Process—Company Treasurer & Mill Agents:

First, you will read an exchange of letters between Treasurer Henry Hall of the Lawrence Manufacturing Company and his mill Agent, William Austin. In the months leading up to the October 1836 turn-out, the stage was being set for the strike that ensued.  According to historian Thomas Dublin, the 1836 turn-out, “was a defensive action opposing a decision to raise the price of room and board in company boardinghouses.  The price increase came in response to petitions from boardinghouse keepers complaining that they could not make ends meet because of rapid inflation.”

In the first letter below, Treasurer Henry Hall of Lowell’s Lawrence Manufacturing Company writes from his office in Boston to his Mill Agent William Austin in Lowell about the problems facing the boardinghouse keepers.

It will help to note the following:

Board = the cost deducted from the mill girls’ (mill operatives’) pay to subsidize the cost of living in the boardinghouses.
Rent = the money paid to the Lowell Mill Companies by the boardinghouse keepers to rent the boardinghouses

Document Analysis: Exchange of Letters between Lawrence Manufacturing Company Treasurer Henry Hall and Lawrence Company Mill Agent William Austin

Image Source: Western Electric Company Hawthorne Studios. Baker Library Historical Collections. Harvard Business School

Image Source: Western Electric Company Hawthorne Studios. Baker Library Historical Collections. Harvard Business School

Next you will read a letter, dated January 20, 1837, from Treasurer Henry Hall to his agent John Aiken.  This letter is written after the 1836 turn-out.  This letter indicates that the managers of the Lowell mills will find a way to compensate the boardinghouse keepers without penalizing the mill girls through an increase in room and board. 

Document Analysis: Treasurer Henry Hall to Mill Agent John Aiken Esq.

Image Source: Western Electric Company Hawthorne Studios. Baker Library Historical Collections. Harvard Business School

Next Activity: Newspaper Reports