"The city’s corporations threatened labor reformers with firing or blacklisting."
— National Park Service, "The Mill Girls of Lowell."
The Mill Girls
Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History
National History Day 2026
Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History
National History Day 2026
"View of Boott Cotton Mills at Lowell, Massachusetts," Gleason's Pictorial, 1852. Color postcard of wood engraving.
The System's Reform
The System's Reform
The Defeat
Blacklisting and Replacement
"Overseers were said to have discharged workers found to be subscribing to the Voice of Industry"
— Thomas Dublin, 'Women at Work,' 1979
"The strike fails. The mill agents hire workers from other Lowell mills, bring in new workers from Maine, and hire a few of the Irish girls who have recently started coming to Lowell. Having barely escaped starvation during the Potato Famine, they are willing to work for low wages and under almost any conditions."
— Tsongas Industrial History Center. "The Strike Fails."
"As the years brought more wage reductions and consequently more strikes, the young women of New England moved away from mill work, their places taken by different waves of immigrants: first the Irish and French Canadians, before the boats brought those from eastern and southern Europe."
— Jennifer L. Crane Henderson, "Analysis: Lowell Mill Girls." EBSCO Research Starters, EBSCO Information Services, 2021
Legislative Inaction
After 10,000+ petition signatures, Massachusetts Legislature established a committee to investigate mill conditions.
"The petitioners declare that they are confined 'from thirteen to fourteen hours per day in unhealthy apartments,' and are thereby 'hastening through pain, disease and privation, down to a premature grave.' They therefore ask the Legislature 'to pass a law providing that ten hours shall constitute a day's work.'"
— Massachusetts State, General Court, House of Representatives, Massachusetts House Special Committee on Labor. Investigation of Labor Conditions. Mar. 1845.
"Average daily hours ran from 11h 24min (January) to 13h 31min (April). The yearly average was 12 hours and 10 minutes per day."
— Massachusetts State, General Court, House of Representatives, Massachusetts House Special Committee on Labor. Investigation of Labor Conditions. Mar. 1845.
"Your Committee have come to the conclusion unanimously, that legislation is not necessary at the present time."
— Chairman William Schouler, Massachusetts House Special Committee on Labor. Investigation of Labor Conditions. Mar. 1845.
"The Committee do not wish to be understood as conveying the impression, that there are no abuses in the present system of labor; we think there are abuses; we think that many improvements may be made, and we believe will be made, by which labor will not be so severely tasked as it now is. We think that it would be better if the hours for labor were less, if more time was allowed for meals, if more attention was paid to ventilation and pure air in our manufactories, and work-shops, and many other matters. We acknowledge all this, but we say, the remedy is not with us."
— Chairman William Schouler, Massachusetts House Special Committee on Labor. Investigation of Labor Conditions. Mar. 1845.
"Resolved, That the Female Labor Reform Association deeply deplore the lack of independence, honesty, and humanity in the committee to whom were referred sundry petitions relative to the hours of labor.—especially in the chairman of that committee; and as he is merely a corporation machine, or tool, we will use our best endeavors to keep him in the ‘city of spindles,’ where he belongs, and not trouble Boston folks with him."
— Lowell Female Labor Reform Association Resolution against Schouler, quoted in Dublin, Women at Work
"Your actions are in perfect keeping with the ruling spirit of the times. You are no doubt, true to the interests of wealth and monopoly... Your sapient heads are very busy in forming laws to protect, uphold, and upbuild the rich."
— Anonymous Operative's letter to the Massachusetts legislature, quoted in Dublin, Women at Work
Boston Manufacturing Company confirmed workers needed reform.
"A: Does the help on your corporation desire ten hours?
B: They do, with scarcely an exception. The petition was unanimously signed by the help in these mills, and there is probably not an overseer, or what we call section-operative, in the State, but what is in favor of ten hours per day, and would earnestly advocate the passage of such a law, were he not restrained from doing so by prudential motives."
