Mill Girls and Strangers, livre ebook

A comparative history of single women's independent migration to the textile cities of Preston, England; Lowell, Massachusetts; and Paisley, Scotland.

A comparative history of single women's independent migration to the textile cities of Preston, England; Lowell, Massachusetts; and Paisley, Scotland.

In the nineteenth-century mill towns of Preston, England; Lowell, Massachusetts; and Paisley, Scotland, there were specific demands for migrant and female labor, and potential employers provided the necessary respectable conditions in order to attract them. Using individual accounts, this innovative and comparative study examines the migrants' lives by addressing their reasons for migration, their relationship to their families, the roles they played in the cities to which they moved, and the dangers they met as a result of their youth, gender, and separation from family. Gordon details both the similarities and differences in the women's migration experiences, and somewhat surprisingly concludes that they became financially independent, rather than primarily contributors to a family economy.

List of Figures
Acknowledgments
1. Transitions in the City: Independent Female Migration, 1850–1881
Single Female Migrants in Historical Perspectives
2. Preston: The Unseen Migrants
Migrants and Domestic Service in Preston
The Migrants' Economy
3. Lowell: The Mill Girls
Migrants and the Textile Industry in Lowell
The Migrants' Society
A Desire to See the City
The Migrants' Independence
4. Paisley: The Strangers and the Maids
Migrants and Domestic Service in Paisley
Migrants and Bleaching in Paisley
Accommodating Independent Migrants
The Migrants' Economy
To Prosecute Her Claim
Personal Migration Patterns
Migrants at Risk
5. Comparisons: The Migrants Beside Themselves
Appendix: The Statistical Methodology
Notes
Bibliography
Index