The Lowell Mill Girls in the 19th Century

The Lowell Mill Girls were female workers in early 19th century America, young women employed in an innovative system of labor in textile mills centered in Lowell, Massachusetts. The employment of women in a factory was  novel to the point of being revolutionary. And the system of labor in the Lowell mills became widely admired because the young women were housed in an environment that was not only safe but reputed to be culturally advantageous. The young women were encouraged to engage in educational pursuits while not working, and they even contributed articles to a magazine, The Lowell Offering.   Lowell System Employed Young Women Francis Cabot Lowell founded the Boston Manufacturing Company, prompted by the increased demand for cloth during the War of 1812. Using the latest technology, he built a factory in Massachusetts which used water power to run machines that processed raw cotton into finished fabric. The factory needed workers, and Lowell wanted to avoid using child labor, which was commonly used in fabric mills in England. The workers did not need to be physically strong, as the work was not strenuous. However, the workers had to be fairly intelligent to master the complicated machinery. The solution was to hire young women. In New England, there were a number of girls who had some education, in that they could read and write. And working in the textile mill seemed like a step up from working on the family farm. Working at a job and earning wages was an innovation in the early decades of the 19th century when many Americans still worked on family farms or at small family businesses. And for young women at the time, it was considered an opportunity to assert some independence from their families despite being paid less than men. The company set up boardinghouses to provide safe places for the women employees to live, and also imposed a strict moral code. Lowell Became Center of Industry Francis Cabot Lowell, the founder of the Boston Manufacturing Company, died in 1817. But his colleagues continued the company  and built a larger and improved mill along the Merrimack River in a town they renamed in Lowells honor. In the 1820s and 1830s, Lowell and its mill girls became fairly famous. In 1834, faced with increased competition in the textile business, the mill cut the workers wages, and the workers responded by forming the Factory Girls Association, an early labor union. The efforts at organized labor were not successful, however. In the late 1830s, the housing rates for the female mill workers were raised, and they attempted to hold a strike, but it did not succeed. They were back on the job within weeks. Mill Girls and Their Cultural Programs The mill girls became known for engaging in cultural programs centered around their boardinghouses. The young women tended to read, and discussions of books were a common pursuit. The women also began publishing The Lowell Offering.  The magazine was published from 1840 to 1845 and sold for six-and-one-fourth cents a copy. It contained poems and autobiographical sketches, which were usually published anonymously, or with the authors identified solely by their initials. The mill owners essentially controlled what appeared in the magazine, so the articles tended to be positive. Yet the magazines very existence was seen as evidence of a positive work environment.   When Charles Dickens, the great Victorian novelist, visited the United States in 1842, he was taken to Lowell to see the factory system. Dickens, who had seen the horrible conditions of British factories up close, was impressed at the conditions of the mills in Lowell. He was also impressed by The Lowell Offering. But one operator, reading of Dickens impressions, responded in The Voice of Industry newspaper, Very pretty picture, but we who work in the factory know the sober reality to be quite another thing altogether. The Lowell Offering ceased publication in 1845 when tensions between the workers and the mill owners increased. Over the last year of publication, the magazine had published material that was not entirely positive, such as an article which pointed out that loud machinery in the mills could damage a workers hearing. When the magazine promoted the cause of a workday shortened to 10 hours, tensions between workers and management became inflamed and the magazine was shut down. Immigration Ended Lowell System In the mid-1840s, the Lowell workers organized the Female Labor Reform Association, which tried to bargain for improved wages. But the Lowell System of Labor was essentially undone by increased immigration to the United States. Instead of hiring local New England girls to work in the mills, the factory owners discovered they could hire newly arrived immigrants. The immigrants, many of whom had come from Ireland, fleeing the Great Famine, were content to find any work at all, even for relatively low wages.