— Interview with Boston Manufacturing Company, Massachusetts Bureau of Labor Statistics. First Annual Report of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor, 1869-70
The Hollow Victory
The 11-hour workday achieved in 1853 gave enough relief to reduce pressure, not enough to change the structure, while the speedup and stretch-out continued to extract more value from every hour worked.
"Perhaps you have heard we have got the eleven hour system we go in at seven and come out at seven we cannot make quite as much but it is much easier."
— Anonymous Lowell Mill Operative. "Written from Lowell to Bethel, Vermont." Letter to Brother, 1 Oct. 1854.
"The only reduction in the hours of labor in my time was that of 1853... The general condition of the operatives, morally, physically and mentally, has also been improved thereby."
— Testimony of Anonymous Lowell Mill Operative, Massachusetts Bureau of Labor Statistics. First Annual Report of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor, 1869-70
"Formerly worked fourteen hours a day; works now eleven hours, and is vastly better in health. Under fourteen hours, observed more intemperance than now... Many operatives are in debt, and find much difficulty to get along, and are greatly distressed by trustee processes. Has frequently known industrious girls to be in actual distress when out of work, and depending on contribution of associates; and have even known cases where they were taken to poor-house, if without friends or home."
— Testimony of Anonymous Lowell Mill Operative, Massachusetts Bureau of Labor Statistics. First Annual Report of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor, 1869-70
The exploitation continued.
"Analysis of machinery inventories and of payrolls confirms the workers' complaints. Between 1840 and 1854 the workload of spinners and weavers at the Hamilton Company, for instance, more than doubled. The average number of spindles per operative in the spinning department rose from 129 to 294, while the number of looms per weaver increased from 1.3 to 2.9. Over the same time period, wages remained basically unchanged"
— Thomas Dublin, 'Women at Work,' 1979
"I presume you have heard before this that the wages are to be reduced on the 20th of this month... The companies pretend they are losing immense sums every day and therefore they are obliged to lessen the wages, but this seems perfectly absurd to me for they are constantly making repairs."
— Lowell Mill Operative Mary Paul. "The Letters of Mary Paul." 1845-1849.
"It is very hard indeed and sometimes I think I shall not be able to endure it. I never worked so hard in my life but perhaps I shall get used to it. I shall try hard to do so for there is no other work that I can do unless I spin and that I shall not undertake on any account."
— Lowell Mill Operative Mary Paul. "The Letters of Mary Paul." 1845-1849.
"“I presume I could tell of as many aches as most people, but will that do any one any good? no nor me either… I have lost so much energy & ambition since I came to the mill that I fear I shall not do much at school"
— Lowell Mill Operative Lucy Ann, "Letter to Cousin Charlotte," 1851
"Found thirty or more children working (hours) contrary to law... According to the best of my knowledge, I believe there are 150 under that age (15), in the room in which I am employed; one, a girl, measuring 4 ft. 5 in. high, weighing 62 lbs; another about the same height weighing 64½ lbs; think they are about eleven years of age. These children are poor, emaciated and sickly; none of them have attended school during the past year."
— Testimony of Overlooker at Lowell Mills, Massachusetts Bureau of Labor Statistics. First Annual Report of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor, 1869-70
The Defeat
Blacklisting and Replacement
"Overseers were said to have discharged workers found to be subscribing to the Voice of Industry"
— Thomas Dublin, 'Women at Work,' 1979
"The strike fails. The mill agents hire workers from other Lowell mills, bring in new workers from Maine, and hire a few of the Irish girls who have recently started coming to Lowell. Having barely escaped starvation during the Potato Famine, they are willing to work for low wages and under almost any conditions."
— Tsongas Industrial History Center. "The Strike Fails."
"As the years brought more wage reductions and consequently more strikes, the young women of New England moved away from mill work, their places taken by different waves of immigrants: first the Irish and French Canadians, before the boats brought those from eastern and southern Europe."
