1. Engendering Business: Men and Women in the Corporate Office, 1870-1930 by Angel Kwolek-Folland (Johns Hopkins University Press). Not only did America shift from a predominately agricultural country to an industrialized nation between 1870 and 1930, it also built financial industries. The budding corporate world required thousands of employees, both male and female: Male executives, managers, agents and salesmen almost always needed a secretary, stenographer, typist or clerical worker. Women usually filled those positions. In 1870, women made up only 2.46 percent of the clerical workforce; by 1930, they accounted for more than 50 percent. For those whose ancestors worked in early corporate America, Engendering Business offers an interesting look into the world of the first women to work side by side with men.

2. Lewis W. Hine: Children at Work by Vicki Goldberg (Prestel). Hine, an early 20th-century photographer, captured many images of the working-class world. Perhaps his most startling photographs are those of child laborers. Between 1906 and 1918, Hine worked for the National Child Labor Committee, documenting children's poor working conditions on film. This book contains mostly photographs with descriptive captions, and it illustrates a tragic side of American history — and family history — when children were exploited in the factories, fields, mills, coal mines and streets of industrial Anerica. If your ancestors worked as children, this book will help you visualize their everyday lives.