Time Table of the Lowell Mills

The factory town of Lowell, MA was named after the inventor of a power loom that revolutionized manufacturing and, along with the technology, the structure of work. Owners of the mills employed thousands of people, most of them women called the "Lowell Girls." Their lives were rigidly controlled in ways that sound unimaginable: the lived in company-owned dorms, were required to attend church, and followed schedules like the one shown here. Labor organizations demanding better pay and more autonomy sprung up by the mid-1840s, communicated in publications like The Voice of Industry. The management of time--by oneself or one's employer--remains a crucial political issue.

Unknown

Printed document