Primary Source Gallery
Primary source documents provide students a glimpse at real history. They require students to examine source materials analytically and thoughtfully to make judgments and inferences as to their meaning. Working with primary source materials helps students develop critical thinking skills, consider different points of view, and connect and empathize with people of eras past.
Primary source materials also helped inform the content and design for world of Past/Present and the stories of its characters. Below, find a number of primary source documents that reflect the content and themes of Past/Present to explore.
A New England Mill Town
This is a lithograph of the Sawyer Wollen Mills in Dover, New Hampshire, one of many New England mill towns that inspired the design of Eureka Falls. (Lithograph from the American Textile History Museum.)
Mill Rules and Regulations
“Rules and Regulations” like these posted in the Stevens Mill in North Andover, Massachusetts could be found in most mills. Many workers resented the companies’ paternalism reflected in the rules. (From the American Textile History Museum.)
Giving the Other Fellow a Chance
The copy for this political cartoon reads:
Old Mr. New England (querulously). – Here, hold there! I’m your steady company.
Miss Cotton-Mills (sweetly). – Yes; but that doesn’t mean I’m not to receive the attentions of other eligible young men!
This political cartoon from 1895 is titled “Giving the Other Fellow A Chance” and reflects the pressure established New England felt from the growth of new mills in the south. (From Puck, March 13, 1895, found in Special Collections & Archives, Georgia State University Library.)
Doffer Girls
This picture shows a group of adolescent girl employed as “doffers.” Doffing was the task of removing filled bobbins and empty spools from the looms to keep them running. It was usually held by adolescent girls and boys. (From Rivard, P. (2002). A New Order of Things: How the Textile Industry Transformed New England. Hanover: University Press of New England.)
The Plight of the Laborer
This cartoon reads:
Uncle Sam (to Labor Party Representative) "You did splendidly, my boy, for a first attempt, but, for your own good and that of the country, get rid of that dangerous companion [anarchy] of yours....
This political cartoon reflects the tenuous situation in which many laborers, like Anna, found themselves. (From Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, November 13, 1886.)
