An Honest Day's Work: A Photographic Tribute to Workers on Labor Day

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is our annual celebration of the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well being of our nation.

The first governmental recognition of Labor Day came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. From these, a movement developed to secure state legislation. In 1887, Oregon became the first state in the nation to enact legislation recognizing Labor Day as a state holiday. On March 11, 1891, Tennessee followed suit, as Gov. John P. Buchanan signed an act passed by the Tennessee General Assembly recognizing "that the first Monday in September of each and every year be set apart as a legal holiday, to be known as Labor Day."

By 1894, 23 other states followed the lead of Oregon, Tennessee and other states, adopting the holiday in honor of workers into state law. Soon afterward in that same year, Congress approved legislation making Labor Day a federal holiday. Today, citizens throughout the United States observe Labor Day as a well-earned day of rest from our busy work lives.

The Tennessee State Library and Archives would like to take this opportunity on Labor Day to honor workers throughout the "Volunteer State" through the following photographic tribute. This selection of images comes courtesy of the Library and Archives' Department of Conservation Photograph Collection...

Section crew on the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad. J. F. Palmer, the foreman, and five other men shown in Carter County.
Department of Conservation Photograph Collection

An employee checking the spindles at the Belding-Heminway Textile Corporation located in Morristown.
Department of Conservation Photograph Collection

Workers processing strawberries at Portland in the food packing plant in Sumner County.
Department of Conservation Photograph Collection

Workers inspecting washed phosphate rock, Mount Pleasant.
Department of Conservation Photograph Collection

An assemblyman stacking vinyl recording discs at the Bullet Plastics Co., a recording and transcription company located in Nashville.
Department of Conservation Photograph Collection

The gas range assembly line at the Athens Stove Works in McMinn County.
Department of Conservation Photograph Collection

Ernest H. Peckinpaugh supervising workers at rear of fly-tying room in his Chattanooga manufacturing company. Founded in 1920 to manufacture the first commercially tied fishing lures, by 1940 the E.H. Peckinpaugh catalog listed 60 different bugs and flies with hundreds of color combinations.
Department of Conservation Photograph Collection

The State Library and Archives is a division of the Tennessee Department of State and Tre Hargett, Secretary of State