— Jennifer L. Crane Henderson, "Analysis: Lowell Mill Girls." EBSCO Research Starters, EBSCO Information Services, 2021
Legislative Inaction
After 10,000+ petition signatures, Massachusetts Legislature established a committee to investigate mill conditions.
"The petitioners declare that they are confined 'from thirteen to fourteen hours per day in unhealthy apartments,' and are thereby 'hastening through pain, disease and privation, down to a premature grave.' They therefore ask the Legislature 'to pass a law providing that ten hours shall constitute a day's work.'"
— Massachusetts State, General Court, House of Representatives, Massachusetts House Special Committee on Labor. Investigation of Labor Conditions. Mar. 1845.
"Average daily hours ran from 11h 24min (January) to 13h 31min (April). The yearly average was 12 hours and 10 minutes per day."
— Massachusetts State, General Court, House of Representatives, Massachusetts House Special Committee on Labor. Investigation of Labor Conditions. Mar. 1845.
"Your Committee have come to the conclusion unanimously, that legislation is not necessary at the present time."
— Chairman William Schouler, Massachusetts House Special Committee on Labor. Investigation of Labor Conditions. Mar. 1845.
"The Committee do not wish to be understood as conveying the impression, that there are no abuses in the present system of labor; we think there are abuses; we think that many improvements may be made, and we believe will be made, by which labor will not be so severely tasked as it now is. We think that it would be better if the hours for labor were less, if more time was allowed for meals, if more attention was paid to ventilation and pure air in our manufactories, and work-shops, and many other matters. We acknowledge all this, but we say, the remedy is not with us."
— Chairman William Schouler, Massachusetts House Special Committee on Labor. Investigation of Labor Conditions. Mar. 1845.
"Resolved, That the Female Labor Reform Association deeply deplore the lack of independence, honesty, and humanity in the committee to whom were referred sundry petitions relative to the hours of labor.—especially in the chairman of that committee; and as he is merely a corporation machine, or tool, we will use our best endeavors to keep him in the ‘city of spindles,’ where he belongs, and not trouble Boston folks with him."
— Lowell Female Labor Reform Association Resolution against Schouler, quoted in Dublin, Women at Work
"Your actions are in perfect keeping with the ruling spirit of the times. You are no doubt, true to the interests of wealth and monopoly... Your sapient heads are very busy in forming laws to protect, uphold, and upbuild the rich."
— Anonymous Operative's letter to the Massachusetts legislature, quoted in Dublin, Women at Work
Boston Manufacturing Company confirmed workers needed reform.
"A: Does the help on your corporation desire ten hours?
B: They do, with scarcely an exception. The petition was unanimously signed by the help in these mills, and there is probably not an overseer, or what we call section-operative, in the State, but what is in favor of ten hours per day, and would earnestly advocate the passage of such a law, were he not restrained from doing so by prudential motives."
— Interview with Boston Manufacturing Company, Massachusetts Bureau of Labor Statistics. First Annual Report of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor, 1869-70
The Hollow Victory
The 11-hour workday achieved in 1853 gave enough relief to reduce pressure, not enough to change the structure, while the speedup and stretch-out continued to extract more value from every hour worked.
"Perhaps you have heard we have got the eleven hour system we go in at seven and come out at seven we cannot make quite as much but it is much easier."
— Anonymous Lowell Mill Operative. "Written from Lowell to Bethel, Vermont." Letter to Brother, 1 Oct. 1854.
"The only reduction in the hours of labor in my time was that of 1853... The general condition of the operatives, morally, physically and mentally, has also been improved thereby."
— Testimony of Anonymous Lowell Mill Operative, Massachusetts Bureau of Labor Statistics. First Annual Report of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor, 1869-70
"Formerly worked fourteen hours a day; works now eleven hours, and is vastly better in health. Under fourteen hours, observed more intemperance than now... Many operatives are in debt, and find much difficulty to get along, and are greatly distressed by trustee processes. Has frequently known industrious girls to be in actual distress when out of work, and depending on contribution of associates; and have even known cases where they were taken to poor-house, if without friends or home."