Reflection On Time Management - 881 Words

This piece of reflection will focus on my progress and experiences during my placement in Campbelltown Hospital Medical E ward. I will be using the Gibbs 1988 model of reflection (Gibbs, 1988). This cycle helped me to reflect in a structured and effective way. The subject of this paper will reflect on my time management skills whilst maintaining the necessary standards of practice at all times (NMBA, 2016). During my first and second week of placement, I had some difficulty with my time management. The reason behind this, I found myself taking on too many tasks with little time during the busy peak hours. I was overwhelmed with the amount of things I need to accomplish. These included: Attending to patients’ personal care, administering†¦show more content†¦During my time in the respiratory ward, I found that repetition and experience made me feel more confident about my tasks, enabling me to be more effective and efficient in the workplace. According to Chater and Litchfields study done on new graduate nurses who work in a neonatal unit at an Australian hospital, five themes: knowing, planning, support, fulfilment, adapting and being flexible can be utilized to help student nurses and new graduate nurses to better manage their clinical time (Chater Litchfield, 2007). Prioritizing is also necessary tool for effective time management. Nurses have to prioritize tasks on their route and finish tasks from high to low priority order (Waterworth, 2003). In addition, nurses should be careful of some priority setting traps. The first trap is whatever hits first which means a nurse responds to tasks that happen first instead of thinking twice and then responding. The second trap is the squeaky wheel, a patient who is able to gather the most attention from a nurse to hear his or her urgent request may not be the Page 2 one who is the most in need. The last trap is waiting for inspiration, nurses should not be wait to be inspirited to complete a task and they should actively think about what tasks have to be done while on unit (Vaccaro, 2001). In conclusion, I am now aware of theShow MoreRelatedReflection On Time Management1300 Words   |  6 PagesResEd Final Reflection In RE102 I learned a lot of valuable life skills in a wide variety of areas. We covered the important topics of communication, decision making, conflict resolution, time management, stress management, resumes, online self, healthy relationships, and sexual assault/consent. From general tips to the more serious issues such as sexual assault, this class has prepared me for many important life situations. 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Silver and Test Tube Free Essays

Copper-silver Nitrate Reaction Introduction In this experiment copper wire will be placed in a solution of silver nitrate. This single replacement reaction will produce a blue solution of copper II nitrate and solid silver. By weighing the reactants before the reaction, the mass of silver produced can be predicted. We will write a custom essay sample on Silver and Test Tube or any similar topic only for you Order Now This theoretical yield can be compared to the actual yield of silver. Purpose Students will compare the theoretical mass of silver with the actual mass of silver from the single replacement reaction between copper and silver nitrate. Materials Copper wire stirring rod 18 x 150 mm test tube silver nitrate, AgN0350 mL graduated cylinder distilled water 100 mL or 250 mL beaker Procedure Day 1 1 . Obtain a 30 cm length of bare copper wire, stirring rod, and 18 x 150 mm test tube. coll the copper wire by wrapping It around a glass-stirring rod. stretch the coiled wire until It Is about 2 cm longer than the test tube. Leave wire tightly coiled near one end and stretched out and straighten toward the other Weigh the wire and record it in the data table to the nearest 0. 01 grams. using weigh paper, weigh out about 1. 5 g of silver nitrate, AgN03. Record the measurement in data table to the nearest 0. 01 grams. (Caution: Be careful not to get any of the silver nitrate, solution or solid, on your skin or clothing. It will react with them. ) 3. Measure about 20 mL of distilled water In a graduated cylinder and pour It Into the test tube. Add the solid silver nitrate tothe water In the test tube. 4 Carefully move the stlrrl ng rod up and down to dissolve the crystals and mix the solution, Take great care not to poke a hole In the bottom of the test tube with the stirring rod. Rinse the stirring rod with a small amount ot distilled water into the test tube. Place the coiled wire in the silver nitrate solution with the closely coiled end at the bottom of the test tube. Set the test tube into a beaker. 6. Record observations during the next 15 minutes. 7. Set your labeled beaker in the designated area, allowing it to react overnight. Day 2 8. Weigh the 100 mL beaker. 9. Shake the crystals from the copper wire. using a wash bottle, rinse the wire Into he weighed 100 mL beaker. et the wire aside to dry. weigh the copper wire when How to cite Silver and Test Tube, Papers

