Mill Girls

Nashua's Mill Girls
1826 - 1860's

The mill girl years were scattered with prosperity and conflict. The new idea of young women having the capacity to earn larger pay wages than the other forms of employment during the antebellum decades provided a new economy to the growing industrial era. Labor protests, unhealthy working and living conditions, the Speedup System and a high turnover rate of employees created an instability with workers and their employers.

Tin Type Image
Photo taken between 1860-1870


Two Women Weavers



Image by Winslow Homer - 1871


Scene of a Weaving Room, Woman winding a shuttle bobbin