Women at Work, 1826-1860

The 10 historical data files which make up this data set are based on a study of women working in the cotton textile mills of Lowell, Massachusetts during the years 1826-1860. The study was done to explore the transformation of women's work in the first half of the 19th century and the attitudes and responses of women workers to these changes. The data were drawn from the payroll records of the Hamilton Manufacturing Company of Lowell, the 1836 Lowell Directory and supplement, and the federal manuscript censuses of 1850 and 1860. Information available in these files includes the names and addresses of women employed in all the major firms in Lowell, job status, days worked, earnings, literacy, school attendance, previous work experience, dates of entry and departure from the mill, and living situation. Several of the data files link workers found in the payroll records of different years.