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For my gallery I will introduce you to the working conditions of the industrial revolution. During the industrial revolution working conditions were horrible and relentless. Workers would be harassed by employers in cramped, hot spaces full of heavy, dangerous machinery. Workers would often get caught in the machinery and this would lead to workers being injured or killed. The factories they worked in were usually unsafe due to the cheap foundation they were built on, the walls were usually thin and multiple machines would be cramped side by side on one floor. The windows were always closed to keep the humidity in the room, this also resulted in dust filling the atmosphere. Their pay was very low and they were expected to work up to 18 hours a day! If they didn’t follow the rules and meet the regulations there were severe consequences and when a worker was injured, they weren’t given any compensation but were immediately fired and replaced by the abundance of workers waiting in the wings. Employers did not care about the Health and safety of workers, only about the money they were raking in off the backs of their employees. Due to these harsh working conditions, people who worked during this time became depressed and stressed. This in turn lead to many people turning to drugs and alcohol as a coping mechanism. In my gallery you will see examples of all this and how working conditions eventually, slowly started to improve, like the labour unions exhibit and the Pemberton Mill disaster exhibit.

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The labour unions were a group of workers who came together to fight for better wages, reasonable working hours and safer working conditions. The labour unions were created out of the need to protect common interests of workers. They also tried to stop child labour, give health benefits and provide aid to injured or retired workers. One really important person connected to the labour unions, was Samuel Gompers(1850-1924), who was an American labour leader and the first president of the American Federation of Labour(AFL). He organised strikes and boycotts, which is why he is noted for shifting American unionism away from social issues to the actual issues of workers rights.

Labour unions were so important because they fought for workers rights through protesting and supporting strikes, which helped pass acts such as the Adamson act. The Adamson act was made from labour unions protesting for reduced working hours. In 1916, roughly 400,000 railway workers voted to strike for better working hours and then on the 2nd of September, 1916, president Woodrow Wilson signed, The Adamson act, passed by congress, which implemented a standard working day of 8 hours for railway workers and any overtime they worked had to be paid.

Some short term effects of labour unions were better pay, better working conditions, workers benefits and better working hours. Long term effects included businesses going bankrupt as a result of higher wages, more acts were passed, working class’ living conditions improved due to ore income, the life expectancy for poor improved since they were less overworked and children started to get a better education due to child labour ending. Labour unions were a huge part in history when it came to improving working conditions.

History(2018) labour movement(online) available from <https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/labor> [1st March 2019]

Gattie, F.(2018) this week in labour history: remembering the Adamson act(online) available from <https://www.nelp.org/blog/this-week-in-labor-history-remembering-the-Adamson-act/> [2nd March 2019]

Teamsters local 362(2014) the. Industrial revolution: the rise of labour unions(online) available from <www.teamsters362.com/the-industrial-revolution-the-rise-of-labour-unions/> [5th March 2019]

Poddar, A.(n/d) the industrial revolution- working and living conditions(online) available from <https://firstindustrialrevolution.weebly.com/working-and-living-conditions.html> [5th March 2019]

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The carbide light was a gas lamp used in the mines and was made in the 1900s, by Fredrick Baldwin, U.S. They came in  different shapes and sizes but only ran for a maximum of 4 hours. The carbide lamp provided light for miners enabling them to see in the workplace. This was able to decrease injuries and accidents.

Some of  the short impacts it had included more efficient work, workers feeing safer-resulting to less stress and more production while some long term impacts included improvements to the carbide light which lead to oil wick lamps and candles that soon lead to the battery operated lamp, carbide lighting for homes and the early models of ford model T used carbide lights as headlights.

The national museum of American history(n/d) mining lights and hats- carbide lamps(online) available from <Americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object-groups/mining-lights-and-hats/carbide-lamps?page=1> [9th march]

Revolvy(n/d) carbide lamp(online) available from <https://www.revolvy.com/page/carbide-lamp> [9th March 2019]

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The author of this source is unknown, but could have been one of the many undercover child union investigators. During the industrial revolution, factories hired children as cheap labour making them work up to 14 hours a day. These children were expected to operate heavy machinery twice their size. Due to this many children had to actually stand on the machinery to operate it. Sometimes they wouldn’t have any protective gear on, shown in the picture where the boy has no shoes, which could lead to multiple injuries. This source could’ve been created for the public, to inform them about what the conditions were like that the children were forced to endure. The picture is saying how unfair and unsafe the children were being treated. It Shows us that it was so easy for them to be injured and that they were to young to be operating the machines. This source is significant because it shows us that employers at this time did not care about the safety of children or other workers, as long as they were cheap labourers doing their jobs. They gave the children loose clothing that got caught in machinery constantly, but never bothered to change it due to the abundance of children that were ready to work and could replace injured or deceased. They didn’t even get payed well, if they were even lucky enough to get paid.

History crunch(n/d) child labour in the industrial revolution(online) available from <https://www.historycrunch.com/child-labor-in-the-industrial-revolution.html#/> [9th march 2019]

History(2009) child labour(online) available from <https://www.history.com/topics/industrial-revolution/child-labor.> [9th march 2019]

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Created by a member of the New York Herald press, this newspaper clipping tells us about the Pemberton Mill disaster, which happened in 1860 when the Pemberton Mill, in Lawrence, collapsed killing around 145 people and injuring roughly 166 others. They blamed the collapse on to many machines being cramped on one floor, the thin walls and malformed structural iron columns, that architect, Charles Bigelow allowed to be put in place. Later on around 10 pm that same night two men were claimed to have gone in with lamps and accidentally started a fire killing many more trapped victims. The newspaper was created for the public, to inform people about what had happened and who was involved. This newspaper displays a message of how severe working conditions were, as they would cram heavy and dangerous machinery close together on cheap, quickly built structures. Workers were in an unsafe environment, operating dangerous machinery. This is valuable information due to how preventable this accident was and that it was because builders and owners didn’t care about how safe the work environment was and architects, like Charles Bigelow, who overlooked things like deformed structural beams.

New England historical society(2019) the Pemberton Mill disaster(online) available from <www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/Pemberton-mill-disaster/> [27th February 2019]

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Taken by an unknown person, maybe one of the mill workers, this source shows the Lowell mill girls that worked in factories where big, dangerous machinery were cramped side by side, all operating at once. The girls often got caught in the machines, being flung around and killed. The windows of the mill were closed to keep the humidity, ensuring the thread didn’t snap, allowing cotton dust in the air to be inhaled, causing respiratory problems like ‘brown lung.’ This picture was probably taken for the public eye and to be used in job advertisement or newspapers. It tells us that women who worked there, suffered from harsh conditions and injuries, for low pay and that the employers did not care about the health and safety of their workers. This source is important because these women worked for half the pay of men, while being harassed and worked up to 11 hours a day. If they failed to follow strict regulations, their pay would be docked or they would be fired. Because the employers didn’t care about the women, it was left to the older women to take the younger ones under their wing to look out and protect them. This is just one example of how harsh working conditions were.

Trubowitz, B.(2017) the mill girls of Lowell(online) Available from <themessenger.oldnorth.com/2017/12/01/handmaid-of-human-good-the-mill-girls-of-Lowell/> [27th February 2019]