Trying to find historical NYS Department of Labor publications.
I am an author trying to locate data on NY State employment or unemployment during the years 1928 through 1940. I understand that New York was one of the first states to systematically collect such data, during the governorship of Franklin Roosevelt and when Frances Perkins was NY Secretary of Labor. Staff at the NY Department of Labor indicated that some older records of this type were transferred to the Catherwood Library about ten years ago.
The collection from the New York State Department of Labor is housed in the Kheel Center. I am attaching a listing of the publications that comprise the collection.
In addition, the Catherwood Library and other Cornell libraries have many publications from the New York State Department of Labor. You can find these by using a Guided Keyword search in the Classic Catalog, http://catalog.library.cornell.edu. Search New York State Department of Labor (as a phrase) and limit the search by date to pre-1940. This search, while not perfect, will give you an idea of the publications that could contain unemployment data.
Since the catalog records are not so specific as to describe the actual content of these historical publications, finding the data you need would be quite difficult. Librarians here at Cornell can assist you if you can visit us. Some of the publications might also be available in a library closer to where you live. Try searching the titles you find in http://www.worldcat.org.
I hope this information is useful. Please contact me via telephone, 607-255-9178 or the Kheel Center, 607-255-3183, if you need more information.
Susan LaCette
ILR Reference