Lowell and the American Industrial Revolution Overarching Questions for this Unit

1) What factors fostered the development of large-scale textile manufacturing in Lowell—and, ultimately, the expansion of the American Industrial Revolution?

2) What consequences, good and bad, did Americans experience as a result of the Industrial Revolution?

3) Why is Lowell historically significant as part of the story of the Industrial Revolution? Sections and Topics: Section I: "Why Lowell?": The Birth of Industrialization in New England

Topic 1: Essentials of Industrialization Topic 2: The Birth of Corporations Topic 3: Features of Lowell's First Factories

Section II: Farm to Factory

Topic 1: Work on the Farm and in the Factory Topic 2: A New Life: Letters Home Topic 3: Earning, Saving, and Spending in the Mill City

Section III: Competition, Change, Conflict: The Price of Progress, 1835-1845

Topic 1: Speed-ups, Stretch-outs, and Wage Cuts: What's a Worker to Do? Topic 2: Inventions in the Textile Mills: Making More, Harming Some

Teaching Approaches: What options do teachers have in presenting the materials in this packet and assessing student learning? Teachers can have students

• complete "Activities" linked to each topic, using related documents. • answer questions in the "Think About" sections directly following each of the written

documents (letters, memoirs, newspaper articles, pamphlets). • use questions on "Connections" sheets to explore topics in greater depth, connecting

related documents and referring to the Lowell National Historical Park Handbook for rich images and background information.

• keep a journal throughout the unit, using the "Unit-Long Project" sheet in this packet. • do end-of-unit writing and/or presentation activities drawing upon resources in this

packet. (See various "Wrap-Up Activity Sheets.")

Section I: "Why Lowell?": The Birth of Industrialization in New England Understandings: Students will understand that

• the Merrimack River was an attractive power source due to its flow, head, proximity to/distance from the city of Boston

• social and economic factors in early 19th-century New England fostered the development of textile mills in places such as Lowell

• the corporations founded by Francis Cabot Lowell and the Boston Associates, along with the growth of a market economy, resulted in major changes in the American economic system

____________________________________________________________________________ Essentials of Industrialization Essential Questions:

What features of New England made it a suitable place for the birth of textile cities like Lowell?

What made East Chelmsford a good place for siting a water-powered mill? Activities Addressing These Questions:

ACTIVITY 1.1 Siting a Mill (Map Study) ACTIVITY 1.2 Measuring Growth and Change in Lowell’s Early Years (Graphing)

____________________________________________________________________________ The Birth of Corporations Essential Questions:

What is a corporation? What are the benefits and risks of a corporation? On what things did mill owners have to spend money?

Activity Addressing These Questions:

ACTIVITY 1.3 The Birth of a Corporation (Role Play) ____________________________________________________________________________ Features of Lowell's First Factories Essential Questions:

How were Lowell's early textile mills powered? How were Lowell's mills organized, physically, for mass production of cloth? Why

was this system more efficient than previous methods of cloth production? Activities Addressing These Questions:

ACTIVITY 1.4 A New England Textile Mill (Picture Study) ACTIVITY 1.5 The Growth of a Mill (Map Study)

____________________________________________________________________________

ACTIVITY 1.1

Siting a Mill (Map Study) Materials Needed: Student Source 1 Map of East Chelmsford

Student Source 2 Map of New England, 1854 Student Source 3 Map of Lowell, 1845 Student Source 4 Nathan Appleton's Memoirs

Directions: Study the maps of Student Sources 1 and 2 and read Student Source 4, and then brainstorm a list of eight things needed for the establishment of a successful industrial enterprise (power, labor, capital, transportation, raw materials, land, technology/machines, a market). Which of these things are represented on (or suggested by) the maps? On Student Source 1, find the Pawtucket Falls and the Pawtucket Canal. Imagine how attractive the canal and all that cleared farm land must have looked to potential investors exploring rural East Chelmsford! Notice that several streets in today's Lowell bear the names of these early farmers. Now or later in the unit, compare the 1845 map of Lowell with the 1821 map of East Chelmsford. What has changed? Why? Digging Deeper To find out more about Lowell's beginnings and how geography affected industrialization in New England, students can use the following resources:

• the Tsongas Center's overview booklet, "The Early Industrial Revolution" • the Lowell National Historical Park Handbook (pp. 16-21) • David Macaulay's Mill • Cobblestone's The Mill Girls: From Farm to Factory (pp. 2-4)

ACTIVITY 1.2 Measuring Growth and Change in Lowell's Early Years (Graphing)

CENSUS

DATE

NUMBER OF PERSONS

EMPLOYED IN MANUFACTURING Massachusetts / U.S.

TOTAL POPULATION

Lowell / Massachusetts / U.S.

