Manpower was originally founded by Leonard Detweiler of Beowulf under the name Detweiler Consortium. In the 15th Century PD, after Detweiler and his followers had migrated to the Mesa System through the Visigoth Wormhole, he renamed the consortium Manpower, Incorporated, mostly to put a thumb in the eye to the anti-human engineering establishment on Beowulf. (SI2)

In the 19th and 20th Centuries PD, Manpower employees were the main targets of the organization of escaped slaves known as the Audubon Ballroom; if captured by members of the Ballroom, they often died very badly.