Press Release for Labor History

Routledge is delighted to announce the appointment of Dr Craig Phelan to the Editorship of their quarterly, ISI-ranked journal Labor History. Dr Phelan, originally from the United States, is currently Lecturer in the Department of American Studies at the University of Wales, Swansea. Dr Phelan’s most recent monograph, Grand Master Workman: Terence Powderly and the Knights of Labor, was nominated for the Philip Taft Labor History Prize, and he is currently working on a comparative study of American and European labor movements. Labor History, the pre-eminent journal for historical scholarship on labor in America, will continue to thrive under Dr Phelan’s leadership, and his vision is one of inclusiveness and openness; under his guidance, the journal will be ecumenical in its approach and showcase the work of labor historians, industrial relations scholars, economic historians, political scientists, historical sociologists, labor economists, social movement theorists, business historians and all others who write about labor in historical perspective.

Labor History will also be committed to geographical and chronological breadth. In addition to publishing the best scholarship on labor in America, the journal will occasionally publish work on labor in Europe and around the globe in order to gain the insights afforded only by a comparative approach; it will also be as concerned with questions of labor from the eighteenth century as it will be with the historical roots of contemporary events, encouraging articles that provide background to labor issues such as trade, globalization, immigration, and labor law.

Under Dr Phelan, Labor History will be a true learning journal in which ideas from a wide range of perspectives will be shared, helping to bind together a large but fragmented area of study. By embracing all disciplines, time frames and locales, Labor History will continue to be the flagship journal for the entire field, broadly defined, and a journal that will better reflect the diversity of labor history itself.

As Editor, Dr Phelan will, with the assistance of his Editorial Board, also oversee the disbursement of the Labor History Royalty Fund each year. This Fund, intended by the publishers to support the labor history community, will be used to endow essay prizes, student bursaries and travel grants for scholars at all stages of their career; the Fund will also be used to return revenues to authors whose articles in Labor History have been reprinted.

From 2004, authors whose work is accepted in Labor History will also have the guarantees provided by the Labor History Bill of Rights, which, amongst other things, commits the journal to the fair review of articles, free from political bias; a copy of the Bill of Rights is posted on the Labor History website.

Routledge would also like to announce that institutional subscribers to Labor History will soon be able to enjoy electronic access to the journal’s rich archive as it begins the digitisation of the entire run of the journal. Access to this archive -- forty years of additional material when the project is complete -- will be free with all institutional subscriptions and will continue to ensure that Labor History remains indispensable to all those working in the field.