1820

33,464 / 346,845

n.a. / 523,287 / 10,037,323

1830

No data

6,477 / 610,408 / 12,785,928

1840

85,166 / 737,699

20,981 / 787,545 / 16,987,946

Use This Census Information to . . . Make a Graph (see next page for a format you can use) 1) Graph the change in Lowell's population from 1830 to 1840. 2) Graph the change in Massachusetts' population from 1820 to 1840. 3) Graph the change in the United States' population from 1820 to 1840. 4) Graph the change in the number of persons involved in Massachusetts manufacturing from

1820 to 1840. 5) Graph the change in the number of persons involved in United States manufacturing from

1820 to 1840. See How Much Lowell's Population Changed 1) Calculate the percentage gain in Lowell's population from 1830 to 1840. 2) Calculate the percentage gain in Massachusetts' population from 1820 to 1840. 3) Calculate the percentage gain in the United States' population from 1820 to 1840. 4) Which population had a greater percentage gain from 1820 to 1840: Lowell, Massachusetts,

or the United States? 1

For Your Graph Use the space below to graph your data on population and manufacturing. Use different color lines for each category. (For example, use a RED line for "persons involved in Massachusetts manufacturing," a BLUE line for "persons involved in U.S. manufacturing," etc.) POPULATION 1820 1830 1840 20,000,000 -

- - - -

15,000,000 - - - -

10,000,000 - - - - -

5,000,000 - - - -

1,000,000 - - - - -

500,000 - - - -

100,000 - - - - -

5,000 - Interpret Your Data Use your graph to create a theory about the relationship between manufacturing and population growth during these three decades and in these three places (Lowell, Massachusetts, and the United States). 2

ACTIVITY 1.3 The Birth of a Corporation (Role Play)

Travel back in time to experience Lowell's history through a role play. You need only a little planning time and no fancy scenery. Some students will take roles in front of the class and others will participate from their seats. First, read the basic story of the ideas that led to Lowell's creation:

The Birth of a Corporation Francis Cabot Lowell is a wealthy man, but the way he earns money--by trading with countries overseas--is risky. He is tired of worrying about pirates who rob ships, storms that cause shipwrecks, and wars here and abroad that interfere with shipping. He would no longer have to trade with other countries if he could start textile factories in Massachusetts, but he doesn't have enough money himself. He does have wealthy friends. Francis Cabot Lowell discusses his idea for building American textile mills with friends like Patrick Tracy Jackson, Nathan Appleton, Abbott Lawrence. They agree to pool their money and to invite some other wealthy men to join in, too. Because none of these wealthy men from Boston will actually live in Waltham (the site of their first mill village), others will be needed to build the mills, dig the canals, and, once the mills are in operation, be the mill overseers and managers. The wealthy owners trust the mill managers to run the mill well, so the wealthy men who pooled their money (also known as shareholders or investors) will all make the most money possible. Francis Cabot Lowell's clever, money-making plan leads to the creation of one of America's first corporations.

Cast: 3 or 4 students to role-play Francis Cabot Lowell and his friends Patrick Tracy Jackson, Nathan Appleton, Abbott Lawrence. Other cast members can include people hired to dig canals, build mills, or manage mills. Role-Play Idea: Show Francis Cabot Lowell worrying about his shipping business and trying to figure out how to make a lot of money some other way. Show Lowell telling his friends about his idea to build textile mills in Massachusetts. Have his friends discuss the idea (and argue a little!) and finally agree to pool their money with his. Show them deciding not to run the mills themselves. Digging Deeper To find out more about how Francis Cabot Lowell and his associates started textile corporations, students can use the following resource:

• Lowell National Historical Park Handbook, pp. 30-33, 34-35

ACTIVITY 1.4 A New England Cotton Mill (Picture Study)

Materials Needed: Student Source 5 New England Cotton Mill poster Directions: Study Student Source 5, the New England Cotton Mill poster. Look for the waterwheel in the basement and notice how the gears, belts, and pulleys connected to the wheel transfer its power to the floors above. Then follow the production "trail" through all the floors of the mill to the various machines that each perform a different step of the cloth process. What are the advantages of having all the different machines under the roof of one mill? Digging Deeper To find out more about how water powered New England's early mills and about how the mills were organized for efficient, large-scale cloth production, you can use the following resources:

• Lowell National Historical Park Handbook, pp. 44-47 • David Macaulay's Mill • www.osv.org (Old Sturbridge Village web site)

ACTIVITY 1.5 The Growth of a Mill (Map Study)

Materials Needed:

Student Source 6 The Growth of the Boott Cotton Mills (Maps) Directions: Look at Student Source 6, the maps showing the changes in the Boott Cotton Mills from the 1830s to the present.

