#Lowell factory town video free#

history, women gathered together to share their dissatisfaction and organize themselves to demand better living and working conditions.

#Lowell factory town video free#

Although they were free from the oversight of male family members, the companies that employed mill girls tried to control every moment of their lives to maximize production. Women were expected to work up to 14 hours a day for a fraction of the pay male workers received. Life in the textile mills was not easy, however. These “mill girls,” as they came to be called, were examples that women could function outside of the protective bubble of home and family. Some lived away from home in dormitories with other women workers. For the first time, women were encouraged to leave their homes and work in factory settings. The machinery was also very expensive and could not be run efficiently by a single family. The steam-powered machinery used in textile mills was much faster than individual women spinning and weaving in their homes. Any money made by women at home was the lawful property of their male guardian, and it was often used to support their family. Many women took in work spinning thread or weaving cloth. Before the arrival of steam-powered machines, most women of the lower classes worked in their homes under the control of their fathers or husbands. The Industrial Revolution would forever change the nature of work for women in the United States.

By the 1820s, steam-powered textile mills were popping up all over New England. In the 1790s, a few enterprising men returned from England with plans for new steam-powered machinery. entrepreneurs revolutionized the economy. politicians established the country’s new government, U.S. I will be responsible for the safety of all baggage that is placed in my care. If you can’t make it to a hotel, then meet me on the train. I will be leaving for the mills with those that I hire on Friday, July 29th. Anyone interested should come now because we will not be hiring again for a while. If you are interested in applying, you can find me at local hotels for the next few days. I will be responsible for the safety of all baggage that is marked in care of I.M. Such as do not have an opportunity to see me at the above places, can take the cars and go with me the same as though I had engaged them. I shall start with my Company, for the Mills, on Friday morning, the 29th inst., from Rouses Point, at 6 o’clock. I shall be at the Howard Hotel, Burlington, on Monday, July 25th at Farnham’s, St Albans, Tuesday forenoon, 26th, at Keyse’s, Swanton, in the afternoon at the Massachusetts’ House, Rouses Point, on Wednesday, the 27th, to engage girls,-such as would like a place in the Mills would do well to improve the present opportunity, as new hands will not be wanted late in the season. Only active and healthy girls will be accepted.

Only girls who can commit to one-year contacts should apply. Workers will be cared for if they get sick. None but active and healthy girls will be engaged for this work as it would not be advisable for either the girls or the Company. It is hoped that none will go except those whose circumstances will admit of their staying at least one year. They will be properly cared for in sickness. Anyone who works for 18 months will have their travel expenses reimbursed. Any girls whose tickets are paid for will have to work off the debt at the mills. I will pay for any girl who can’t afford to travel to the mills. Workers are contracted to work for one year unless they get too sick to work. After the first month, they will be paid according to standard rates. They will also be given food and a place to live. Workers will be paid $1 a week for the first month.

All that remain in the employ of the Company eighteen months will have the amount of their expenses to the Mills refunded to them. I will pay the expenses of those who have not the means to pay for themselves, and the girls will pay it to the Company by their first labor. They will be considered as engaged for one year, cases of sickness excepted. It is presumed they will then be able to go to work at job prices. They will be paid $1.00 per week, and board, for the first month. I’ve been hired by the mills in Lowell and Chicopee, Massachusetts, to find workers on the following terms: I am authorized by the Agents of said Mills to make the following proposition to persons suitable for their work, viz: