articles are cartoons. For those studying the labor movements in the Industrial Revolution, Spartacus is a must visit. It is also a great source of information on other topics in British history.
A couple of American labor history sites are worth a visit. The Illinois Labor History Society has sponsored A Curriculum of United States Labor History for Teachers <http://www.kentlaw.edu/ilhs/curricul.htm>. This really is a curriculum. Each of the time periods studied has the following sections:
Included in each of the lessons is the text of original documents. These include advertisements for runaway slaves and rules for factory workers. Guide questions are provided for each of the documents.
American Labor History: An Online Study Guide <http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Quad/6460/AmLabHist/index.html> has comprehensive history of the US labor movement. The site is rather descriptive with few original sources. There is an extensive set of links to other US labor sites.
For a Canadian perspective check out the Canadian Committee on Labor History - CCLH <http://www.mun.ca/cclh/>. There is a good collection of links to other Internet sites as well as a search engine for the CCLH site. The search engine seems to locate articles from Labor/Le Travail , a journal.
For a more graphical history of Canadian labor check out Canadian Labor History from the Canadian Museum of Civilization <http://www.civilization.ca/membrs/canhist/labour/lab01e.html>. Each of the six sections are discussed in series of sub-topics. Original documents include interviews and dramatized readings which require a media player such as RealPlayer.
While preparing this article I came to make use of a little used tool on the Internet; the WebRing. This method of linking similar web pages permitted me to stay on sites focussed on unions. Several of the sites were part of the Union WebRing <http://www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?ring=unionring;list> which currently lists 629 member sites.
Webrings are created as a circle of linked sites on a similar topic. A directory of web rings <http://www.webring.org/index.html#ringworld> lists the available rings. The Rings are listed in an index and a search engine is available. After joining a WebRing, a web author adds some code to the bottom of a web page that permit users to visit a "next" or "previous" site, visit a random site or list the next five sites. In some WebRings, a list of those sites in the Ring is available. Check the bottom of web sites to see if they are a part of a WebRing.
Some sites, especially those associated with academic pursuits, have very strict guidelines regarding those sites which may join. Other, such as those associated with recreation, seem to be more relaxed as to who can join. Be careful in following Rings. While tracing some sites associated with sailing (one of my hobbies) I managed unknowingly to get on to another, unrelated, ring.