1) Outline each building on the 1830s map in red. 2) Find those same buildings on the 1840's-1860's map and outline them again in red. 3) Outline the new buildings in blue. 4) Finally, do the red and blue outlining again on the 1870s map, and outline the new

buildings in green. What can you conclude about the success of Lowell's mills by tracing the growth of the Boott Mills this way? ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________

Section II: Farm to Factory Understandings: Students will understand that

• for various reasons, people, especially young women, left New England farms in the nineteenth century to work and live in new factory villages like Lowell

• the work and pace of life was different in the factory village • differences in the systems of craft and factory production resulted in changed

attitudes toward work • the rise of a cash economy opened a variety of opportunities for spending and

saving and spurred the development of social, educational, and cultural opportunities

____________________________________________________________________________ Work on the Farm and in the Factory Essential Questions:

Why did people choose life and work in a textile city over farm life and work? What was it like to live "on the corporation" in a boardinghouse? What were daily and seasonal mill work schedules like, and how did they differ

from those of the farm?

Activities Addressing These Questions: ACTIVITY 2.1 Working with Primary Source Documents (Activity Sheet) ACTIVITY 2.2 A Lowell Journal (Unit-Long Project) ACTIVITY 2.3 Life on the Farm (Comparison and Analysis) ACTIVITY 2.4 Recruiting for the Mill (Role Play) ACTIVITY 2.5 Leaving Home (Role Play)

____________________________________________________________________________ A New Life: Letters Home Essential Questions:

How did workers feel about mill work? In what ways did mill workers try to improve their financial situations? How did men's and women's pay rates and tasks differ?

Activities Addressing These Questions:

ACTIVITY 2.6 Working in the Mills (Role Play) ACTIVITY 2.7 Life in the City (Letter Writing)

____________________________________________________________________________ 1

Earning, Saving, and Spending in the Mill City Essential Questions:

What did mill workers do with their pay? How did the combination of money to spend and workers with free time shape the

culture of the new city?

Activities Addressing These Questions: ACTIVITY 2.8 Where the Money Went ACTIVITY 2.9 Money to Spend! / Money to Lose!

____________________________________________________________________________

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ACTIVITY 2.1 Working with Documents (Evaluating Primary Sources)

Materials Needed: Student Sources 7- 17 (various primary sources) Background: What is a primary source? A primary source is first-hand information written or created by a person who witnessed or participated in an event. Some examples of primary sources are:

Diaries, memoirs, letters Historical maps Statistics Interviews, oral histories, personal narratives Official documents and records Period newspapers Photographs

A secondary source is a description or written documentation created by a person not present at the event, often analyzing or interpreting information. Some documents can be a primary source in one situation and a secondary source in another. Time is often the most significant factor. For Discussion: Why might an article in a newspaper of today not be considered a primary source, when a newspaper article from the 1840s could be considered a primary source? Primary source documents are created by people and therefore were made with a specific perspective, purpose, or interpretation. Directions: With a partner, pick one or two documents from this packet. Fill in the blanks below. Consider these questions to help understand and evaluate the documents. 1. Was the person who wrote this account an eyewitness to the events s/he describes? Did

s/he actually see or participate in what happened? ______________________________ ______________________________________________________________________

2. Did the person who wrote this account have any biases or prejudices that might have affected what s/he wrote? ___________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________

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3. When did the person write down his/ her account of what happened? __________________ _________________________________________________________________________

4. For whom did the person write his/her account? ___________________________________ 5. How does this account compare with other accounts of the same event? _______________

_________________________________________________________________________ 6. Is this document represented in its entirety or is it a fragment of the entire document?

_________________________________________________________________________ 7. How could this influence the information gained from this document? ________________

_________________________________________________________________________ Class Challenge: Of Student Sources 7 through 17, which one might not be considered a primary source? ______ Why? ___________________________________________________ Now, in small groups, study one of the documents from the packet. (Note to the teacher: this activity will help students to become familiar with the content of the primary source documents so they will be better able to complete other activities in the packet.) After studying your document, answer the following questions from A Basic Toolbox for Teaching Primary Source Materials by Karen Haltunen: (www.chssp.ucla.edu/leadership/haltunen.html)

What strikes you in reading this document? What sorts of things leap out at you? What grabs your attention?

____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________

What surprises you? What do you find here that you didn’t know, or that challenges something you thought you knew?

____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________

What puzzles you? What don’t you get? What do we need to work together to try to figure out?

____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________

What patterns do you see? What concepts or key words keep cropping up? Where do you find repeated expressions of the same problems and concerns, hopes and fears, methods and goals?

