Working Conditions Collection

19th-century coal mining. Historical artwork of a coal mine worker igniting methane gas in a coal mine. This gas (also called fire-damp) is formed naturally by coal

Scotch lassies engaged in curing kippers at Douglas, on the Isle of Man September 1916 Fish where the fish are!

Pennsylvania coal strike - in Atlantic camp showing guns of deputies, between c1910 and c1915.

In Superior Camp - Mine strike, Pennsylvania, between c1910 and c1915. Creator: Bain News Service
In Superior Camp - Mine strike, Pennsylvania, between c1910 and c1915.

London Strike. Police escort for one van., between c1910 and c1915. Creator: Bain News Service
London Strike. Police escort for one van., between c1910 and c1915.

Strikers crossing London Bridge, between c1910 and c1915. Creator: Bain News Service
Strikers crossing London Bridge, between c1910 and c1915.

Striking waiters at headquarters, 1912. Creator: Bain News Service
Striking waiters at headquarters, 1912.

Colliery Lasses, British Coal strike, between c1910 and c1915. Creator: Bain News Service
Colliery Lasses, British Coal strike, between c1910 and c1915.

British coal strike - building up reserves for Midland Railway, between c1910 and c1915. Creator: Bain News Service
British coal strike - building up reserves for Midland Railway, between c1910 and c1915.

Strikers leave mills, Passaic, between c1910 and c1915. Creator: Bain News Service
Strikers leave mills, Passaic, between c1910 and c1915.

Strike Committee at Mill Gate, Passaic, between c1910 and c1915. Creator: Bain News Service
Strike Committee at Mill Gate, Passaic, between c1910 and c1915.

Holding strikers in check, Lawrence, Massachusetts, 1912. Creator: Bain News Service
Holding strikers in check, Lawrence, Massachusetts, 1912.

British coal strike - Llwynpia, South Wales. A colliery village., between c1910 and c1915. Creator: Bain News Service
British coal strike - Llwynpia, South Wales. A colliery village., between c1910 and c1915. Shows the town of Llwynypia, Wales.

British Strike - coal ships tied up at Cardiff, between c1910 and c1915. Creator: Bain News Service
British Strike - coal ships tied up at Cardiff, between c1910 and c1915.

British coal strike - idle dock laborers, Cardiff, between c1910 and c1915. Creator: Bain News Service
British coal strike - idle dock laborers, Cardiff, between c1910 and c1915.

Miners of the Hartz; From Alsace to the Hartz, 1875. Creator: Unknown
Miners of the Hartz; From Alsace to the Hartz, 1875. From Illustrated Travels by H.W. Bates. [Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, c1880, London] and Galpin

Scene of the Late Fatal Explosion of Fireworks at Lambeth, 1858. Creator: Unknown
Scene of the Late Fatal Explosion of Fireworks at Lambeth, 1858. A large order caused extra work, and filled the factory brimful of dangerous missiles...after the men had left

The Foundry, after Adolf Friedrich Erdmann Menzel, c1880-83. Creators: Adolph Menzel, W Manfield
The Foundry, after Adolf Friedrich Erdmann Menzel'. From "Modern Artists" by F.G.Dumas. [J.S.Virtue & Co Ltd, London, c1880]

P.O. Dept. between 1910 and 1920. Creator: Harris & Ewing. P.O. Dept. between 1910 and 1920. Creator: Harris & Ewing
P.O. Dept. between 1910 and 1920. USA. Women operating Union Special sewing machines

P.O. Dept. between 1910 and 1920. Creator: Harris & Ewing. P.O. Dept. between 1910 and 1920. Creator: Harris & Ewing
P.O. Dept. between 1910 and 1920. USA. Older woman working in a factory

P.O. Dept. between 1910 and 1920. Creator: Harris & Ewing. P.O. Dept. between 1910 and 1920. Creator: Harris & Ewing
P.O. Dept. between 1910 and 1920. USA. Women operating sewing machines

P.O. Dept. between 1910 and 1920. Creator: Harris & Ewing. P.O. Dept. between 1910 and 1920. Creator: Harris & Ewing
P.O. Dept. between 1910 and 1920. USA

Supply Personnel, between 1910 and 1920. Creator: Harris & Ewing. Supply Personnel, between 1910 and 1920
Supply Personnel, between 1910 and 1920. Women office workers, USA. Note electric fans. Sign reads: Deposit file papers from executive section here

Enlisted Officers Personnel, between 1910 and 1920. Creator: Harris & Ewing
Enlisted Officers Personnel, between 1910 and 1920. Women office workers, USA. Note electric fans

Training Division, between 1910 and 1920. Creator: Harris & Ewing. Training Division, between 1910 and 1920
Training Division, between 1910 and 1920. Women office workers, USA. Note electric fans. Notice reads: Instructions for Care and Maintenance, Globe Automatic Sprinkler Company'

Procurement Personnel, between 1910 and 1920. Creator: Harris & Ewing. Procurement Personnel, between 1910 and 1920
Procurement Personnel, between 1910 and 1920. Women office workers, USA. Note electric fans

8 hour day signs, between 1910 and 1917. Creator: Harris & Ewing. 8 hour day signs, between 1910 and 1917
8 hour day signs, between 1910 and 1917. New York, USA. Stamps promoting realistic working hours. Eight Hour Day - Work; Sleep; Free Time; Nearer to Justice; "Labor Center" N.Y.C

