Can you help me find copies of 19th century labor speeches and periodicals?
I am looking for periodicals or speeches from 1820-1840 that would be what a working man would have read. Also Tristam Burges writings in the same years, and the speeches of William Heighton. I am interested in the race relationship of free blacks and white workers during those years. I was told that Catherwood library at Cornell University has microfilm editions of New Harmony Gazette (1825-1828), The Mechanics Free Press (1828-1831), and The Working Man’s Advocate (1829-1835) on Microfilm. Is there a possibility of inter-library loan to anywhere in Northern NJ? I am desperately trying to find these archive documents but haven’t found any source yet. Does your library actually have this? Can you please help me?
Hello,
The Catherwood Library does have the three periodicals on microfilm, but we do not loan microfilm. I think, though, that I have a good option through which you can get access to the periodicals. The American Periodicals Series, an electronic full text source from ProQuest, contains full text in .pdf format of both the New Harmony Gazette and Working Man’s Advocate. The Cornell University Library subscribes to APS as do several other libraries. For instance, it is available through Rutgers University. Rutgers also has some holdings of the Mechanics Free Press. Information from Rutgers about access to its libraries’ materials is available here .
You can find what other libraries subscribe to APS or to the journals themselves by searching WorldCat.org, an interlibrary catalog. If you decide to visit our library to use our materials, please let us know beforehand. At least some of the microfilms are located in our archival collection, the Kheel Center. We will have to check their availability and completeness.
I hope this information is useful and that you can get the materials you need close to your home. Good luck with your research.
Susan LaCette
ILR Library