____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ 2

Digging Deeper: To learn more about using primary sources, go to the following web sites: Library of Congress Learning Page:

http://leweb2loc.gov/ammem/ndpedu/lessons/psources.html Paper Trails: http://histpres.mtsu.edu A Basic Toolbox for Teaching Primary Source Materials:

http://www.chssp.ucla.edu/leadership /haltunen.html CBB Library and Information Services:

http://www.cbbnet.org/teaching/sources/html

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ACTIVITY 2.2 A Lowell Journal (Unit-Long Project)

You can travel in time "from farm to factory"--from the earliest days of the American Industrial Revolution to the peak of Lowell's fame as an industrial city--by keeping a journal of experiences you would have had if you lived in Lowell in the 1800s. Keeping a Lowell journal is easy. First, decide who you want to be. Need ideas? You could be

• a "mill girl" (Now, choose a job: for example, doffer, spinner, drawing-in girl, weaver) • a high-ranking mill manager (superintendent or agent) • a loom fixer • a overseer • boardinghouse keeper • a yard hand • a watchman

Next, write one entry each day, describing something you experienced as you made the change from farm to factory. Possible journal topics are given at the end of each lesson, or you can choose from the list of topics below. Topics Day 1: You have left your family's farm to go to work in Lowell. Write about why you left,

what the trip was like, and where you spent your first night. Day 2: Write about your first impressions of the mill. Name your job, and tell how you got it. Day 3: Write about what your job is like. What do you like--and what do you dislike--about

your job? Day 4: If you live in a boardinghouse, write about boardinghouse life. (If you don't, describe

your home and tell what living in Lowell is like.) Day 5: Write about activities you enjoy after work. Mention what you do with the money you

earn. Day 6: Write about how your city life and mill work differ from your farm life and work. What

are the good and bad factors of each situation? Day 7: Write about an unwelcome change in your work. Tell what you decide to do about this

bad situation. Day 8: Write about deciding whether or not to stay in Lowell. If you decide to leave, write

about where you will go--and why.

ACTIVITY 2.3

Life on the Farm (comparison and analysis)

Note: Staff of the Tsongas Industrial History Center used actual farm diaries, and letters, as well as some secondary sources, in preparing this timetable listing some of the tasks of a girl on a nineteenth-

century farm. Directions: Fill in the blanks to the right with activities from a typical day in your life. Time Tasks on the 1830’s Farm Activities in Your Life Today 5:00 am Get up and get dressed 5:00 am: Milk the cows in the barn 6:00 am 6:00 am: 7:00 am Eat breakfast with family 7:00 am: 8:00 am Feed the chickens and gather eggs 8:00 am: 9:00 am Help mother make cheese from milk 9:00 am: Mix bread. While dough rises spin yarn. 10:00 am Keep an eye on baby brother and sister. 10:00 am: 11:00 am 11:00 am: 12:00 pm Help mother prepare dinner. Eat 12:00 pm: dinner and feed baby. 1:00 pm Work in the garden. Gather 1:00 pm: vegetables. Chat with brothers as 2:00 pm they shear sheep. 2:00 pm: 3:00 pm Neighbor visits to trade wool for eggs. 3:00 pm: Spin while neighbor visits with mother. 4:00 pm 4:00 pm: 5:00 pm Make stew from garden vegetables. 5:00 pm: 6:00 pm Milk cows again. Eat supper. Wash 6:00 pm: dishes. 7:00 pm Sew new dress while father reads the 7:00 pm:

bible. 8:00 pm 8:00 pm: 9:00 pm Go to bed. 9:00 pm: 1

Questions for Discussion: How does this girl’s farm day compare to your day? How would her tasks change with the seasons? How does your life change with the seasons? Who do you think has more free time? JOURNAL TOPIC: Write about a day in your life, living on a farm in the early 1800’s. Choose a season and write about the chores that you would have to do during this season. What might you be looking forward to doing? What are your concerns and expectations? Digging Deeper: To learn more about life on the farm, view the Old Sturbridge Village video: Growing Up in New England.

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ACTIVITY 2.4 Recruiting Workers for the Mills (Role Play)

Materials Needed:

Student Source 7 Time Table of the Lowell Mills, 1851 Student Source 11 Mill Superintendent's Letter to Recruiter, 1847 Student Sources 12-17 Male and Female Mill Workers' Letters

Directions: Travel back in time to experience Lowell's history through a role play. Start by using the sources listed above to get a good understanding of why people exchanged farm life for mill life, what boardinghouse life was like, and how farm and mill work differed.

Role-Play Idea: A mill recruiter comes to a New England farm to discuss with parents and a young person the benefits and disadvantages of going to Lowell to work in a mill.

Cast: A mother, father, young person, and a mill recruiter. The rest of the class must be ready to give some advice to help the parents and young person decide what to do. JOURNAL TOPIC: A recruiter has just visited your farm looking for workers for the mills in Lowell. What did you hear the recruiter say to entice you to come, and to encourage your parents to let you go to the city?

ACTIVITY 2.5 Leaving Home (Persuasive Writing)

Materials Needed:

Student Source 11 Mill Superintendent's Letter to Recruiter, 1847 Student Sources 12-17 Male and Female Mill Workers' Letters

Directions: Imagine you are one of the following characters:

• farm parent • farm daughter • mill recruiter

Use various Student Sources to prepare a three-paragraph argument for or against leaving the farm to work in a textile mill in Lowell. Once the paragraphs are finished, compare the arguments of parents, daughters, and recruiters.

