SSE program tackles subject of child labor
A Lewis Hine photo, calling attention to child labor in the nation’s mills in the 1800s.
By ROD LEE
During the brief time it has been in existence, the Samuel Slater Experience in Webster has quickly gained stature as a museum that puts the cultural and historical life of the region in perspective.
Another example of the contribution the SSE is making in this regard occurred on June 10th with a presentation by Linda Hixon on “Women and Children on the Time Clock”—a captivating look at how boys and girls as young as ten, and adult females, were employed in mills in Lowell, Hopedale and elsewhere around the Commonwealth in the 1800s and the first part of the 20th Century.
Ms. Hixon’s program follows ones recently offered on “Ice Harvesting” and “Early Transportation.” Coming up at the SSE is an introductory course on “Rigid Heddle Weaving.” A three-day workshop scheduled for July 15, 22 and 29, the course will show participants how to use their own rigid heddle loom. Call 508-461-2955 to register.
Ms. Hixon’s talk on child labor was a featured element of “Samuel Slater’s Birthday Weekend” at the museum, June 9-11. It was in every sense of the word an eye opener on the liberties manufacturers took in utilizing kids in the production of wool and cotton and other goods; “for every reason and for no reason at all,” as Mx. Hixon put it.
The Draper Company in Hopedale, where Ms. Hixon grew up, “was part of all of this, but later on,” she said. “We wouldn’t even contemplate that now.”
The initial portion of Ms. Hixon’s remarks, accompanied by pictures, focused on providing an answer to the question “what is childhood?” At what age does an individual go from adolescence to adulthood? For a friend of hers, she said, it was “fighting in World War II at the age of sixteen.” He is now in his 90s and apparently still alive, although she has lost contact with him.
“Is this a soldier?” she asked as well, of Charles Everett. He was “a drummer boy” in the horrific “Battle of the Wilderness” and died at fourteen in 1854. An only child and standing just 5 feet 4 inches tall, he joined the Army in January and was killed in May.
“The Army knew better,” she said.
Ms. Hixon made a point of championing the work of Lewis Hine, whose remarkable photographs of children working in “the mills, the mines and as chimney sweeps” were meant to put an end to America’s horrific practice of depending on child labor.
An historian who has taught at Worcester State, she was introduced to a large and attentive gathering by the museum’s Barbara Van Reed, who said “a big part of our story here is the children.”
The stories Ms. Hixon told hammered home the message that utilizing children in mills for up to sixteen hours a day with the windows closed was just plain wrong.
“These places were death traps in a lot of instances,” she said, citing several examples.
Located at 31 Ray St. in Webster and dedicated to the life of Samuel Slater, “Father of the American Industrial Revolution” and a founder of the town of Webster, Samuel Slater Experience is open Friday and Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 4:00. The museum with its array of interactive exhibits is available for field trips, parties and private functions, and to tour groups.
Call 508-461-2955 or go to https://samuelslaterexperience.org for more information or to make a donation.
Samuel Slater Experience principal sponsors are the Janet Masler Humanities Trust and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Contact Rod Lee at [email protected] or 774-232-2999.
By ROD LEE
During the brief time it has been in existence, the Samuel Slater Experience in Webster has quickly gained stature as a museum that puts the cultural and historical life of the region in perspective.
Another example of the contribution the SSE is making in this regard occurred on June 10th with a presentation by Linda Hixon on “Women and Children on the Time Clock”—a captivating look at how boys and girls as young as ten, and adult females, were employed in mills in Lowell, Hopedale and elsewhere around the Commonwealth in the 1800s and the first part of the 20th Century.
Ms. Hixon’s program follows ones recently offered on “Ice Harvesting” and “Early Transportation.” Coming up at the SSE is an introductory course on “Rigid Heddle Weaving.” A three-day workshop scheduled for July 15, 22 and 29, the course will show participants how to use their own rigid heddle loom. Call 508-461-2955 to register.
Ms. Hixon’s talk on child labor was a featured element of “Samuel Slater’s Birthday Weekend” at the museum, June 9-11. It was in every sense of the word an eye opener on the liberties manufacturers took in utilizing kids in the production of wool and cotton and other goods; “for every reason and for no reason at all,” as Mx. Hixon put it.
The Draper Company in Hopedale, where Ms. Hixon grew up, “was part of all of this, but later on,” she said. “We wouldn’t even contemplate that now.”
The initial portion of Ms. Hixon’s remarks, accompanied by pictures, focused on providing an answer to the question “what is childhood?” At what age does an individual go from adolescence to adulthood? For a friend of hers, she said, it was “fighting in World War II at the age of sixteen.” He is now in his 90s and apparently still alive, although she has lost contact with him.
“Is this a soldier?” she asked as well, of Charles Everett. He was “a drummer boy” in the horrific “Battle of the Wilderness” and died at fourteen in 1854. An only child and standing just 5 feet 4 inches tall, he joined the Army in January and was killed in May.
“The Army knew better,” she said.
Ms. Hixon made a point of championing the work of Lewis Hine, whose remarkable photographs of children working in “the mills, the mines and as chimney sweeps” were meant to put an end to America’s horrific practice of depending on child labor.
An historian who has taught at Worcester State, she was introduced to a large and attentive gathering by the museum’s Barbara Van Reed, who said “a big part of our story here is the children.”
The stories Ms. Hixon told hammered home the message that utilizing children in mills for up to sixteen hours a day with the windows closed was just plain wrong.
“These places were death traps in a lot of instances,” she said, citing several examples.
Located at 31 Ray St. in Webster and dedicated to the life of Samuel Slater, “Father of the American Industrial Revolution” and a founder of the town of Webster, Samuel Slater Experience is open Friday and Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 4:00. The museum with its array of interactive exhibits is available for field trips, parties and private functions, and to tour groups.
Call 508-461-2955 or go to https://samuelslaterexperience.org for more information or to make a donation.
Samuel Slater Experience principal sponsors are the Janet Masler Humanities Trust and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Contact Rod Lee at [email protected] or 774-232-2999.