— Testimony of Anonymous Lowell Mill Operative, Massachusetts Bureau of Labor Statistics. First Annual Report of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor, 1869-70
The exploitation continued.
"Analysis of machinery inventories and of payrolls confirms the workers' complaints. Between 1840 and 1854 the workload of spinners and weavers at the Hamilton Company, for instance, more than doubled. The average number of spindles per operative in the spinning department rose from 129 to 294, while the number of looms per weaver increased from 1.3 to 2.9. Over the same time period, wages remained basically unchanged"
— Thomas Dublin, 'Women at Work,' 1979
"I presume you have heard before this that the wages are to be reduced on the 20th of this month... The companies pretend they are losing immense sums every day and therefore they are obliged to lessen the wages, but this seems perfectly absurd to me for they are constantly making repairs."
— Lowell Mill Operative Mary Paul. "The Letters of Mary Paul." 1845-1849.
"It is very hard indeed and sometimes I think I shall not be able to endure it. I never worked so hard in my life but perhaps I shall get used to it. I shall try hard to do so for there is no other work that I can do unless I spin and that I shall not undertake on any account."
— Lowell Mill Operative Mary Paul. "The Letters of Mary Paul." 1845-1849.
"“I presume I could tell of as many aches as most people, but will that do any one any good? no nor me either… I have lost so much energy & ambition since I came to the mill that I fear I shall not do much at school"
— Lowell Mill Operative Lucy Ann, "Letter to Cousin Charlotte," 1851
"Found thirty or more children working (hours) contrary to law... According to the best of my knowledge, I believe there are 150 under that age (15), in the room in which I am employed; one, a girl, measuring 4 ft. 5 in. high, weighing 62 lbs; another about the same height weighing 64½ lbs; think they are about eleven years of age. These children are poor, emaciated and sickly; none of them have attended school during the past year."
— Testimony of Overlooker at Lowell Mills, Massachusetts Bureau of Labor Statistics. First Annual Report of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor, 1869-70
The Reform
The original Lowell system had a flaw: it recruited workers with enough shared identity and economic mobility to organize. The replacement of Yankee women corrected that flaw by replacing workers who had the conditions to resist.
"By mid-century the mill girls had begun to be replaced by successive immigrant groups. The Irish came first and then French Canadians in the 1860s and ’70s, followed by eastern and southern European immigrants—including Greeks, Poles, and Lithuanians—by the century’s end."
— Britannica Editors, "Lowell." Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 June 2023
"In 1836 only 3.7 percent of those employed at Hamilton had been foreign-born. This proportion rose to 38.6 percent in 1850 and to 61.8 percent a decade later"
— Thomas Dublin, 'Women at Work,' 1979
Thomas Dublin. "Ethnic Makeup of the Hamilton Company Work Force, August 1850 and June 1860" Women at Work. 1979
Thomas Dublin. "Mean Daily Pay by Experience, 1836 and 1860, for Women Workers at the Hamilton Company" Women at Work. 1979
"The proletarianization of the female work force and the evolution of the family economy led to a significant transformation of the career patterns of women workers in the 1850s. In this decade women had longer careers at Hamilton, but over the course of their lengthened employment they neither changed jobs so often nor improved their earnings so much as persistent women earlier. These changes in career patterns clearly reflect the deteriorating position of women in the Lowell mills between 1836 and 1860."
— Thomas Dublin, 'Women at Work,' 1979
New Workers Could Not Organize
Unlike the Yankee mill girls, the new workforce had no farm to return to; mills were the only option between work and starvation.
"The Yankee women of an earlier era had rural farms to which they might return and thus were not totally dependent on mill earnings for self-support. The economic situation of the immigrant Irish in the 1850s was strikingly different. Having fled famine-stricken Ireland, immigrant women could not return to their rural homes. Further, immigrant families were particularly dependent on the earnings of millhand daughters. In this new context, a turn-out would have led to an immediate loss of income that was crucial for immigrant families."
