American Bureau of Industrial Research: Manuscript Collections on the Early American Labor Movement on Microfilm

The American Bureau of Industrial Research (ABIR) was established in 1904 at the University of Wisconsin at Madison to collect primary historical materials on the American labor movement.

John Samuel was appointed a Knights of Labor organizer in 1881, and three years later became a member of the Knight's Co-operative Board. By the early 1890's Samuel's formal connection with the Knights lapsed but his interest in cooperation continued. He became general secretary of the Co-Operative Union of the United States and Canada in 1894.

In 1883, Joseph P. McDonnell was instrumental in organizing the New Jersey Federation of Trades and Labor Unions, on which he served as chairman for many years. He was also president of the American Federation of Labor in New Jersey. In 1892 McDonnell was appointed to the New Jersey Board of Arbitration, and later served as president of the Board.

Albert R. Parsons, an anarchist and militant labor advocate, was one of four men executed following the 1886 Haymarket bombing in Chicago.

Edward H. Rogers was a largely self-educated labor reformer, politician, and theologian. He helped found the Christian Labor Party in 1872.

Ira Steward rose to leadership in the Machinist's and Blacksmiths' International Union during the Civil War and later became one of the most astute writers on American labor issues. In 1877 he helped to form the International Labor Union.

Thomas Phillips was instrumental in founding the Union Co-operative Association and by 1869, he had become active in the Knights of St. Crispin. In the 1870's he served as an organizer in the Sovereigns of Industry and later in the Knights of Labor. In 1889 he was elected national president of the Boot and Shoe Workers International Union.

The Noble Order of the Knights of Labor was first organized in the Philadelphia garment industry in 1869. It constituted the most powerful force in American labor in the nineteenth century. It was the first national labor organization to extensively recruit women and blacks, to organize throughout the country, and to attempt to unify industrial and agrarian workers.

The Sovereigns of Industry was a cooperative and fraternal order. Beginning as the Patrons of Industry, the organization was renamed as the Sovereigns in 1874.