1) Introductory Paragraph: Who are you? What do you believe? 2) Body Paragraph: Give three reasons why you are for or against leaving the

farm to work in the mills. 3) Concluding Paragraph: Restate your position, using slightly different words.

JOURNAL TOPIC: There is a difference of opinion in your home. You and your parents disagree about whether or not you should go to work in the Lowell Mills. Discuss both sides of the dispute and how you feel about the final decision to let you go to the city and work in the mills of Lowell.

ACTIVITY 2.6 Working in the Mills (Role Play)

Materials Needed:

Student Source 7 Time Table of the Lowell Mills, 1851 Student Source 8 Boardinghouse Regulations

Student Source 9 Boardinghouse Pictures Student Source 10 Regulations--Suffolk Manufacturing Company, 1835 Student Source 12 Letters--Mary Paul to father, 1845-1848 Student Source 14 Letter--Eliza Adams to mother, 1841 Student Source 15 Memoir--Harriet Hanson Robinson (Loom and Spindle, 1898) Student Source 16 Letters--Arvilla Galusha to her mother, c. 1857 Student Source 17 Letters--Daniel Spencer Gilman to parents, 1840-1849 Student Source 23 Statistics of Lowell Manufactures, 1842

Directions: Travel back in time to experience Lowell's history through a role-play. Start by using the sources listed above to boost your understanding of what actual workers experienced in Lowell's factory system. Role-Play Idea: A new mill worker seeks out relatives already in the city and describes his or her new job. The relatives have lived and worked in Lowell's mills for three years, so they have plenty of advice and warnings for the new worker. Cast: 3 or 4 students--a new mill worker and 2 or 3 relatives (maybe aunt, uncle, and cousin).

Before the role-play begins, list all the things the new mill worker might say about work in the mill, as well as things the relatives might warn about.

JOURNAL TOPIC: Write about your day as a Lowell mill worker. What were the best and worst parts of your day? What advice or warnings did the experienced workers give you?

ACTIVITY 2.7

Life in the City (Letter Writing) Write a letter like those in the Student Sources. Imagine you are writing to your family back on the farm. Describe the most surprising part of your new life and work in Lowell. ____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

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____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

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Digging Deeper To find out more about how making cloth by hand differed from making cloth in a factory, you can use the following resource:

• NPS Handbook, pp. 28-29

ACTIVITY 2.8

Where the Money Went (Interpreting and Analyzing Documents) Materials Needed: Student Source 18 Facsimiles of business cards, tickets, and advertisements Directions: Copy Student Source 18 and cut apart. (White and colored card stock can make these facsimiles appear particularly authentic. Cards can be laminated or covered in Contact paper to make them more durable.) Each student gets one card (or a small group of students could receive a small bag or purse--like one a mill worker might have carried--containing several cards). In small groups:

• Look at your cards and discuss the opportunities available to mill workers. • Use your cards to create a list of activities and services where mill workers could spend their earnings. (Use Student Activity Sheet "Where the Money Went.")

In a whole-class discussion:

• Discuss what mill workers did with the money they earned. • Share small-group lists, and create a class list of opportunities available in the city. • Discuss how the availability of free time and disposable income (spending money) might lead to the establishment of stores and services in a young city like Lowell in the 1830s and 40s.

Optional Follow-up Activities: Write about four businesses a mill worker would most likely use and explain why they chose these businesses. Draw a map of a downtown city street. Then, along the street, draw squares or rectangles representing businesses like those shown on your cards. Explain why you placed the businesses where you did. Does downtown Lowell today have similar businesses in similar places? JOURNAL TOPIC: Write about the first time you walked from your boardinghouse to downtown Lowell after a long day of work. What businesses did you visit? What surprised you about the downtown? What are you looking forward to doing this Sunday when you will have more free time?

ACTIVITY 2.9 Money to Spend! / Money to Lose! (Activity Sheet--Economics)

Money to Spend! Imagine you are a mill worker in Lowell in the 1840's. Below are actual wages of Lowell mill workers mentioned in this packet. Choose a wage from A - G, and write it next to #1 below. This is the amount of money you make per week. A - $1.50 B - $2.00 C - $2.25 D - $2.40 E - $ 3.00 F - $3.50 G - $4.80 1) $______= Your weekly wages, after room and board are deducted

2) $______= Your monthly wages (Multiply your weekly wage by 4.)

3) $______= Amount of money (if any) you send home monthly to your parents for their farm

or to your brother (if you are a girl) for his education 4) $______= Amount of money (if any) you deposit in the bank monthly 5) $______= Amount of money (monthly) you have left to spend as you like Now, look at the items in the Shopping and Entertainment List below. Which items will you, as a mill worker, spend money on in the next month? Circle the items, and add up the prices.