Government Printing office - Views, 1912. Creator: Harris & Ewing. Government Printing office - Views, 1912
Government Printing office - Views, 1912. Workers in US government office

Street meeting at night in Mexican town outside of Shafter, California, 1938. Creator: Dorothea Lange
Street meeting at night in Mexican town outside of Shafter, California. Organizer for United Cannery Agricultural Packing and Allied Workers of America (Congress of Industrial Organizations-CIO)

Weighers and warehousemens union headquarters, Oakland, California, 1936. Creator: Dorothea Lange
Weighers and warehousemens union headquarters. Oakland, California. ['Berkeley Unfair to Organized Labor']

The day after election, Oakland, California, November 12, 1936. Creator: Dorothea Lange
The day after election. Oakland, California. November 12, 1936. [Weighers and warehousemens union headquarters]

Street meeting at night...outside of Shafter, California, 1938. Creator: Dorothea Lange
Street meeting at night in Mexican town outside of Shafter, California. Organizer for United Cannery Agricultural Packing and Allied Workers of America (Congress of Industrial Organizations-CIO)

Street meeting at night in Mexican town outside of Shafter, California, 1938. Creator: Dorothea Lange
Street meeting at night in Mexican town outside of Shafter, California. Organizer for United Cannery Agricultural Packing and Allied Workers of America (Congress of Industrial Organizations-CIO)

Billboard on U.S. Highway 99 in California, 1937. Creator: Dorothea Lange
Billboard on U.S. Highway 99 in California. National advertising campaign sponsored by National Association of Manufacturers

Girls making cartridges for Enfield rifles at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, 1862. Creator: Unknown
Girls making cartridges for Enfield rifles at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, 1862. Our illustration was taken [at]...the Royal Laboratory Department...near the Plumstead marshes

Ponies and their handlers at Greenside Colliery in 1932. It was claimed that the ponies were kept in better conditions than many animals on the surface. 24th December 1932

Consett Steelworks being demolished in 1981. 09 / 01 / 81
Consett Steelworks being demolished in 1981. 09/01/81

Woman and a boy working in a coal mine, Bolton, Lancashire, 1848. A woman and boy underground in a coal mine moving a basket containing 3-4 cwt of coal

Night street meeting of cotton strikers near end of defeated strike. Kern County, California, 1939
Kern County, California. Night street meeting of cotton strikers near end of defeated strike. Strikers received seventy-five cents per 100 pounds; demanded one dollar

Four firms being picketed, 42nd Street, New York City, New York, 1939. Creator: Dorothea Lange
New York City. Four firms on 42nd Street in block east of Fifth Avenue were being picketed in this manner on this afternoon

Firms being picketed, 42nd Street, New York City, 1939. Creator: Dorothea Lange
New York City. Four firms on 42nd Street in block east of Fifth Avenue were being picketed in this manner on this afternoon

Women strike pickets, New York, 1910 (b / w photo)
5055782 Women strike pickets, New York, 1910 (b/w photo) by Bain, George Grantham - Bain News Service (1865-1944); Private Collection; (add.info.: New York shirtwaist strike or Uprising of the 20)

Cartoon commenting on the working conditions of shop assistants
5308985 Cartoon commenting on the working conditions of shop assistants by Du Maurier, George (1834-96); (add.info.: Cartoon commenting on the working conditions of shop assistants)

Molten metal is poured out by caster Brian Hunter at Parkfield Foundry, Stockton. 18th December 1984

Cannair Moodie Ltd employees working on a seven mile tunnel under Coventry city centre. 17th March 1970

Cannair Moodie Ltd employees Charlie Rodgers from Arranmore (left) and James McGee from Falcarragh working on a seven mile tunnel under Coventry city centre. 17th March 1970

Staff at The Co-operative Bank, John Frost Square, Newport, have started getting hot behind the counter... so special dispensation has been given for them to wear shorts instead of their bank

From the face to the main haulage, some as long as half a mile, the tubs have to pushed by men through absolute darkness. Sometimes the roof is just an inch higher than the tb

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From the depths of 19th-century coal mines to the bustling streets of New York City, they have long been a battleground for labor rights. Scotch lassies tirelessly curing kippers on the Isle of Man, their faces etched with determination and resilience. Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury, championing the cause of workers' welfare in his philanthropic endeavors. A haunting image captures a woman and a young boy toiling away in a Lancashire coal mine, their lives overshadowed by darkness and danger. The Consett Steelworks reduced to rubble in 1981, marking the end of an era but also highlighting the toll it took on those who worked there. Nightfall brings together cotton strikers in California as they gather strength amidst defeat, captured through Dorothea Lange's lens that immortalizes their struggle. Picket lines form along 42nd Street in New York City as workers unite against unfair treatment and demand justice from indifferent corporations. Women take center stage as strike pickets in 1910 New York, defying societal norms and fighting for their rights with unwavering resolve. Even cartoons join the conversation by shedding light on shop assistants' plight under harsh working conditions. Civil engineers at Silverwood Colliery stand tall amidst South Yorkshire's mining landscape; symbols of expertise yet vulnerable to hazards underground. Throughout history, Lord Shaftesbury stands as an emblematic figure advocating for improved working conditions—a reminder that progress is possible when we prioritize human dignity over profit.