— Thomas Dublin, 'Women at Work,' 1979
"They all wanted to come to America... because the streets of New York were lined with gold... and found out that there was much more difficulty over here as it was over there but there was money coming there was no money in Ireland."
— Former Lowell Mill Operative, Last generation of women who worked in the Lowell textile mills. Interview. And That's How We Did in the Mill: Women in the Lowell Textile Mills, directed by Martha Norkunas
Earlier mill girls shared solidarity in boarding houses and similar identities.
"The intimacy of the boardinghouses solidified friendships and sealed new ones that created unity in periods of protest and labor tension. Millhands also shared a profound sense of indignation rooted in common republican beliefs. To them, manufacturer and foreman resembled the court favorites of King George III or, worse, the plantation tyrants of the South"
—Bruce Laurie, 'Artisans into Workers,' 1989
The new workforce was more divided, making organized protests difficult.
"Irish women replaced Yankees in the textile industry... What had been an ethnically homogeneous working class had become a polyglot group by the 1850s."
—Bruce Laurie, 'Artisans into Workers,' 1989
Thomas Dublin. "Residence Patterns of 1860 Female Millhands." Women at Work. 1979
"All of these factors worked to discourage the growth of collective protest among women workers in Lowell in the 1850s. Cultural traditions, segregation at the workplace and in housing, and very different sorts of economic needs and motivations divided Yankee and Irish women workers. Thus when mill management reduced piece wages or implemented speedups and stretch-outs, the likelihood of united action on the part of women workers was slim. Yankee women responded by leaving the mills, while economic necessity demanded that the Irish continue working."
— Thomas Dublin, 'Women at Work,' 1979
"Twenty years ago the overseer had all American girls, but now has almost none; he prefers foreigners, because, not coming from country homes, but living, as the Irish do, in the town, they take no vacations, and can be relied on at mill all the year round; and can reduce wages upon them more easily, and with less complaint."
— Testimony of Anonymous Lowell Mill Operative, Massachusetts Bureau of Labor Statistics. First Annual Report of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor, 1869-70
The reform was the replacement of workers who could organize with workers who couldn’t.
The Reform
The original Lowell system had a flaw: it recruited workers with enough shared identity and economic mobility to organize. The replacement of Yankee women corrected that flaw by replacing workers who had the conditions to resist.
"By mid-century the mill girls had begun to be replaced by successive immigrant groups. The Irish came first and then French Canadians in the 1860s and ’70s, followed by eastern and southern European immigrants—including Greeks, Poles, and Lithuanians—by the century’s end."
— Britannica Editors, "Lowell." Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 June 2023
"In 1836 only 3.7 percent of those employed at Hamilton had been foreign-born. This proportion rose to 38.6 percent in 1850 and to 61.8 percent a decade later"
— Thomas Dublin, 'Women at Work,' 1979
Thomas Dublin. "Ethnic Makeup of the Hamilton Company Work Force, August 1850 and June 1860" Women at Work. 1979
Thomas Dublin. "Mean Daily Pay by Experience, 1836 and 1860, for Women Workers at the Hamilton Company" Women at Work. 1979
"The proletarianization of the female work force and the evolution of the family economy led to a significant transformation of the career patterns of women workers in the 1850s. In this decade women had longer careers at Hamilton, but over the course of their lengthened employment they neither changed jobs so often nor improved their earnings so much as persistent women earlier. These changes in career patterns clearly reflect the deteriorating position of women in the Lowell mills between 1836 and 1860."
— Thomas Dublin, 'Women at Work,' 1979
New Workers Could Not Organize
Unlike the Yankee mill girls, the new workforce had no farm to return to; mills were the only option between work and starvation.
"The Yankee women of an earlier era had rural farms to which they might return and thus were not totally dependent on mill earnings for self-support. The economic situation of the immigrant Irish in the 1850s was strikingly different. Having fled famine-stricken Ireland, immigrant women could not return to their rural homes. Further, immigrant families were particularly dependent on the earnings of millhand daughters. In this new context, a turn-out would have led to an immediate loss of income that was crucial for immigrant families."
