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In Their Own Words

In Their Own Words “A Week at the Mill” Lowell Offering, October 1845, Vol. 5, Number 231-232, p. 217-218. Document Text Summary LOWELL OFFERING. OCTOBER, 1845. A WEEK IN THE MILL. Much has been said of the factory girl and her employment. By some she has been represented as dwelling in a sort of brick -and-mortar paradise, having little to occupy thought save the weaving of gay and romantic fancies, while the spindle or the wheel flies obediently beneath her glance. Others have deemed her a mere servile: drudge, chained to her labor by almost as strong a power as that which holds a bondman in his fetters; and, indeed , some have already given her the title of "the white slave of the North.” Her real situation approaches neither one

2024-01-23T13:11:59-05:00
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Life Story: Afong Moy

Life Story: Afong Moy Afong Moy "Afong Moy. The Chinese lady" The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library. New York Public Library Digital Collections. This video was created by the New-York Historical Society Teen Leaders in collaboration with the Untold project. In the spring of 1834, Captain Benjamin Obear paid a large sum of money for permission to bring an 18-year-old Chinese woman called Afong Moy to the U.S. He believed Afong would help him sell Chinese goods to American citizens. Afong’s tour was expected to last two years. We do not know if Afong had any say in the decision

2024-03-14T13:47:17-04:00
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Life Story: Ann Trow Lohman, a.k.a. Madame Restell

Life Story: Ann Trow Lohman, a.k.a. Madame Restell Ann Trow Lohman, a.k.a. Madame Restell Title Page from Wonderful trial of Caroline Lohman, alias Restell; Trial of Carolina Lohman, alias Madame Restell, for manslaughter in the second degree, by producing abortion upon the body of Maria Bodine, in July, 1846 ; with speeches of counsel, charge of Court, and verdict of jury (New York: Burgess, Stringer, & co., c. 1847). Widener Library, Harvard University, Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Law School Library, Harvard University.  Ann Trow was born in the small town of Painswick, England, on May 6, 1812. Her parents, John and Mary Ann, worked in a mill. They had very little money, and it is unlikely that Ann received much education while she was growing

2023-05-17T09:45:39-04:00
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Commandments to California Wives

Commandments to California Wives James Hutchings and W.C. Butler, “Commandments to California Wives,” before 1855. Prints and Ephemera, Huntington Digital Library. Document Text Summary Now it came to pass that as thy servant sat alone and at night watching the dying embers of his cabin fire, behold the latch of his cabin door was softly lifted, and before him stood - an angel! Clothed in female apparel. As in duty bound, I immediately arose from my only stool, and invited her to be seated: this she gracefully declined; but, placing her white and beautiful fingers upon the bosom of my woolen shirt, in a voice of musical distinctness she thus addressed me, “Young man, hast thou courage?” I was almost speechless, for I felt what little I possessed

2022-12-06T10:37:58-05:00
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The Mansion of Happiness

The Mansion of Happiness Mansion of Happiness “Mansion of Happiness," 1894. New-York Historical Society, The Liman Collection, 2000.437. Mansion of Happiness “Mansion of Happiness," 1894. New-York Historical Society, The Liman Collection. The Industrial Revolution that took place in the 1800s transformed every aspect of life in the United States, including how people spent their free time. Jobs outside the traditional family farm provided workers with both expendable income and free time. During this period, the rise of factory production meant that there were many new and inexpensive ways for people to entertain themselves.  Early improvements in printing and papermaking made board games one of the first forms of popular entertainment of the

2024-03-14T13:35:18-04:00
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Handcart Pioneers

Handcart Pioneers Handcart Pioneers William Henry Jackson, "Handcart Pioneer. Converts of the Mormon Faith pushing and pulling their laden carts to a new homeland in the valleys of the mountains" ca. 1930-1941. L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University. Document Text Summary Manifest Destiny My parents left a comfortable home and surroundings for the Gospel’s sake and came out into a wilderness and endured every hardship in obedience to the call of God. My parents left our comfortable home and went to settle the west because they believed God wanted them to. Crossing the Plains The men set to work making handcarts and my father, being a carpenter, helped to make thirty-three of them. Ours was a small two wheeled vehicle with two

2022-12-06T10:33:58-05:00
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Life Story: Ernestine Rose

Life Story: Ernestine Rose Ernestine Rose Ernestine Rose, half-length portrait. Alamy Photo. This video was created by the New-York Historical Society Teen Leaders in collaboration with the Untold project. Ernestine Louise Potowska was born on January 13, 1810 in Piotrkow Tribunalski, a Polish city controlled by the King of Prussia. She was the only child of Rabbi Potowski. Her mother was the daughter of a wealthy businessman. Ernestine never gave more specific details about her parents, and their names have not been found in existing records. Ernestine grew up in a vibrant Jewish community. When she was young, her father made the unusual choice to teach her to read Hebrew and study the

2024-03-14T13:47:52-04:00
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Campaign Against Indian Removal

Campaign Against Indian Removal Document Text Summary Circular Addressed to Benevolent Ladies of the United States: “Ever since the existence of this nation, our general government ... [has] acknowledged ... [the Indigenous] people, as free and independent nations, and has protected them in the quiet possession of their lands.... But the lands of this people are claimed to be embraced within the limits of some of our Southern States, and as they are fertile and valuable, they are demanded by the whites as their own possessions, and efforts are making to dispossess the Indians of their native soil. Indigenous nations have been free and independent on the lands of the United States since the nation’s founding. However, now that white settlers think that their land is valuable, they are demanding it for themselves and are forcing Indigenous

2024-01-23T13:13:43-05:00
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A Singular Case

A Singular Case "A Singular Case and A Female Husband"  "A Singular Case and A Female Husband." The Pennsylvanian, August 16, 1836. Digital Transgender Archive.   Document Text Summary A Singular Case A person, supposed to be a man, was taken up a few days since in New York for drunkenness. It proved, however, that the individual was a woman, and likewise a husband! The New York Express has the following particulars of the affair: A few days ago, a person identified as a man was picked up by the police for public drunkenness. But it turned out that this person was a woman and a husband. Here are the details of the case: A FEMALE HUSBAND.-ln our Police report of Friday, was noticed the case of a person calling 

2023-04-04T08:57:44-04:00
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Evolving Fashion

Evolving Fashion Paris Fashions Americanized “Godey’s Paris Fashions Americanized,” Godey’s Lady’s Book, July 1848. Handcolored engraving. New-York Historical Society Library, TX1.G58, vol. 37. Tintype of two young women in Lowell, Massachusetts “Tintype of two young women in Lowell, Massachusetts,” ca. 1870. Center for Lowell History, University of Massachusetts Lowell Libraries. Chrisman Sisters “Chrisman Sisters, Women Homesteaders,” 1886. History Nebraska. Bloomer Costume N. Currier (firm), "Bloomer Costume," Lithograph, 1851. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington D.C., 907119. In the mid-1800s,

2024-03-14T14:01:12-04:00
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