1. Women of Wisconsin Labor Oral History Project, 1988-1995. 1988. 88 tape recordings .
    Notes: This oral history collection consists of interviews done from 1988 through 1995 with thirty-seven women active in the labor movement in Wisconsin; the interviewees had been chosen to ensure a balanced representation of different union affiliations, of the various employment sectors that exist (such as public employment, service industries, manufacturing, etc.), and also of the different geographic regions around the state.

    Location: Archives Division, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison; consult the online catalog, ArCat (the Archives Computer Catalog), to find the exact control numbers for the various portions of this collection.

  2. Bogue, Margaret Beattie. Around the Shores of Lake Michigan: A Guide to Historic Sites. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press; 1985. 382 p.

    Notes: A well-illustrated guide with the author providing highlights of almost two hundred places on a tour around Lake Michigan; many of the sixty-one sites included along the Wisconsin shoreline relate to the rich history of work and workers in Wisconsin. As with the companion volume, Around the Shores of Lake Superior: A Guide to Historic Sites, a separate color tour map is included of the sites mentioned around Lake Michigan.

    “This work was funded in part by the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant College Program under grants from the National Sea Grant College Program, National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, and the State of Wisconsin (Federal grant #NA80-AA-D-00086, Project #SGA-1).”–t.p. verso.

  3. Bogue, Margaret Beattie and Palmer, Virginia A. Around the Shores of Lake Superior: A Guide to Historic Sites, Including a Color Tour Map Showing Lake Superior’s Historic Sites. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Sea Grant College Program; 1979. 179 p.
    Notes: A well-illustrated guide with the authors providing highlights of over a hundred places on a tour around Lake Superior; many of the seventeen sites included along the Wisconsin shoreline relate to the rich history of work and workers in Wisconsin. Be sure to also see the companion volume, Around the Shores of Lake Michigan: A Guide to Historic Sites.

    Wisconsin Government Documents Number: WIS-SG-79-132.

  4. Holter, Darryl. “The Founding of the Wisconsin State Federation of Labor, 1893”. IN: Holter, Darryl. Workers and Unions in Wisconsin: A Labor History Anthology. Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin; 1999; pp. 40-41.

    Notes: The genesis of the Wisconsin State Federation of Labor, the enduring statewide political voice of Wisconsin working men and women, is described; the three-day convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin met for three days in June 1893. Attending were thirty-five delegates from unions in Wisconsin representing brewery workers, carpenters, cigar makers, coal heavers, coopers, electrical workers, furniture workers, horseshoers, iron molders, plasterers, tanners, trunk makers, typographers, and machine woodworkers; six Wisconsin central labor councils were represented with delegates (Ashland, Madison, Marinette, Milwaukee, Oshkosh and West Superior).

  1. Holter, Darryl. Workers and Unions in Wisconsin: A Labor History Anthology. Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin; 1999. 284 p.

    Notes: Here is the book with which to begin to learn about Wisconsin labor history; this generously-illustrated anthology of writings about workers’ experiences and struggles captures the incredible breadth of Wisconsin’s labor history.

    “The Labor Factor in Wisconsin History: Wisconsin accounts for about two percent of the nation’s total population. Yet its contribution to the history of working people and social reform extends far beyond these numbers. In the early years of the twentieth century, Wisconsin became a veritable laboratory for social and political reform, producing landmark legislation such as workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, and other laws that became models for many states. The study of the history of labor also began in Wisconsin when University of Wisconsin economics professor John R. Commons started to document the history of work and labor in America. For the first time, historical material on Wisconsin labor, drawn from a wide variety of sources, has been compiled in a single volume. With more than a hundred photos, complete footnotes, and a detailed index, readers can identify the large cast of characters that have left their mark on Wisconsin’s labor history.”–back cover, paperbound ed.

    Reviewed: Bakopoulos, Dean (reviewer). Wisconsin Academy Review: The Magazine of Wisconsin Thought and Culture 46:4 (Fall 2000), p. 53.

  2. Nesbit, Robert C. “Making a Living in Wisconsin, 1873-1893”. Wisconsin Magazine of History. 1986 Summer; 69(4):250-283.

    Notes: “Editors’ Note: By courtesy of Robert C. Nesbit, and of William F. Thompson, general editor of the six-volume series, we are pleased to present this excerpt from Nesbit’s recently published book, The History of Wisconsin. Volume III: Urbanization and Industrialization, 1873-1893. This article represents most of Chapter 5 of the 712-page volume, …”

  3. Olsenius, Richard and Zerby, Judy A. Wisconsin Travel Companion: A Guide to the History Along Wisconsin’s Highways. Andrews, Sona Karentz, Cartography by. Wayzata, Minn.: Bluestem Productions/Mijaz, Inc.; 1983. 327 p.
    Notes: Use this book to get a thumbnail sketch of the occupational and industrial pattern of over five hundred Wisconsin communities; the nineteen driving routes provided in this book criss-cross the entire state and tell us how each Wisconsin community along the way came into being and the important industries associated with it. The book is profusely illustrated with maps and photographs of the communities and the work and life of the people of the area, including over two hundred photographs alone from the iconographic collection of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.
  4. Ozanne, Robert W. The Labor Movement in Wisconsin: A History. Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin; 1984. 290 p.

    Notes: A general history of the development of the labor union movement in Wisconsin from the 1840s almost up to 1980; special note is made of a seventy-page section devoted to the unions of Wisconsin’s paper-making industry and also a section on “Blacks and the Labor Movement” (p. 161-165).

    Reviewed: Dubofsky, Melvyn (reviewer). Wisconsin Magazine of History, v. 69, no. 1 (Autumn 1985), p. 69-70. Reviewed: Zieger, Robert H. (reviewer). American Historical Review, v. 90, no. 5 (December 1985), p. 1288-1289.

  1. University of Wisconsin–Platteville. Karrmann Library. Masters [sic] Theses and Seminar Papers of the University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Universities: Cumulative Supplement. Platteville, Wis.: The Library; 1977-. microfiches .
    Notes: A subject index covering 1977 to the present; an update of their earlier title, Master’s Theses and Seminar Papers–U. W. Cluster Institutions, 1935-1976.
  2. University of Wisconsin–Platteville. Karrmann Library. Masters [sic] Theses and Seminar Papers–U. W. Cluster Institutions, 1935-1976. Platteville, Wis.: The Library; 1977-. microfiches .
    Notes: A subject index covering 1935 to 1976; continued by Masters [sic] Theses and Seminar Papers of the University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Universities: Cumulative Supplement (which includes the indexing from 1977 to the present).