Steel-Making in Cleveland: A Case Study of the History and Culture of Industrialization, Immigration, and Labor in America

FAIN: BI-50046-06

Western Reserve Historical Society (Cleveland, OH 44106-1703)
Edward J. Pershey (Project Director: March 2006 to May 2009)

Two one-week summer workshops for fifty community college faculty to study the history of the steel industry and its role in nineteenth- and twentieth-century industrial America through a remarkable archive of corporate documents and historical sites in the city.

In the summer of 2007, the Western Reserve Historical Society (WRHS) in Cleveland, Ohio will present "Steel Making in Cleveland: A Case Study of the History and Culture of Industrialization, Immigration, and Labor in America," two, one-week workshops for community college faculty from across the country. Cleveland's industrial sector and the surrounding working class neighborhoods serve as an excellent case study for these workshops. WRHS holds the archival records of the LTV Steel Corporation and its predecessor companies whose history extends back to the very beginnigns of steel making in America. This archives, the largest resource on the history of steel in America, provides the historical ammunition for exploring the history directly and in suggesting ways for participants to structure coursework around primary resources. NEH funded the processing of these archives which was completed in May 2006.