During the colonial era and until the first quarter of the
nineteenth century, the economy of the northeastern United
States was largely based upon self-sufficient family units that
made or grew what they needed and sold or bartered what
they could not consume. At that time, local economies
supported small-scale cottage industries in which both men
and women produced goods in their homes while also tending
to their farms and children. Although traditional, gender-based
divisions of labor dictated women's tasks, the contributions of
wives and daughters were vital to the economy of preindustrial communities. Their work was often recorded in
family or shop accounts.
The advent of Industrial Revolution, during the first quarter of the nineteenth
century, shifted the base of production from the home to the factory. With the
change in the organization of work, independent, skilled craftsmen were replaced
with large factories utilizing technology and mass production to meet the demands of
the growing consumer culture. The workers became beholden to the factory owners
who established new rules of labor and production, taking control from the workers.
Massachusetts working people also played a central role in shaping the Industrial
Revolution. (CofT, p.1) Not only did they provide the labor on which these new
industries depended, but they struggled to maintain a measure of control.
This change occurred over time with women continuing to perform “outwork” at
home, producing goods from materials distributed by factory owners. (Harvard
Business School, Baker Library website)
The textile industry, the heart of the Industrial Revolution, was born in
Massachusetts, taking hold in cities such as Lowell, Lawrence, Hudson, New Bedford,
among others. Factory workers were recruited from rural farming communities, from
throughout New England. Men and women ventured in large numbers to the cities to
help power the new industries. These workers, not only learned to operate
machinery and, in many cases, to live independently from their families, but also
organized the first labor unions, in an effort to gain a measure of control over their
new work environment.
Lowell became a major industrial center and by 1833 almost one third of its 12,000
citizens were employed in the textile mills. By the 1850’s Lowell had 19 mills and
was the “nation’s foremost cloth producer and the second largest city in
Massachusetts.” (CofT, p.7) A large proportion of these workers were women. The
Lowell “mill girls” played a prominent role in “the labor movement that sought justice
and economic security. They also began the struggle for women’s rights in the
workplace that still continues.” (CofT, p.1)
Millworkers played an important role in the push for a 10-hour working day, which
eventually became law in ____ after numerous efforts _______???
The importance of the textile industry in Massachusetts prompted one of the leading
manufacturers, Pacific Mills, to develop an educational package for use in schools.
This package included a lengthy pamphlet and two "cabinets" containing samples of
fibers--one for cotton, the other for wool. The samples showed how cotton and wool
changed through each stage of the processing.