Assessing the Value and Potential of Labor Archaeology: A Description of the Labor Archaeology of the Industrial Era National Historic Landmark Theme Study

Summary

Work and labor relations have been under attack over the last several decades.  Many of the same issues and problems confronting workers today were faced by workers in the past.  Historical archaeology has the ability to use archaeology to highlight these connections and thus, contribute to the study of labor and the current labor dialogue and struggles.  This paper details the latest draft of the Labor Archaeology of the Industrial Era National Historic Landmark Theme Study and its usefulness and limitations as a tool for researching and evaluating the significance of sites and districts associated with labor from the Industrial Revolution to the present.   Through an outline of topics, such as property types, applicable research questions, and assessment of NHL status, the theme study offers a framework from which to examine and emphasize the diversity and wealth of labor history and bring this history into the national consciousness.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2015   •
• Approaching Labor through Archaeology in the Twenty-First Century

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

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PaperId(s): 381