Shopping and Entertainment List Item: Cost of Item: Item: Cost of Item: cameo earrings $2.00 bonnet $1.50 Lowell to Boston train fare $0.75 men’s hat $3.00 library fee (per year) $0.50 concert ticket (gentleman) $0.50 hardcover novel $0.25 concert ticket (ladies) $0.25 dress $6.00 shawl $2.00 ink paper and pens $0.20 daguerrotype in leather case $4.00 postage for a letter ladies' walking shoes $1.25

2 pages, 30-80 miles $0.20 gold watch $20.00 3 pages, 80-150 miles $0.25

6) It will cost me $_______ to buy the things I checked above. 7) I will have to work for ______ months to earn the money needed to pay for these things. 1

Money to Lose! As a Lowell mill worker of this time, you would have faced a number of possible problems, any one of which could mean a serious cut in your pay. Below are 7 problems that affected workers' pay. One of them is yours! Look for the letter you chose above when you picked a weekly salary (#1). Find out why your pay gets cut. A) This summer was unusually warm, with little rain. The Northeast is going through drought conditions and the water levels of the Merrimack are extremely low. Because there is less water, there is less power, and production must be cut back. There are fewer hours in each work day during this period, so you will not earn as much. Your weekly pay (after room and board deductions) drops from $1.50 to $1.35. B) A new mill in Fall River has just opened, producing essentially the same kind of cloth that your mill makes. Because of this competition, your mill's owners have reduced the price of cloth you make (so people will purchase your cloth rather than Fall River's). In order to keep profits up, there will be a 20% wage cut. Your weekly pay (after room and board deductions) drops from $2.00 to $1.60. C) Boardinghouse keepers have complained that they are having more and more difficulty managing their budgets, due to rising costs for food and services (such as privy cleaning). The corporations have responded with an increase in the amount of money that will be deducted from workers' pay and given to boardinghouse keepers. Your weekly pay (after room and board deductions) drops from $2.25 to $2.00. D) The United States is going through a depression. People have less money to spend, so they are purchasing less cloth. In order to run the mills at a profit, the corporations have reduced the number of workers on their payrolls. You have been laid off! Your weekly pay (after room and board deductions) drops from $2.40 to $0. E) Your mill has recently invested in a new invention that will make your job easier (a "weft fork" will now automatically stop your machine when the bobbin runs out of thread). Because this will increase production, the amount of money you make for each yard of cloth will be reduced. Your weekly pay (after room and board deductions) drops from $3.00 to $2.40. F) This spring four rainstorms have battered the area. With the additional melted snow from the mountains of New Hampshire, the Merrimack River is running extremely high. Too much water in the wheel pits (back water) is reducing the amount of power available, forcing the mills to temporarily close. Your weekly pay (after room and board deductions) temporarily drops from $3.50 to $1.40. G) It is midwinter and the days are short. Due to the high cost of whale oil for lamps, the mills are temporarily reducing the length of the work day to 8 hours. You therefore will make less pay. Your weekly pay (after room and board deductions) drops from $4.80 to $3.85. 2

Now that your income has dropped, re-calculate how much you have to spend. 1) $______= Your new weekly wages, after room and board are deducted

2) $______= Your new monthly wages (Multiply your weekly wage by 4.)

3) $______= Amount of money (if any) you now send home monthly to your parents for their

farm or to your brother (if you are a girl) for his education 4) $______= Amount of money (if any) you now deposit in the bank monthly 5) $______= Amount of money (monthly) you now have left to spend as you like Will you use your "spending money" differently now?

• Look again at the Shopping and Entertainment List. • Put an X through items you circled that you can no longer afford. • With your classmates, discuss the items you have decided to eliminate. Tell why you

eliminated them. • What businesses might suffer because so many students have chosen to eliminate

certain items? • If you were an owner of one of these businesses, how would you feel about the pay

cut? • Discuss how the financial health of the mills might affect the economic environment

of the city. 3

Section III: Competition, Change, Conflict: The Price of Progress, 1835-1845 Understandings: Students will understand that

• regional and national factors (economic crises, competition) caused mill owners to make economic and technological changes in order to protect profits

• mill workers responded to changes in the factory system in various ways • inventions could save the mills money, but use of these inventions altered health

and safety conditions

____________________________________________________________________________ Speed-ups, Stretch-outs, and Wage Cuts: What's a Worker to Do? Essential Questions:

What events threatened the profits of textile manufacturers? What changes did they make in their attempt to protect their profits? How did workers respond to changes in conditions in mill work?

ACTIVITY 3.1 Conditions in the Mills (Persuasive Writing) ACTIVITY 3.2 The Workers Respond! (Role Play) ____________________________________________________________________________ Inventions in the Textile Mills: Making More, Harming Some Essential Questions:

What did textile manufacturers hope to gain by adding new inventions to machines in the mills?