— Thomas Dublin, 'Women at Work,' 1979
"They all wanted to come to America... because the streets of New York were lined with gold... and found out that there was much more difficulty over here as it was over there but there was money coming there was no money in Ireland."
— Former Lowell Mill Operative, Last generation of women who worked in the Lowell textile mills. Interview. And That's How We Did in the Mill: Women in the Lowell Textile Mills, directed by Martha Norkunas
Earlier mill girls shared solidarity in boarding houses and similar identities.
"The intimacy of the boardinghouses solidified friendships and sealed new ones that created unity in periods of protest and labor tension. Millhands also shared a profound sense of indignation rooted in common republican beliefs. To them, manufacturer and foreman resembled the court favorites of King George III or, worse, the plantation tyrants of the South"
—Bruce Laurie, 'Artisans into Workers,' 1989
The new workforce was more divided, making organized protests difficult.
"Irish women replaced Yankees in the textile industry... What had been an ethnically homogeneous working class had become a polyglot group by the 1850s."
—Bruce Laurie, 'Artisans into Workers,' 1989
Thomas Dublin. "Residence Patterns of 1860 Female Millhands." Women at Work. 1979
"All of these factors worked to discourage the growth of collective protest among women workers in Lowell in the 1850s. Cultural traditions, segregation at the workplace and in housing, and very different sorts of economic needs and motivations divided Yankee and Irish women workers. Thus when mill management reduced piece wages or implemented speedups and stretch-outs, the likelihood of united action on the part of women workers was slim. Yankee women responded by leaving the mills, while economic necessity demanded that the Irish continue working."
— Thomas Dublin, 'Women at Work,' 1979
"Twenty years ago the overseer had all American girls, but now has almost none; he prefers foreigners, because, not coming from country homes, but living, as the Irish do, in the town, they take no vacations, and can be relied on at mill all the year round; and can reduce wages upon them more easily, and with less complaint."
— Testimony of Anonymous Lowell Mill Operative, Massachusetts Bureau of Labor Statistics. First Annual Report of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor, 1869-70
The reform was the replacement of workers who could organize with workers who couldn’t.
Erasure from the Movement
As new workers replaced Yankee women in the mills, women were simultaneously erased from the labor movement they had built, turned from founders into footnotes.
1845: Women = 66% of Lowell ten-hour petition signers
1851: Women = < 40% of petition signers
"The report on this rally a week later noted a large turnout of 1,500 men and 200 or 300 women. These numbers were almost the reverse of the relative proportions of men and women in the mills. At this date women comprised about 75 percent of the mill work force, though they made up less than 20 percent of the participants at the rally."
— Thomas Dublin, 'Women at Work,' 1979
"The changing nature of labor protest in Lowell is most evident in the history of the Ten Hour Movement. In contrast to the struggle of the 1840s, the movement in the 1850s became primarily a workingmen’s political struggle. As local petition campaigns gave way to ward political work, women’s participation in reform declined drastically."
— Thomas Dublin, 'Women at Work,' 1979
Erasure from the Movement
As new workers replaced Yankee women in the mills, women were simultaneously erased from the labor movement they had built, turned from founders into footnotes.
1845: Women = 66% of Lowell ten-hour petition signers
1851: Women = < 40% of petition signers
"The report on this rally a week later noted a large turnout of 1,500 men and 200 or 300 women. These numbers were almost the reverse of the relative proportions of men and women in the mills. At this date women comprised about 75 percent of the mill work force, though they made up less than 20 percent of the participants at the rally."
— Thomas Dublin, 'Women at Work,' 1979
"The changing nature of labor protest in Lowell is most evident in the history of the Ten Hour Movement. In contrast to the struggle of the 1840s, the movement in the 1850s became primarily a workingmen’s political struggle. As local petition campaigns gave way to ward political work, women’s participation in reform declined drastically."
— Thomas Dublin, 'Women at Work,' 1979