Motivation for Mill Life

In the 1800's the Lowell mills created "The Lowell Experiment," which was an industrialization project that tried to avoid the negative aspects of the manufacturing industry. The Lowell Experiment was created to get families to send their daughters to work in the mills. The mill owners needed the mills to seem appealing so that young women would want to come work in them. 

The young girls in Massachusetts and surrounding areas were recruited to come work in the mills. Men would come to family farms and tell the girls' fathers all about how wonderful the mills were. The girls were motivated to go because they believed that the mills would be a great opportunity for them to "see the world," even though it was only an extremely small part of the world. They wanted independence from their families and a way to make their own money. Families were assured that the girls would be taken care of by the boardinghouse keeper and the mill overseer. The boardinghouse keeper would make sure they didn't get into any trouble, and were clean and safe. The owners said it was temporary, and once the girls were old enough to get married they were allowed to leave.

Although there were many benefits, the mills were all they seemed to be. The girls had to pay more than half their wages for boarding and food, but they still made a little bit of money to spend on themselves or to send back home. The girls had to work long hard hours, with dangerous machines that put them at risk for serious injury. But, the experience was temporary and they could leave if they needed or wanted to. 

Working in the mills seemed like a good way for the girls to make enough money to send home, but that wasn't always possible. In the movie "Daughters of Free Men," mill girls experienced wage cuts that would only give them enough money to stay in the boardinghouses. The girls would have no money to spend on themselves or any to send back home, and would have no chance of saving up enough money to leave the mill. Sometimes the girls would boycott and walk out of work until their wages were brought back. But one of the reasons the mill owners chose girls to work is because they didn't think that they had the determination or the power to rebel and stand up for what they wanted, so more often then not the girls didn't get their way. The girls were told that the mills would be a great place for them to earn money and have new experiences away from their home, but they weren't always what they thought they would be. 

Picture: "An Early Rhode Island Mill" from the Lowell Experiment Readings