How did these inventions affect health and safety conditions for mill workers? ACTIVITY 3.3 Stay in the City or Return to the Farm? (Role Play) ACTIVITY 3.4 Health and Safety in the Mills (Interpreting Hospital Records) ____________________________________________________________________________

ACTIVITY 3.1 Conditions in the Mills (Persuasive Writing)

Materials Needed:

Student Source 15 Memoir--Harriet Hanson Robinson (Loom and Spindle, 1898) Student Source 19 From the Lowell Offering

Student Source 20 A Weaver's Letter Student Source 21 A Letter from Sarah Bagley Student Source 22 "Factory Tracts" Directions: First, use Student Sources 15, 19, 20, 21, and 22 to generate a list of mill conditions that workers disliked. After creating and discussing this list, write a persuasive essay in which you adopt one of the following points of view in order to understand what Lowell's workers felt in the mid-1800s as conditions in the mills worsened. Develop one the following statements, supporting your argument with three specific reasons: Argument #1: Workers who do not like conditions in the Lowell mills should not organize protests, "turn out" (strike), or circulate petitions to force changes upon the corporations--they should go just back home to their farms. Argument #2: A person who works in a textile mill where conditions are worsening ought to try to improve those conditions by leading or joining turnouts, signing petitions to send to the state legislature, and speaking out in public. Digging Deeper To find out more about labor concerns and workers’ reactions you can use the following resources:

The Ten-Hour Movement Curriculum Packet, Tsongas Industrial History Center Voices of Change, a 45-minute program presented in the classroom by Tsongas Industrial

History Center staff JOURNAL TOPIC: Write about the conditions in the mills that concern you. Perhaps there was an accident on your floor. What happened? How did your overseer react? How did the other workers react? What are your feelings about the conditions in the mills?

ACTIVITY 3.2

The Workers Respond! (Role Play) Materials Needed:

Student Source 15 Memoir--Harriet Hanson Robinson (Loom and Spindle, 1898) Student Source 19 From the Lowell Offering

Student Source 20 A Weaver's Letter Student Source 21 A Letter from Sarah Bagley Student Source 22 "Factory Tracts" Directions: Travel back in time to experience Lowell's history through a role play. Use the Student Sources to boast your understanding of how real workers reacted to changes in Lowell's factory system. Role-Play Idea: One mill worker stands on a street corner and complains about the conditions* in the mills, saying that workers should protest by "turning out" (striking). A small group of workers stands nearby and listens. More and more people join the group, as citizens of Lowell who do not work in the mills come closer to see what all the fuss is about. Some listeners (mostly workers) add their complaints; others (mostly citizens) mutter to each other in disagreement. If you want, you can make this a formal protest with signs, songs, and other speeches. *Conditions can include wage cuts, board increases, speed-ups, stretch-outs, long work days, health and safety hazards. Cast: You will need 1 speaker, 4 fellow workers listening, and about 8 citizens who join the group. The rest of the class can be newspaper reporters who take notes on the event in order to write an article. Digging Deeper To find out more about conditions in the mills and workers’ reactions, you can use the following resources: Cobblestone, “The Mill Girls: From Farm to Factory,” March 2001, pages 31 – 39. JOURNAL TOPIC: A fellow worker has just approached you to sign a petition to improve the working conditions in your mill. What arguments did this worker use to persuade you to sign? How do you react? Will you sign this petition?

ACTIVITY 3.3

Stay in the City or Return to the Farm? (Role Play) Materials Needed: Student Source 23 Statistics of Lowell Manufactures, 1842 Student Source 24 Corporation Hospital Records, 1844 Directions: Travel back in time to experience Lowell's history through a role play. The sources listed above to boost your understanding of difficulties actual workers experienced in Lowell's factory system. Role-Play Idea: An operative recently discharged from the corporation hospital, now back in his/her crowded boardinghouse bedroom, tells roommates about the illness or injury that was treated, and asks their advice about whether to leave Lowell and return to the farm. They, in turn, share recent developments in the mills (e.g., pay reductions, other recent accidents and illnesses, machine speed-ups, formation of the Lowell Female Reform Association) that might influence the decision as to whether to stay or return home. Cast: You will need 1 operative and 3 roommates, all of the same gender. The rest of the class can raise their hands to give their advice on whether the operative should stay in the mills or go home to the farm. Digging Deeper To find out more about what mill workers did to improve conditions in the mills, students can use the following resources:

• NPS Handbook, pp. 52-56 • Ten-Hour Movement packet (Tsongas Center)

JOURNAL TOPIC: You have come to a decision! Write about whether you have decided to stay in the city of Lowell or leave (if you decide to leave, be sure to say where you will go). What factors led you to make this choice? What will be the most difficult consequence of your decision?

