NWHM Exhibit: A History of Women in Industry

Letters of Mary S. Paul, Lowell Factory Worker

Mary S. Paul was born in 1829, in Bernard, Vermont, one of four children. At the age of 15, she left home and worked as a domestic servant for a farm family in nearby Bridgewater. She then spent four years working in the Lowell, Massachusetts textile mills before moving to New Jersey, where she later married and raised a family.

Lowell

Her letters to her father from Lowell exhibit the economic independence Paul experienced through her work, buying her own shoes and paying the boardinghouse fees from her wages. Her letters also provide a window into the grueling and exploitative working conditions and at Lowell. Working women in the 19th century challenged the notion that women should stay within the home and remain subservient to their husbands and fathers, but the dangerous and exhausting conditions, long hours, and low wages they endured in factories hindered their independence. It is clear to see from Mary Paul’s letters why women at Lowell organized turn-outs and petitions in the 1830s and 40s to get better treatment from their managers.

21 Dec. 1845 “Dear Father I received your letter on Thursday the 14th with much pleasure. I am well which one comfort is. My life and health are spared while others are cut off. Last Thursday one girl fell down and broke her neck, which caused instant death. She was going in or coming out of the mill and fell down it being very icy. Last Tuesday we were paid. In all I had six dollars and sixty cents paid $4.68 for board. With the rest I got me a pair of rubbers and a pair of 50.cts shoes. Perhaps you would like something about our regulations about going in and coming out of the mill. At half past six [the bell] rings for the girls to get up and at seven they are called to the mill. At half past 12 we have dinner are called back again at one and stay till half past seven. I get along very well with my work. I can doff as fast as any girl in our room. If any girl wants employment I advise them to come to Lowell. This from, Mary S. Paul" (1)		5 Nov. 1848 “Dear Father Doubtless you have been looking for a letter from me all week. I would have written but wished to find whether I would be able to stand it—the work I am now doing. It is very hard indeed and sometimes I think I shall not be able to endure it. I never worked so hard in my life but perhaps I shall get used to it. I suppose you have heard before this month that the wages are to be reduced on the 20th of this month. It is true there seems to be a good deal of excitement on this subject but I cannot tell what will be the consequence. The companies pretend they are losing immense sums every day and therefore are obliged to lessen the wages, but this seems perfectly absurd to me for they are constantly making repairs and it seems to me this would not be if there were really any danger of their being obliged to stop the mills. I expect to be paid about two dollars a week but it will be dearly earned. This from, Mary S. Paul" (2)

(1) Mary Paul worked as a doffer in the Lowell mills. Her job was to remove full bobbins of yarn from the spinning frames and replace them with empty bobbins. It was a low-paid job reserved for the youngest women.

(2) Excerpts the Mary Paul Letters, Vermont Historical Society, found in: Farm to Factory: Women’s Letters 1830-1860 edited by Thomas Dublin, published by the Columbia University Press, New York, 1993.

Image from George Mason University