List of online labor and labor-related collections of the Labor Archives of Washington State.
Research using Special Collections material is different from more typical library research. The unique nature of the material dictates that there are stricter security procedures -- users need to register, manuscript materials need to be requested, personal belongings are placed in lockers, photocopying is limited, etc. The following tips can help you when using the material in Special Collections:
Finding Aids for Special Collections
What is a Finding Aid?
Collections of unpublished personal papers, organizational records, and historical photographs are described and inventoried in detailed guides known as finding aids. A finding aid helps the researcher to identify boxes or folders of interest that may be retrieved from the stacks for study.
Prepared by the staff, the typical finding aid provides background information on the organization, person, or family who created the papers or photographs, an overview of the collection and its arrangement, and a detailed container list.
Not all of our finding aids are currently available online. If you don't see what you are looking for, please be sure to check with Reference Services for assistance.
Detailed listing of Special Collections Search Tools including online databases, digitized collections and bibliographies.
For information on finding specific items by format (books, periodicals, photographs, architectural records, maps etc.) consult the Special Collections How do I find...? guide.
Some of the collections are not listed in the online finding aids. Searching the Libraries online catalog provides another point of access into our collections.
To get an effective search of Special Collections, constrain the catalog search by location or select specific formats to target your search. To limit by location, select "Seattle Campus Libraries" under Scope and "SpecColl, Manuscripts" under Location.
Highlighted secondary sources and topical bibliographies that are particularly useful overviews of the workers and industry in Washington State. Included are sources which have made heavy use of UW Special Collections. This is by no means an exhaustive list. Instead, it serves as a point of departure to aid researchers in locating primary resource collections in UW Special Collections.
Richard C. Berner was the head of the University of Washington Manuscripts Division (now part of Special Collections) from 1958-1983. His three-volume historical survey of Seattle’s history in the 20th century contains comprehensive lists of citations and makes heavy use of the manuscript collections at the University of Washington. Berner’s interest in labor and social history make his books good sources for historical narratives but--perhaps more importantly for historical researchers--serve as detailed maps of where to look in within the collections to find primary sources materials by topic.
Berner, Richard C. 1991. Seattle in the 20th century. Seattle, Wash: Charles Press. [A series of three volumes. volume names are listed below with call number]
Call numbers:
F899.S457 B47 1991 v.1 Berner, Richard C. 1991. Seattle 1900-1920: from boomtown, urban turbulence, to restoration. Seattle, Wash: Charles Press. [Seattle in the 20th century, v. 1 ]
F899.S457 B47 1991 v.2 Full text available online Berner, Richard C. 1992. Seattle 1921-1940: from boom to bust. Seattle in the 20th century, v. 2. Seattle, Wash: Charles Press. [Seattle in the 20th century, v. 2 ]
F899.S457 B47 1991 v.3 Berner, Richard C. 1999. Seattle transformed: world war II to cold war. Seattle in the 20th century, v. 3. Seattle, Wash: Charles Press. [Seattle in the 20th century, v. 3 ]
UW Seattle Locations:
Odegaard Stacks--Vol. 1- 2
SpecColl Reference (Library Use Only)-Vol 1-3
SpecColl Pacific NW (Library Use Only)- Vol. 2-3
Suzzallo/Allen Stacks-Vol. 1-3
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Jonathan Dembo received his PhD from the University of Washington. Along with researching a broad dissertation on the history of Washington state’s working people and their unions, he compiled several useful topical bibliographies. Note that Dembo’s bibliographies only go up to 1978 and 1984.
Dembo, Jonathan. 1978. An Historical bibliography of Washington state labor and laboring classes. Seattle: [s.n.].
Library Location Notes Call number
SpecColl Reference LIB USE ONLY Z7164.L1 D45 1978
Suzzallo/Allen Stacks Z7164.L1 D45 1978
Suzzallo/Allen Stacks Z7164.L1 D45 1978
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Dembo, Jonathan. 1983. Unions and politics in Washington State, 1885-1935. New York: Garland Pub.
Library Location Notes Call number
SpecColl Pacific NW LIB USE ONLY HD8079.W3 D45 1983
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Schwantes, Carlos A. 1994. Hard traveling: a portrait of work life in the New Northwest. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Library Location Notes Call number
Bothell/CCC 3rd Floor Stacks HD5856.U5 S34 1994
Odegaard Stacks HD5856.U5 S34 1994
SpecColl Pacific NW LIB USE ONLY HD5856.U5 S34 1994
Suzzallo/Allen Stacks HD5856.U5 S34 1994
Tacoma Auxiliary Stacks HD5856.U5 S34 1994
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