Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a national holiday honoring the contributions workers have made to the prosperity and well-being of the country. The first Labor Day observance was organized by the Central Labor Union in New York in 1882, with an estimated 20,000 workers marching in support of labor law reforms including the eight-hour work day. Labor organizations in other cites held similar events the following year, and a handful of states made Labor Day an official state holiday, including Massachusetts in 1888. Labor Day became a national holiday in 1894.

This year the Digital Commonwealth has been celebrating Labor Day by posting photographs of Massachusetts workers on the Digital Commonwealth Facebook Page. These images include cranberry pickers, bakers, construction workers, clerical workers and more from around the Commonwealth, and you’ll find many more photographs of workers in the Digital Commonwealth collections.

Filling the pies, Table Talk factory, Worcester
Filling the pies, Table Talk factory, Worcester
Cape Cod decoy carver
Cape Cod decoy carver – Harwich Port
Sorting linens at the Faulkner Hospital laundry
Sorting linens at the Faulkner Hospital laundry
A.E. Little Shoe, Lynn: Stitching room personnel
A.E. Little Shoe, Lynn: Stitching room personnel

Links to All the Selected Photographs

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