LibGuides: The Industrial Revolution: United States

Books in Our Library

Mill times
Call Number: DVD 677 MAC
This film centers on a small New England community similar to Pawtucket, Rhode Island, where Samuel Slater established America's first textile mill. Host David Macaulay takes viewers from Manchester, England to Lowell, Massachusetts, explaining technological changes that transformed the making of textiles. These developments where a key component of the Industrial Revolution that swept across Europe and America in the late 18th century.

Here are a few of the books and films we have on this topic in the library catalog. To find more, try a keyword search. For example, type "industrialization" and click Keyword.

A sweatshop during the industrial revolution by Adam Woog
Call Number: 909.81 WOO
One aspect of how the Industrial Revolution dramatically changed the world was the rise of the sweatshop. While sweatshops provided jobs, workers toiled long hours in dangerous, unhealthy conditions. This book examines the daily lives of sweatshop workers and related issues, including the efforts made to reform substandard conditions.
Flesh & blood so cheap : the Triangle Factory fire and its legacy by Albert Marrin
Call Number: 974.7 MAR
Describes the working conditions common in the textile industry in the early 20th century, and how these conditions led to the 1911 tragedy at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in New York City. Explores the fire's impact on the labor movement and on society.
Industrial Revolution Reference Library. by James L. Outman, Elisabeth M. Outman, Matthew May.
Call Number: 909.81 O93i
Four-volume encyclopedia divided into Almanac, Biographies, Primary Sources, and index. "Almanac" provides an overview of the era beginning in the mid-1700s in Great Britain, which transformed an agricultural society to a complex industrial society. "Primary Sources" presents excerpts from speeches, diaries, newspaper accounts, and other documents from the Industrial Revolution era. "Biographies" profiles twenty-five of the most dynamic figures of the Industrial Revolution. This set does not circulate; it must be used in the library.
The Gilded Age : a history in documents by Janette Thomas Greenwood
Call Number: 973.8 G816g
Uses a wide variety of documents to show how Americans dealt with an age of extremes from 1887 to 1900, including rapid industrialization, unemployment, unprecedented wealth, and immigration.

Citing Sources

Noodletools
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Use NoodleTools to cite your sources and create a list of works cited.
Purdue OWL: Research and Writing

Off campus?

For access to the databases from off campus, email the librarians for passwords.

Sources On the Web

Some great resources that are available for free on the web:

HistoryWorld
An extensive world history site created by Bamber Gascoigne, reaching from the prehistoric to the present day. There are two ways to browse the site: through the "Histories" or "Timelines" tabs at the top. "Histories" will allow you to search by keyword. The Timelines section is broken down by century, country, continent, empire, or theme (religion, science, etc). Follow the hyperlinked cross-references in an article to find related articles.
U.S. History: American History from Pre-Columbian to the New Millennium
An "online textbook" of American history created in 2008 by the Independence Hall Association of Philadelphia. Beginning with Chapter 22, you will find many useful sections on the Industrial Revolution and its impact.
American Experience: "Technology Timeline: 1752 - 1990"
Timeline of technological developments in the United States from 1750 to 1990.
The Industrial Revolution in the United States: Primary Source Set
Intended as a teachers' guide, the Library of Congress has assembled a list of primary sources relating to the American Industrial Revolution.

Library Databases

**Note! if you are accessing these databases from off-campus you will need to email one of the librarians for a password or use the link to Netilla on the right side of this guide.

Encyclopedia Britannica
A great alternative to Wikipedia! Use Britannica to gather general information as you start out with your research (simply search by keyword; e.g. "industrial revolution", "poor laws", "workhouses", etc). In each article, follow the cross-reference links in blue, and the links to related articles at the bottom of the page to find more information.
Academic Search Premier
For exploring your theme through in-depth research. This database is a great place to look for scholarly articles on history, the sciences, the humanities, politics, and more. Use the Advanced Search to narrow in on a topic.
Proquest Historical Newspapers
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Online access to the full text and scanned page images of The New York Times from its first issue (1851-2007). This database is a great place to look for primary sources: newspaper articles dating to the time of the Industrial Revolution.

Industrial Workers of the World flyer

This is the cover page from a missive published by the Industrial Workers of the World in 1919. Established in 1905, the IWW was, and is, among the more radical unions. Although this international labor union has no official political affiliation, its language and mission have a socialist, anarchistic bent: "It is the historic mission of the working class to do away with capitalism. The army of production must be organized, not only for everyday struggle with capitalists, but also to carry on production when capitalism shall have been overthrown. By organizing industrially we are forming the structure of the new society within the shell of the old (from the Preamble of the IWW Constitution)."

Image from the American Memory project at the Library of Congress. See the rest of the document here.

"With drops of blood. The history of the Industrial workers of the world has been written..." Wm. Haywood. Secretary. Chicago, 1919. Library of Congress, Printed Ephemera Collection; Portfolio 18, Folder 55.