Factory Maids
In the early 1800s, the invention of the power loom disrupted the way fabric had been made for many centuries, and who had made it. Diane explores the revolutionary changes that millwork brought to the lives of many people, especially women, who seized new opportunities for better pay and independence, flocking to the mills to weave by steam.
In the first U.S. mills in Waltham and Lowell, Yankee girls worked 12-hour days, 6 days a week, but still found time to publish a magazine. There were two songs in The Lowell Offering, and Diane will sing them, accompanied by her antique guitar that dates from the 1820s. She also plays lap dulcimer, and wears the clothing worn by mill operatives, as millworkers were called.
The initial promise of the Lowell system, as it was called, soured into abuse and poverty with the arrival of economic downturns. Mill companies filled their workrooms with immigrants, some as young as ten. We hear of the "Bread and Roses" strike of 1912, which united people who spoke dozens of languages in a common quest for respect, adequate pay, and decent working conditions.
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The songs include:
- The Hand-Weaver and the Factory Maid
- Doffin' Mistress
- The Factory Girl's Come-All-Ye
- Millworker
- Bread and Roses
- Raisin Pie
"Your concert was magical. I am so thrilled about all the research you did -- it worked beautifully with the songs you selected. So many people remarked on how wonderful the performance was. We feel blessed!"
-- Barbara Palmer, The Bidwell House Museum, Monterey MA (2016)
