The Merrimack Valley
This unit is about the textile industry of the 19th century in the Merrimack
Valley, especially in Lowell and Lawrence. It is the first major instance
of large-scale industrial development in theU.S., and it raises many questions
(that are still with us) about the virtues and vices of that system. This
reading is meant to give you a background for the research that you will
be doing to write a business-plan for a new mill in 1850.
Week of Feb. 5
Tuesday, Feb. 5 class: Introduction
to ISP and to the Textile
Industry
Class
activity: divide class into textile companies;
meet and work on products and tasks.
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Thursday, Feb. 7 class: Importance
of Textiles, Industrial Revolution, History of Lowell
Class
activity:
discuss working in groups, expectations
of final business
plans and oral presentations
Readings for Feb. 7:
1.
Hudon, Paul. “Land and River
and Sea,” “Entering the Industrial Age,”
and “New Americans, Old Dreams”
from The Valley and its Peoples.
Lowell, MA: Windsor Publications, 1977.
(pp. 25 – 85)
Reader pages: 9-71
Journal entries for Feb. 7:
1.
Your journal entries should reflect your thoughts
about life at MIT,
ISP, other subjects, and so on.
Refer to the handout on journal writing,
but if you have questions, talk to either Debra or Freddy. The important
thing is that you use your journal for your own growth and expression,
and that you write in your journal on a regular basis. We will collect
your journal approximately every 2 weeks.
Week
of Feb. 12
Tuesday, Feb. 12 class: 1830’s
Econony and its Effect on Labor,
Women’s
Issues
Class
activity: companies meet and finalize product and
tasks.
Readings for Tuesday, Feb. 12:
1.
Dickens, Charles. Hard
Times. New York:
Harper & Row, 1956. (pp.
22 – 25).
Reader pages: 72-74
2.
Foner, ed. The Factory
Girls. Chicago: University
of Illinois Press, 1977.
(pp. xiii-xxvii, pp. 74 – 94, 218 – 219)
Pay particular attention to the
articles: “An Appeal to Consistency” (75), “The Operative’s Life” (79),
“Letter from a Local Factory Girl”
(82), “The Condition of the Operatives”
(87), “Factory Life – Romance and Reality”
(92), and “The Manufacturing
Establishments of New England” (218).
Reader pages: 75-95
Journal entries for Tuesday, Feb. 12:
1.
Write, write, write!!
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Thursday, Feb. 14 class:
Lowell, Textile City
Class
activity: go over outlines,
list at least 3 sources for tasks (why did
you choose these? how
will they be useful?)
Readings for Thursday, Feb. 14:
1.
Lowell: The Story of an Industrial City. Washington, D.C.: the
Division of Publications national Park Service, 1992.
Journal writing for Thursday, Feb. 14:
1.
Keep on writing!
DUE:
1.
Outlines of tasks, and journals
Week of Feb. 19
Tuesday, Feb.
19: NO CLASS
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Thursday, Feb. 21: Introduction to Business Plans
Class
activity:
evaluate progress and group work
References:
Shen, Tsung-yuen. A quantitative Study of Production in the
American Textile Industry, 1840
– 1940. Yale University, Ph.D.,
1956.
Michigan: University Microfilms,
Inc., 1967. Appendex
A – L. (p. 228 – 265); Bibliography.
(p. 266 – 276)
Reader
pages: 96-147
Bryant, L.S. and J.B. Rae, editors.
Lowell, An Early American
Industrial Community. The Technology Press MIT, 1950. (pp.
110 – 134)
Reader
pages: 148-173
Price Waterhouse Guide, “Business Planning.”
(pp. 1 – 21)
Appendix (80 – 82).
Reader
pages: 174-199
Week of Feb. 26
Tuesday, Feb. 26 class: Work
on Business Plans
Class
activity:
trouble-shoot
DUE:
rough draft of each person’s contributions
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Thursday, Feb. 28: Work on Business
Plans
Class activity:
discuss what makes a presentation effective
DUE: outlines of
oral presentations
copies of overheads
journals
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Week of March 5
Tuesday, March 5 class:
Business
Plan Presentations
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Thursday, March 7 class:
Business Plan Presentations
DUE: Business plans