Explore America’s transformative age of industrialisation, expanding wealth, inequality, and social change with Adam Matthew’s latest primary source collection, The Gilded Age and Progressive Era

From the opulent mansions and lavish social scene documented by the Newport Historical Society, to trade union arbitration records for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, The Gilded Age and Progressive Era charts an age of contradiction.

Featuring papers and correspondence from luminaries of the time including John D Rockefeller Sr, the Astor Family and Edith Wharton; the satirical cartoons of Thomas Nast and Joseph Keppler; material on labour disputes; and the records of rail, steel, and oil corporations; The Gilded Age and Progressive Era sheds light on this transformative period in American history.

“The Gilded Age is, indeed, Gilded, not Golden. If you scratch off the surface of all the wonderful new inventions, and technology, and urbanisation, and so forth, you'll find some very, very real problems. Social unrest, poor working conditions, unsafe tenement housing and political corruption were significant issues of the age and the material within this collection from Adam Matthew provides a valuable and unrivalled glimpse into this age of contradictions. To be able to sit down at my convenience and to look at document collections that have been digitised, it's revolutionary.”

Nancy Unger, Professor and Chair, History Department, Santa Clara University

“The Gilded Age and Progressive Era is the most expansive and varied digital collection of primary source material available for the study of the period. A time of huge wealth and rising social inequality, the resource covers a broad range of themes from architecture to labour movements, to philanthropy and progressivism. It stands as a truly varied collection of material charting the contradictions of the age."

Lauren Morgan, Head of Editorial Production, Adam Matthew

To find out more about The Gilded Age and Progressive Era, or to request a free trial of the resource, please visit the Adam Matthew website: amdigital.co.uk/primary-sources/the-gilded-age