Today we traveled about an hour from Salem into Lowell Massachusetts, the seat of the Industrial Revolution in the United States. Our journey began with one of the most impressive museum exhibits we have seen thus far, the workings of 13 mechanized looms. The sound from these looms was so unbelievably loud. More shocking was the realization that not every loom in the room was turned on, more than 80 sat on the floor and even more shocking, at its height in that room at the Boott Cotton Mill there would have been between 150-200 looms, all working sun up to sun down.
After a brief trip upstairs to the museum, we walked to the boarding house, where young Lowell women were lodged during their tenure. Each housed around forty girls, all unmarried, many from rural farms seeking new economic opportunities. If you are thinking that the houses look small to house forty women, you are quite right. In fact, while each girl slept in a room of four with two beds. Downstairs by the kitchen was the room of the keeper, usually an older woman who cooked and cleaned for the forty girls living in the boardinghouse.
When thinking about which job I would rather have, at the time I thought the job of the girls sounded better than that of the keeper. Yes I would be working in an extremely loud room where I could possibly lose my hearing, suffer from brown lung, a respiratory illness much like the miner’s black lung due to the fibers and dust in poorly ventilated areas; however, I would not have to cook three meals for forty girls, clean for forty girls, and try to maintain the personal integrity of forty girls, many working to save for a dowry and meet a nice boy to marry.
At the gift store I bought my “artifacts” for part of my lesson I am developing regarding this day. I have a piece of cotton (uncarded), two bobbins of thread, and cut pieces of fabric from the mechanized looms we saw in action. I am going to begin discussing my immigration unit using these pieces and “weave” (awesome) the Industrial Revolution into it. Inquiry based, similar to what we did at the Paul Revere house with documents, an artifact and their brains. Still contemplating how it will all come together, so if you have suggestions, LET ME KNOW!
My favorite part of today however was the hands on activity where we had the opportunity to take cotton and carded (straightened) the cotton fibers into something that can be spun into yarn. We then hopped onto replica looms and spent a good twenty minutes weaving. I tried all the patterns and was excited to hear that we will get our pieces we created! I was also very excited that my shuttle was not connected to the loom when I first sat down, so I was able to pick a new thread color – any guesses as to what color I chose? That’s right, they had MY FAVORITE COLOR!
Beaming with excitement from the weaving activity (yep- doesn’t take much to make me happy) I realized that, had my parents had a loom and some sheep, if living in New England, or some cotton, if living in the south, I would have been content living in the 19th century with my loom. Maybe that should go on this year’s Christmas list- Mom, can I have a replica loom, carding tools and some cotton for Christmas?
I too had a great time creating the masterpiece on the loom. I don’t think that I want one for Christmas though 🙂 I learned it takes a lot of patience to get those stitches just right especially when choosing a intricate pattern. Great fun though!
Great job Stephanie
You gave a wonderful description of the site and all of its interesting points. If you want some ideas on a DBQ for this topic, please let me know. I do one for the Industrialization in England. It would be pretty easy to make it a U.S. activity as well.
I wold love to see the DBQ you do for industrialization! 🙂
Steph: I am really interested in seeing your unit on industrialization and how you tie Lowell into it. If I can assist you please let me know. Good insights and good discussion points.–Matt
You asked me to drop you a line when I got the beer blog going. It is up so check it out. Great posts by the way. Huzza!
http://macsbeerworld.blogspot.com/
Stephanie,
Great post. I agree with you about the preferred job of working in the factory versus the house work that the house mother would have had to do. I was talking to my Grandmother a while ago who grew up on a farm that often bordered laborers and was asking questions about her mother and what the girls of the family did with their free time. She thought and thought and did not have much of an answer because she did not remember much free time. She remembered her mother always working in the kitchen, washing clothes, and cleaning around the house. After seeing and experiencing the amount of work that went into a meal, I can see why there was little free time. Of course, the grass always seems greener on the other side.
Great blog, Stephanie! I love teaching about Lowell during my industrialization unit, and I think you make an excellent argument about the different jobs for women. It’d be interesting to introduce that topic to the high school students and see how they feel. Since Lowell is more directed at the women, you could also look at different job possibilities for the men and see which male students would “qualify” for certain jobs as well. It could really put industrialization into perspective for our students.