Barilla Exercise

The following activity appears in Mill Life, one of five document sets included in The World of Barilla Taylor. (The other sets are Farm & Family Life, City Life, Boardinghouse Life, and The Personal Side.) Get more information on renting the full Barilla Taylor Kit.

Read the transcribed letter dated July 14, 1844, from Barilla to her parents.

  1. What do you think Barilla wanted to convey to her parents about mill life?
  2. Do you think she liked mill work?
  3. What do you interpret to be the highlight of Lowell?

Find the entry Pay Days on the Corporations, from the 1845 Lowell City Directory.

Barilla worked in the Hamilton Mills.

  1. On what days was Barilla paid?
  2. Why do you think the mills paid workers on different days?

Partnership

The Tsongas Industrial History Center is an education partnership between the University of Massachusetts Lowell School of Education and the National Park Service at Lowell National Historical Park.

  • UMass Lowell
  • National Park Service