While it might seem like a depressing story upon first glance, the inspiring nature of the history of the mill girls in Lowell, MA as well as the impact of what the textile mill industry had on America through the Industrial Revolution is truly an amazing story to explore at the Boott Cotton Mills!
The model factory city of what was the New World in the early 1800s, Lowell, MA is home to the National Historic Site run by the National Parks Service.
Upon arriving at the museum, you’ll round the corner and get to “clock in” with an old time punch card.
This is such a thoughtless action in the beginning, but I encourage you to have your children and/or students think about the idea of how time seemed to change the day-to-day and season-to-season happenings of people’s lives. Clock out at the end and discuss things such as working 10-14 hours a day, working before the sun was up and after it was down so they never saw the sun outside, and that year round, there was no slowed pace.
Walking through the weave room, you can look at signs describing the different types of woven fabrics as well as get to see and hear the misters go off over head. Every hour or so there’s a 20 minute demonstration of working machines from over 100 years ago. You get to see and hear the power of several machines going all at once!
If you start at the NPS visitor center before going, there are books, displays, and a statue outside to commemorate the mill girls.
The first floor is home to many machines and you get to see the power of how the leather belts rotate to power the old machines. It’s a great time to talk about water power, steam power, and the evolution of how we generate energy in factories today.
On the second floor there is a wonderful video that traces history from Jefferson in the early 1800s, through the Industrial Revolution, to the Gilded Age and that of the tycoons of the late 1800s. What a 100 year span of time to change the American landscape and how mills and industry played a part in that.
Activities at the Museum
Don’t forget to grab your downloadable/printable guide to use before, during, and after your museum experience here: Boott Cotton Mills Museum Field Trip Guide for Extended Learning
There are several hands-on activities upstairs for younger kids (and everything is handicap and stroller accessible).
- Time yourself against the clock to see how fast you needed to prepare the machines with new thread and according to different patterns.
- Be thoughtful and creative to use gears to get the bobbin to spin while ringing a bell at the other end!
- Hand weave on an artisan loom. (One of the park employees mentioned his favorite thing about the machine looms is that it’s the same as doing it by hand, just mechanized and faster. But not a different process).
- Hand card some cotton to see what it takes to prepare raw cotton or wool.
Books and Resources to use for a full unit study
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One of the best parts of going to a hands-on field trip is making historic fiction come to life in a meaningful way. Children can relate to characters well and the personification of things like the weaving machines within the book Lyddie seem to make sense because they can hear, see, and smell what was happening similar to in real life.
We started our field trip in the National Park Service building where there is a small reading nook with some of the shorter children’s books available. I also highly recommend listening to Lyddie on Audible* before, on the way, and on the way home from the field trip.
- Lyddie* is our very top recommendation. My children 0-12 loved this book and it has a lot of great application for Middle School and High school levels while being understandable and enjoyable for all ages. This book is originally set in Vermont and the main character moves to Massachusetts.
- A New Coat For Anna* This was one of our favorite of the Children’s books because it shows the power of trade economy, the process of making a coat, and the time it takes! It takes over a full year to get a new coat for Anna which led to great discussions about taking for granted just going out and buying something. It also points to the community behind the product. And finally it also goes to show that usually the very first step takes the longest time.
- Cotton Now & Then: Fabric-Making from Boll to Bolt* This was also a favorite children’s book because it helped a lot of the longer timeline come together helping them understand just how cotton could even possibly be turned into fabric. Inside of the museum there is a tube with a boll at one end and finished thread at the other end. It’s a great way to make this book come alive. (There is picture above with rounded corners that shows this in the museum).
- The Bobbin Girl* was a great children’s book set in Lowell and protesting and working for better conditions.
- Charlie Needs a Cloak* tracks the process from sheep to cloak.
- Brave Girl* Traces some of the efforts to reform factory conditions and the Shirtwaist Makers’ Strike of 1909.
- Abueala’s Weave is a story about artisan hand-weaving in Guatemala in contrast to Industrial weaving in Lowell. It also is a great launching point to help students trace the idea of immigration.
Key topics to plan to talk about at the Bootts Cotton Mill Museum
Whether you choose to use these questions and ideas as research paper ideas, learning to write five paragraph persuasive essays, or just have a general discussion, they are meant to help students of all ages look at their experience at the museum with higher level thinking. I want my children to walk away thinking “how does this impact ME?” and/or “how does the history presented at the museum shape modern life?”. If students fail to see the importance in overall history and how it connects back to their own lives, they won’t care. It won’t matter. And it won’t make a lasting impact. Not everyone has to enjoy a museum in order to learn from it and understand their own life or society better because of it.
Some basic questions might also be asked of museum staff!
- Discuss the idea presented in the video on the second floor of the Bootts Cotton Mills Museum that working for wages is or is not the end of liberty.
- Compare and contrast skilled labor and artisans with unskilled employees and mass production. What are the benefits of each and what are the downfalls of each?
- How did industrialization impact both urban and rural living? How was it that industrialization helped farmers, hurt urban workers?
- How did industrialization shift the social landscape of America?
- Debate whether the Industrial Revolution was a net positive or net negative and why.
- Defend Liberty: what does it look like in the modern age? Use examples from the American Revolution, Industrial Revolution, The Golden Age of Invention, The Great Depression, and the Information Age. Analyze what it means to be truly free and how it has changed over time.
- Although factories were primarily in the north, explore how the south had a massive impact on the textile industry.
- Weigh the impact of slavery, indentured servitude, and immigration on the building of the nation’s economy.
- Identify mill conditions and the ages and capabilities of workers then assess if this is improved quality of life for immigrants. Why and/or why not?
- What does it mean to be rich to you? Money and Wealth? Freedom? Ownership of Land and Tools? Other?
- Analyze the shift to alarms and bells ruling the work day and year vs the sun and seasons setting expectations and the general pace of life throughout the year. How does this impact society? (Hints: think about how winter impacts agrarian families and their waking and sleeping cycles as well as how summertime sunshine and farm productivity).
- How did conditions in mills shape modern labor laws?
- Why were children in the mills usually girls?
- How were the gears in the museum originally powered? (Water) how did it change over time? (Steam and now generators). How did the changing power source impact where factories were built?
- Assess how supply and demand in the 1800s related to textiles.
- Textile mills played a crucial role in the American economy by creating jobs and stimulating growth in related industries such as transportation and agriculture. Give examples as to how.
- Discuss the implications of the Lowell System on women’s employment in textile mills.
- Evaluate the impact of technological advancements like the cotton gin on the growth of textile mills in America.
Further application and resources.
- Continue learning by taking a guided virtual field trip to see how the Industrial Revolution shaped New England.
- Learn about the Gilded Age and the tycoons of the era such as Rockefeller, JP Morgan, Carnegie, and Vanderbilt. Did the Industrial Revolution in America make these men? And do their monopolies and control within America represent capitalism, freedom, or oligarchy better? Consider the book “The Tycoons: How Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J. P. Morgan Invented the American Supereconomy”*
Lowell National Historic Park Field Trip Prep and definitions to know and apply
Know or explore these definitions and/or analyze their impact.
- Spinning Jenny
- Cotton Gin
- Industrial Revolution
- Capitalism
- Middle Class
- Immigrant
- Market Revolution
- Manufacturing
- Free Enterprise System
- Textiles
- Urbanization
- Loom
- Fiber
- Weaving Carding
- Bobbin
- Rocket
- Boll
- Bolt
Need a Printable Field Trip Guide with Extension Activities?
In the form of a 20 page PDF, I have included the discussion questions, vocabulary, and more to help plan a meaningful field trip. Included are important planning tips, extra printable graphic organizers to help students draw important conclusions about the textile mills’ history as well as analyzing the impact of the Industrial Revolution to modern day.
Other Destination and Resources to consider:
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