ACTIVITY 3.4 Health and Safety in the Mills (Interpreting Hospital Records)

Materials Needed:

Student Source 24 Corporation Hospital Records, 1844

Directions: Look carefully at these hospital records. They contain the following information (see handwritten headings across the top): Date Entered - Name - Time - Age - Married or Single - Occupation - Disease - Where Born - Surety - Number Removed - Time of Removal - Weeks - Days - Dollars - Cents -Result - Remarks Now, answer the questions below: 1) The diseases listed below appear in the column with the heading "Disease." Which of these diseases might have been caused by sucking the thread through the hole in the side of the shuttle to thread it? Diseases Listed in Hospital Records (top to bottom): Fever, ditto, Pericarditis, Fever, Bronchitis, Bronchitis, Headache, Dyspepsia, Dyspepsia, Neuralgia, Fever, Pneumonia, Pneumonia, Bronchitis, Fever, ditto, (illegible), Rheumatism, (illegible), Fever, Wound, Asthma, Fever, Pleurisy, Lame Knee) 2) What do you notice about the gender (male or female) of most of the patients? 3) Are there more married or more single patients? 4) What jobs did these patients have? (Which two did not work in the mill? What did they do for work?) 5) How many came from New Hampshire _______? From Maine _______? From Vermont _______? From Lowell _______? From Canada _______? 6) How many patients were "cured" _______ ? How many were "relieved" _______? How many died?_______ 1

7) Write a sentence describing a typical patient at the corporation hospital in 1844. Be sure to mention age, gender, place of birth, and type of job. SENTENCE:_________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________. 8) Calculate the average number of weeks and days the patients listed on this page spent in the hospital. AVERAGE: _______weeks,_______days 9) Calculate the average amount of money the hospital charged these patients (see the Dollars and Cents columns). $___________ During Your Visit to the Boott Cotton Mills In the Boott Cotton Mills weave room, look for the shuttle going back and forth on a running loom. Watch where the weaver stands when operating the loom. The looms you see in this weave room exhibit are from the1920's, not the 1840's. Ask your museum teacher or a ranger the following questions, or try to determine the answers on your own: 1) What tasks would an 1840s weaver have done that a 1920's weaver would not have to do? 2) What inventions made it possible for the 1920's weaver not to have to do those tasks? 3) Do you think the 1920's weave room was safer than the weave room of 1840's? 4) Are the weave room windows sweaty? Why or why not? Find out why mill owners wanted weave rooms to be warm and humid. Words to Know surety: insurer; in this case, the corporation that would have to pay hospital expenses beyond

what the patient could afford EXTRA: A "Window Gem" Warning "Window gems" were pieces of paper that workers had written on and stuck to the sweaty mill windows. After your visit make your own window gem. On a small piece of paper, write some words of warning to a new weaver, giving advice on how to stay safe in the weave room. 2

Wrap-Up Activity Sheet 1 Storytelling: A Mill Worker's Life Use your imagination--and the documents in this packet--to become a textile mill worker in nineteenth-century Lowell and get your story written down for future generations to read. You left a farm village in New England to come to Lowell. You know you have worked in a unique place, visited by important and famous people from all over the world. If you write the story of your life and work in Lowell's famous mills, future generations can learn all about you and your place in history. The Basics Your name: ___________________________ (Hint: Look at the letters, Corporation Hospital Records, or other documents in this packet to choose a good nineteenth-century name) Your hometown/state: ____________________ Year of your arrival in Lowell: _____ Year in which you are writing this memoir:_________ Your age when you arrived: ______ Your age at the time of writing this memoir: _________ The Heart of the Story 1) Why did you leave the farm? 2) What job or jobs did you take in the mills? 3) What did you think about the daily schedule, about living in a boardinghouse? 4) What did you do for fun after work? 5) How much did you make--and spend--and where did the money go? 6) What did you think about the conditions that others protested against? Did you get involved? 7) What did you think about national events that affected Lowell? Draft Check: Have a classmate read your story, and see if he or she can answer all of these questions. If not, keep writing!

Wrap-Up Activity Sheet 2 Storytelling: A Mill Manager's Life In all your years of being employed by Lowell's textile corporations, you may never have operated a single machine, but your work has helped make the mills successful. If you write the story of your life and work in Lowell's famous mills, future generations can learn all about you and your place in history. Writing a Manager's Story Use your imagination to become a mill manager or recruiter, and write the story of your life and work in nineteenth-century Lowell. The Basics Your name: ___________________________ (Hint: Look at the letters, Corporation Hospital Records, or other documents in this packet to choose a good nineteenth-century name) Your hometown/state: ____________________ Year of your arrival in Lowell: _____ Year in which you are writing this memoir:_________ Your age when you arrived: ______ Your age at the time of writing this memoir: _________ The Heart of the Story 1) Why did you come to the Lowell mills? 2) What was your job like? 3) How did your job compare with other jobs in the mill? 4) What did you do for fun after work? 5) What did you think about the worker protests that occurred in Lowell? Did you get

involved? 6) What did you think about national events that affect Lowell? Draft Check: Have a classmate read your story, and see if he or she can answer all of these questions. If not, keep writing!