Welcome! Historical Collections and Labor Archives (HCLA) houses more than 400 collections -- including oral histories, photographs, newspapers, leaflets, pamphlets, sound recordings, microfilms, movie films, maps, and posters -- dating from 1650 to the 1980s. Because many materials in our collections are old, fragile, valuable, and irreplaceable, all patrons must comply with a few general rules, such as registering upon entry and working under supervision. If you have not used a special collections library before, we invite you to view this brief online tutorial.
Some online finding aids and online exhibits are available for our collections. Please see the departmental menu to the left for information on reference and other services and policies. A small number of collections are restricted. For more information, please contact Jim Quigel, Curator of Historical Collections and Labor Archives.
PA Business & History
Documents on Pennsylvania's core industries, firms, and entrepreneurs form one significant group of HCLA's collections. There are account books dating from the mid-eighteenth century for several charcoal iron furnaces; correspondence of steel magnates and executives Andrew Carnegie, Charles Schwab, and William B. Dickson; business records for nineteenth- and twentieth-century anthracite and bituminous coal firms; and records for the Pennsylvania Railroad's Central Division and numerous subsidiary railroads. The letters and papers of prominent efficiency engineer Harrington Emerson also contain rich information on business operations. New collections on the enterprises that made Pennsylvania an industrial titan are being added through the Corporate Records Program, a concerted effort to preserve business documents of significant companies.
Labor History
HCLA's holdings on the labor movement trace the continuous effort by working men and women to win dignity and prosperity. Records of unions include minute books, executive board documents, and office files for important organizations, including the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers, Pennsylvania Federation of Labor, Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, United Steelworkers of America, Amalgamated Lithographers of America, and the International Photoengravers Union. There are also collections of records for many local unions and central labor bodies in Pennsylvania.
HCLA has personal papers for several notable labor leaders from the United Steelworkers and United Mine Workers, including Philip Murray, David J. McDonald, I. W. Abel, Clinton S. Golden, and William Mitch. Letters, diaries, reports, and photographs from several union organizers and staff members are included in the labor materials.
Notable Pennsylvanians
The lives of many fascinating individuals can be studied in other HCLA collections. The letters of Governors James A. Beaver and William W. Scranton, the architectural photographs of Fay S. Lincoln, the manuscripts of pioneer sociologists Jessie and Luther Bernard, the musical scores of Charles W. Cadman, and the confidential reports of narcotics expert Harry J. Anslinger provide a variety of choices for research within this group of material. Experiences of Civil War soldiers are described in a number of collections of letters and diaries, including a large group of material on the 100th Pennsylvania Volunteers (the Mary Gyla McDowell collection).
Original primary source documentation and reference materials devoted to the history of this strategic World War II bombing group.
Jack Rabin Collection on Alabama Civil Rights and Southern Activists
A compact but rich compilation of documents, sound recordings, and visual images.
Irving Louis Horowitz - Transaction Publishers Archives
Correspondence of reknowned Penn State sociology professor and head of publishing house Transaction, and the collected papers of sociologist C. Wright Mills.
