Description
This study looks closely at the lives of shoemakers in Lynn, Massachusetts during the period when their work was mechanized and moved into factories. For many decades prior to the 1850s, Lynn had been a major center for the manufacture of shoes, all made by hand through a putting-out system. Men and women each had a role to play in making shoes. The family was the center of production and shoemaking shaped many aspects of family life, including fertility. Beginning in 1851, a series of machines replaced handwork and work moved from the home and near-by workshops to factories. By 1880, the old system was all but extinct and a large number of machines replaced the hand skills of Lynns cordwainers and binders. This change in both the nature and location of work affected family life in a number of ways, including choice of marriage partner, fertility and the role of the family in providing job training. This work explores both pre-industrial and industrial Lynn and analyzes the relationship between work and family life and how changes in work changed family life. It will appeal to those interested in the social history of industrialization, the history of the family, and demographic history.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.