Samuel Gompers Papers

The Samuel Gompers Papers is a comprehensive documentary-editing project hosted by the University of Maryland. It collects, annotates, and publishes the correspondence, speeches, and records of Samuel Gompers (1850–1924), a pivotal figure in American labor history and longtime President of the American Federation of Labor. Begun in the 1970s, the project has produced eleven volumes and two microfilm series, accompanied by a cumulative index, offering readers full scholarly access to Gompers’s writings and union records. The project’s website provides searchable access to materials, research tools, timelines, glossaries of labor activists, and curated content on organized labor’s evolution. Supported by institutions including the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, NEH, and AFL-CIO, this resource is essential for understanding industrial-era labor politics, collective bargaining, and the formation of modern American labor movements.