Women at Work

Thomas Dublin is professor of history at the State University of New York, Binghamton. He has edited two colections, Farm to Factory, Second Edition and Immigrant Voices and authored Transforming Women's Work: New England Lives in the Ninteenth Century.

Of the many books of Lowell's operatives, only Dublin's perceives the indissoluble relationship of consciousness and material reality. He has explored this history with better judgment and more sensitivity toward the common life of Lowell's female labor force than any other scholar of our day. The National Given the many vantage points from which the Lowell experience can be viewed, it is doubtful that any one study can be 'definitive,' but Dublin has made long strides toward that goal. His lucid presentation and analysis of evidence make Women at Work a model of social history. Yale Review

• Tables Illustrations Preface Acknowledgements 1. Women Workers and Early Industrialization 2. The Early Textile Idustry and the Rise of Lowell 3. The Lowell Work Force, 1836, and the Social Origins of Women Workers 4. The Social Relations of Production in the Early Mills 5. The Boardinghouse 6. The Early Strikes: The 1830s 7. The Ten Hour Movement: The 1840s 8. The Transformation of Lowell, 1836-1850, and the New NMill Work Force 9. Immigrants in the Mills, 1850-1860 10. Housing and Families of Women Operatives 11. Careers of Operatives, 1836-1860 12. The Operatives' Response, 1850-1860 Appendixes 1. Preparation of the Hamilton Company Payroll, 1836 2. The Social Origins Study 3. The Hamilton Company Work Force, August 1850 and June 1860 4. The 1860 Millhand Sample 5. Sources of Bias and Considerations of Representativeness