Learning and Stress free essay sample

Describe how you can use operant conditioning principles to a) discontinue your undesired behavior and b) replace that behavior with the desirable behavior you identified. Since I was in middle school, I have always had the bad habit of biting my nails. In the past, I have attempted to stop. I have tried to get acrylic nails, but I just ended up biting those too. I even made it my New Year’s resolution one year. So far, nothing has been successful. I would like to take this opportunity to try and stop biting my nails once and for all. The textbook defines operant conditioning as ‘the process of modifying behavior through the use of positive or negative consequences following specific behaviors. It is based on the notion that behavior is a function of its consequences, which may be either positive or negative. The consequences of behavior are used to influence, or shape, behavior through three strategies: reinforcement, punishment, and extinction. ’ While studying at the University of South Carolina, I took Psychology 101. During that class, we learned about B. F. Skinner and the ‘Skinner box. They put animals in the box and taught them different behaviors that resulted in a reward. They learned to do these behaviors, which would usually be pulling a lever, when they were given a certain cue, such as a light going on or a sound going off. This is one of the biggest studies of operant conditioning that we learned about and this is how I remember operant conditioning. I plan to use operant conditioning to stop biting my nails by rewarding my self for each day I succeed at not biting my nails. Each day I am successful, I will add a dollar to my ‘manicure’ fund. Since a manicure costs around $14, if I am successful for 2 weeks, I will treat myself to a manicure. I typically bite my nails when I am stressed. I plan to bring a stress ball to work and class, and I will replace my nail biting with squeezing the ball. Each time I feel the urge to bite my nails, I will use the stress ball instead. 2. Describe how you can use goal setting to achieve the same behavioral change you described in #1. Be sure to remember to make your goal SMART (see text). My goal is to not bite my nails anymore. SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound. My specific short-term goal is not bite my nails when I am stressed out for the next 2 weeks. I will measure my success at the end of each day. I will be successful if I succeed in not biting my nails for that specific day. I believe this is an attainable and realistic short-term goal. Since I have set the short-term goal for 2 weeks, this goal is time-bound. I will also measure my success on a daily basis. 3. Describe how you can use social learning theory to achieve the behavior change you describe in #1 Social learning occurs through the observation of other people and the modeling of their behavior. I believe that this would be difficult to do with my specific goal. Because my nail biting is a habit, I don’t typically think about it before I do it. However, when I do see other people biting their nails, it reminds me that it is something I would like to stop doing. To apply social learning, I could try and be more observant and look at other people’s nails. If their nails are longer and well groomed, this could be an indication they do not bite their nails. Because I would love to have longer, well-groomed nails, I could remember that I would like the obtain them when looked at other people’s nice nails. This could be a reminded not to bite my own. Now, use one or some combination of the performance management strategies you described to actually change your behavior. That’s right, select a strategy based on one or more of these approaches and do it. Describe what you did this week and later in the journal (at the very end) report on how successful you were in achieving the desired behavior change over the time remaining in the course (note: behavioral change generally takes some time, but you should be able to achieve at least some of your goal within the next six weeks). I will attempt to use the operant conditioning method to stop biting my nails. I will reward my self by adding a dollar to my ‘manicure’ fund for each day I am successful in not biting my nails. I will also plan to bring a stress ball to work and class. When I feel the urge to bite my nails, I will squeeze the stress ball instead. I will replace my nail biting habit with using the stress ball. During the first week, I earned 5 dollars. I slipped up and started to bite my nails during one of my classes. I didn’t even realize I was doing it for about 5 minutes. I also slipped up another day while doing homework. I was successful in bringing my stress ball with me to class and work, but did not find myself using it too often. I think I need to make more of an effort to take it out when I am at my desk or in class. After 19 days, I have earned the $14 I need treat myself to a manicure. Although it took me longer than I had hoped for, I am very proud of myself for completing my first goal. Now, I hope to continue with the system and treat myself to another manicure in 2 weeks. Although I would not consider this a complete success, I have certainly improved on biting my nails less than I did before this exercise. 4. What do you consider to be your most important source of stress? Based on what you read about how to cope with stress, what do you consider to be the best way to effectively cope with this source of stress? I feel that one of my most important sources for stress is currently time pressure and time management. Since I started the MBA program this semester, I have been attempting to balance my schoolwork with my job and my personal life. Sometimes it seems that there are just not enough hours in the day. I think that primary prevention would be the best option for me to manage my stress. The book says for time-management to consider improving planning and prioritizing my activities. I attempt to do this by keeping an organized planner with all of my assignments and appointments. I feel that I could improve by prioritizing my activities more than I currently do.