This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/18/2024
[WOMEN’S LABOR MOVEMENT]. The Factory Girl’s Garland. Exeter, NH: J.L. Beckett, 1 January 1844. Vol. 1, No. 1. 4pp., folio (343 x 273 mm). Some spotting, old folds. THE INAUGURAL ISSUE. “We have for a long time believed that a paper, devoted to the interest of that class of females who are engaged as operatives in Factories, if rightly conducted, and made, at the same time, useful and interesting, would be well supported; and with this opinion we commence the publication of the Garland” (the editor). Beginning in the 1830s, the Industrial Revolution was beginning to take over river towns of rural America with their enormous textile mills and plans to hire cheap labor which included the local girls to tend the machines. The Exeter Manufacturing Company began production during this time, hiring young women often between the ages of 15 and 35, and forcing them to work long hours in often unhealthy environments. It was at this time that numerous factory girl papers were being published, including this one, addressing issues that would carefully coach the workers into being virtuous women and eventually wives. Soon, the young women of the mills began to protest and strike for better conditions and wages, which played a significant role in the early labor history of the United States as the labor movement gained strength with improvements made. We could not trace any copies of this newspaper at auction.