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The Lowell Mill Girls
Describes the history of the textile industry in Lowell, Massachusetts, and the employment and other opportunities that the mills offered to New England women and girls.
48 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2005
About the author
Alice K. Flanagan
123 books2 followersAlice K. Flanagan has written books on many subjects. Exploring Parks with Ranger Dockett is just one of her books about jobs. Many children enjoy her books about birds. She has also written books telling about different Native American groups.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 9, 2009
Note: this is part of a series, all others have a similar format
What was it like for women in the early 1800s? Many in New England were finding farm and agricultural work to be scarce, and money even more scarce, so families sent their young women up to Massachusetts to work in the mills. The Lowell Mills were unique in that they had boarding houses, a hospital and a dining hall. Eventually, women moved on, and the Mills became more and more mechanized, as well as laws were passed to limit workdays and ages.
The book is divided into several chapters, each focusing on a different aspect of being a Mill Girl. The pages are filled with photos/drawings, documents and maps. The end of the book contains a timeline, important people list, a “want to know more?” section and an index. This is a well done book, filled with information, but not overwhelming. You can easily pair this with Lyddie (Paterson) or The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (Crewe).
What was it like for women in the early 1800s? Many in New England were finding farm and agricultural work to be scarce, and money even more scarce, so families sent their young women up to Massachusetts to work in the mills. The Lowell Mills were unique in that they had boarding houses, a hospital and a dining hall. Eventually, women moved on, and the Mills became more and more mechanized, as well as laws were passed to limit workdays and ages.
The book is divided into several chapters, each focusing on a different aspect of being a Mill Girl. The pages are filled with photos/drawings, documents and maps. The end of the book contains a timeline, important people list, a “want to know more?” section and an index. This is a well done book, filled with information, but not overwhelming. You can easily pair this with Lyddie (Paterson) or The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (Crewe).
January 7, 2011
I thought that this book was interesting and had a lot of useful information about mill girls. I was surprised that girls younger than me and girls around my age would have to work in these factories for 12 hours a day and only get a couple cents a day. I don’t think that it is worth it, even though the smallest amount of money would help, I still wouldn’t work so hard for little or no pay.
Many fires occurred from all the flammable oils and all the piles of cloth lying around in the ground. The work shops were usually on high floors above the other shops or houses underneath. Being 10 floors off the ground is a hard obstacle to climb over during a fire especially one starting from one of the bottom floors. Many people died from being stuck on the top floor during a fire. The workers would either have to jump from the floor that they were on or try the stairs or an escape of some sort to get out of the way of the fire’s flames. Obviously safety was not the main priority. Anyone who was physically able to work would work no matter how old. The main cause of children getting hurt was from the cause of machines that were too hard for the children to handle and they would often get fingers or arms cut, broken, or even torn off!
Even though that not much money was provided, housing and food, and water was provided and many families needed that. The work hours were from early in the morning to the evening and with little almost no breaks. The girls were required to work efficient, hard, and fast or they would end up losing up to a day’s pay, which most of them couldn’t afford.
They girls didn’t live in good conditions. There weren’t many windows and nor heaters or air conditioning. The bathrooms were right next to the workshops and were not well kept. The bathrooms stunk and sometimes there was feces and urine on the ground in the workshops. The water provided was not clean, but there was nothing else to drink. You could have that water or nothing.
Many fires occurred from all the flammable oils and all the piles of cloth lying around in the ground. The work shops were usually on high floors above the other shops or houses underneath. Being 10 floors off the ground is a hard obstacle to climb over during a fire especially one starting from one of the bottom floors. Many people died from being stuck on the top floor during a fire. The workers would either have to jump from the floor that they were on or try the stairs or an escape of some sort to get out of the way of the fire’s flames. Obviously safety was not the main priority. Anyone who was physically able to work would work no matter how old. The main cause of children getting hurt was from the cause of machines that were too hard for the children to handle and they would often get fingers or arms cut, broken, or even torn off!
Even though that not much money was provided, housing and food, and water was provided and many families needed that. The work hours were from early in the morning to the evening and with little almost no breaks. The girls were required to work efficient, hard, and fast or they would end up losing up to a day’s pay, which most of them couldn’t afford.
They girls didn’t live in good conditions. There weren’t many windows and nor heaters or air conditioning. The bathrooms were right next to the workshops and were not well kept. The bathrooms stunk and sometimes there was feces and urine on the ground in the workshops. The water provided was not clean, but there was nothing else to drink. You could have that water or nothing.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews