Lowell National Historical Park ⓘ

As much as the massive brick mills along the Merrimack, "mill girls" were an innovation of the early industrial revolution in New England. Lowell's mill workforce in the antebellum decades consisted largely of young single women from the farming communities of northern New England. Most were between 15 and 25, signing on for short stints that rarely exceeded a year at a time. Overall, they averaged about three years of employment before leaving the mills for marriage, migration to the west, other employment, or return to their hometowns.

Lowell hosts “Lowell Women’s Week” annually during the first week of March, celebrating the historical and contemporary contributions of women in this city. For more information, please visit the Lowell Women’s Week website. To discover more about the women who came to work in Lowell’s mills, explore these links:

The Lowell Offering: Written and published by women working in Lowell between 1840 – 1845. From UMass Lowell Center for Lowell History

Additional Mill Girl materials from UMass Lowell Center for Lowell History : Links to additional related websites from UMass Lowell Center for Lowell History :

Who were the “mill girls”? The term “mill girls” was occasionally used in antebellum newspapers and periodicals to describe the young Yankee women, generally 15 - 30 years old, who worked in the large cotton factories. They were also called “female operatives.” Female textile workers often described themselves as mill girls, while affirming the virtue of their class and the dignity of their labor. During early labor protests, they asserted that they were “the daughters of freemen” whose rights could not be “trampled upon with impunity.” Despite the hardship of mill work, women remained an important part of the textile workforce for many years. In the late 19th century, women held nearly two-thirds of all textile jobs in Lowell, with many immigrant women joining Yankee mill girls in the textile industry

For most young women, Lowell’s social and economic opportunities existed within the limits imposed by the powerful textile corporations. Most pronounced was the control corporations exerted over the lives of their workers. The men who ran the corporations and managed the mills sought to regulate the moral conduct and social behavior of their workforce. Within the factory, overseers were responsible for maintaining work discipline and meeting production schedules. In the boardinghouses, the keepers enforced curfews and strict codes of conduct. Male and female workers were expected to observe the Sabbath, and temperance was strongly encouraged. The clanging factory bell summoned operatives to and from the mill, constantly reminding them that their days were structured around work. Most textile workers toiled for 12 to 14 hours a day and half a day on Saturdays; the mills were closed on Sundays. Typically, mill girls were employed for nine to ten months of the year, and many left the factories during part of the summer to visit back home.

The majority of mill girls in Lowell lived in boardinghouses. These large, corporation-owned buildings were often run by a female keeper , or a husband and wife. A typical boardinghouse consisted of eight units, with 20 to 40 women living in each unit. For most young women, life in the boardinghouse was dramatically different from life on the farm. Usually they shared a room with three other women, sleeping two to a bed. A fireplace in each room provided warmth in the colder seasons. The keeper prepared three meals a day, and the women dined together in a common room. Women formed many new friendships with other female boarders. The bonds created through daily social intercourse helped new workers adjust to the demands of factory life. And during the strife of labor protests, boardinghouses often became informal centers of organizing activity.

The Larcoms' destination in Lowell was a boarding house owned by the Lawrence Manufacturing Company, one of Lowell's textile corporations. Lucy's mother, Lois, became a boardinghouse keeper, tasked with cooking and keeping house for up to forty female boarders who worked in the Lawrence Company's mills.

"I defied the machinery to make me its slave," Lucy Larcom wrote years after her experiences in Lowell. "Its incessant discords could not drown the music of my thoughts if I would let them fly high enough." Seeking to mitigate the numbingly routine world of the factory, she turned to poetry. Hymns and verses extolling the virtues of nature - in her view, antidotes to factory life - were her favorites, and she read as frequently as possible at work. " The printed regulations forbid us to bring books into the mill, so I made my window-seat into a small library of poetry, pasting its side all over with newspaper clippings," she recalled.

Park Handbook. This official park text tells the story of Lowell's role in the Industrial Revolution and America in the 19th-20th century.

Lowell Notes. Lowell Notes are historic sketches of the people and places which make up the stories of Lowell National Historical Park.

Special Reports. These reports discuss the conception, development, and management of Lowell National Historical Park since it was established in 1978.

Patrick J. Mogan Cultural Center - The Patrick J. Mogan Cultural Center, located at 40 French Street, is a program of Lowell National Historical Park in partnership with the University of Massachusetts Lowell. The mission of the Mogan Cultural Center is to "tell the human story of...Lowell" through the development of exhibits, projects and programs. The Center serves as the home to the world-renowned Angkor Dance Troupe, LNHP's Into an 1840s Boarding House Exhibit and the University of Massachusetts Lowell Center for Lowell History. The Mogan Cultural Center strives to play a positive role among community groups in the city.