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To start the week’s activities, Roe Smith engages teachers in thinking about the transformation of such New England industries as shoes, machine tools, and guns in a newly developing market and cash economy. Later in the day, Pat Malone presents a slide overview and leads a trolley-and-boat tour of Lowell’s canals and Merrimack River. We finish with a look at the Suffolk Mill turbines, flywheel, and belt-and-pulley system of powering looms, and a visit to the Boott Mills boardinghouse.
On Tuesday, at Old Sturbridge Village, Jack Larkin illuminates the transition to a market-based economy. In the Village, teachers discover how farming towns and traditional apprenticeships were affected by the growing market and by industrialization.
Back in Lowell, on Wednesday, Gray Fitzsimons demystifies the mill management hierarchy and reveals the volatility of textile manufacturing before the Civil War, discussing the consequences of competition and market fluctuations on prices, wages, and working conditions. Wednesday's schedule also includes a hands-on assembly line simulation that Bob Forrant builds upon by looking at labor’s responses to the new industrial order: from early “turnouts” to the formation of labor associations to a series of petitions for a ten-hour workday. In the afternoon, teachers select from various primary-source-based activities, and in the evening they are entertained by an outstanding role player who "becomes" three different mill girls.
On Thursday, Dr. Marie Frank presents an engaging illustrated talk that draws from NEH's "Picturing America" initiative, and Dr. Chad Montrie leads explorations of Lowell’s Merrimack and Concord Rivers and two Concord sites after a talk on Industrialization and Nature.
Gray Fitzsimons and teacher Dave McKean (an Irish-French native Lowellian) lead an immigration study tour on Friday, the last day of the workshop. During the week, master teachers assist with resource collection and lesson planning during curriculum development time.
On Tuesday, at Old Sturbridge Village, Jack Larkin illuminates the transition to a market-based economy. In the Village, teachers discover how farming towns and traditional apprenticeships were affected by the growing market and by industrialization.
Back in Lowell, on Wednesday, Gray Fitzsimons demystifies the mill management hierarchy and reveals the volatility of textile manufacturing before the Civil War, discussing the consequences of competition and market fluctuations on prices, wages, and working conditions. Wednesday's schedule also includes a hands-on assembly line simulation that Bob Forrant builds upon by looking at labor’s responses to the new industrial order: from early “turnouts” to the formation of labor associations to a series of petitions for a ten-hour workday. In the afternoon, teachers select from various primary-source-based activities, and in the evening they are entertained by an outstanding role player who "becomes" three different mill girls.
On Thursday, Dr. Marie Frank presents an engaging illustrated talk that draws from NEH's "Picturing America" initiative, and Dr. Chad Montrie leads explorations of Lowell’s Merrimack and Concord Rivers and two Concord sites after a talk on Industrialization and Nature.
Gray Fitzsimons and teacher Dave McKean (an Irish-French native Lowellian) lead an immigration study tour on Friday, the last day of the workshop. During the week, master teachers assist with resource collection and lesson planning during curriculum development time.
