The Belles of New England: The Women of the Textile Mills and the Families Whose Wealth They Wove

by William Moran

The Belles of New England  is a masterful, definitive, and eloquent look at the enormous cultural and economic impact on America of New England's textile mills. The author, an award-winning CBS producer, traces the history of American textile manufacturing back to the ingenuity of Francis Cabot Lodge. The early mills were an experiment in benevolent enlightened social responsibility on the part of the wealthy owners, who belonged to many of Boston's finest families. But the fledgling industry's ever-increasing profits were inextricably bound to the issues of slavery, immigration, and workers' rights.

William Moran brings a newsman's eye for the telling detail to this fascinating saga that is equally compelling when dealing with rags and when dealing with riches. In part a microcosm of America's social development during the period, The Belles of New England casts a new and finer light on this rich tapestry of vast wealth, greed, discrimination, and courage.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History

320 pages, Hardcover

First published September 3, 2002

About the author

William Moran worked as a writer, editor, and producer for CBS Evening News for twenty-five years. Moran was a principal writer for Walter Cronkite before joining CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt.

His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Time magazine.

Reviews

[Rick Rapp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moran's book is well-researched and disturbing. The abuses that were heaped upon the millworkers by the greedy owners and the discrimination against immigrants are not shocking, however, because history has repeated itself with corporate greed and anti-immigrant sentiment in our own time. And the complacency of those who were not directly affected and were annoyed by the unionizing and protests of people who were the targets of abuse is also very present in our own time. Moran does a good job in tracing in the rise and fall of the New England mills. He stops short of commenting on the similarities between those days and our current society's sad testament to "lessons not learned." Those wo do not learn history are indeed doomed to repeat it.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Such a mixed bag. The author is a CBS producer and the book reads and is organized like the episodes of a TV series. Why else spend pages and pages on the conditions of the Irish during the Famine? I know about that and did not need to come to this book for it, but it would probably make part of a good one hour program on the Irish mil workers.
The chapter on the 1912 Lawrence mil strike was the most tightly organized and compelling, full of details and primary source information.
The "families" of the book's title are the mill owning families - Lawrence, Lowell, and others - not the families of the workers. I was not at all clear about that when I picked up the book.
Like the Paul Rivard book I just read, the book is very abrupt in how it wraps up its tale. The bottom line seems to be that the machinery in the mills grew more and more obsolete, and rather than invest in replacing it the owners closed up shop and reopened in the south where they could pay less and be closer to the sources of cotton. But the industry as a whole tailed off more slowly than that - my grandfather was a woolen mill foreman until 1968 in Worcester - and that story is not told anywhere I have yet found. Did woolen mills last longer? Why?
The details of what it was like to work in a mill and the conditions that are no longer tolerated in the US are a look at what the textile sweatshops of Asia are like today - it is food for thought that somewhere in India people are still working like that. And is unfettered corporate capitalism any better today than it was in 1900? Not as long as the owners can continue to run off to places where workers have no rights.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting history. I have driven by these mills, especially the ones in Lowell and never knew the history of the workers that toiled there.

I was fascinated and awed by the strength and drive of these workers fighting for better conditions and to be treated as the people they were. Truly inspiring.

[Mary Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read the Daring Ladies of Lowell by Kate Alcott, reading this book gave me more insight into the textile industry in the 19th century. This book also has me questioning my Franco American ancestors. I wonder if they worked in the Woonsocket RI mills when they came down from Canada. Good read.

[Darla Ebert · Rating 2 out of 5]

The stories are somewhat interesting but not written as beguilingly as one might want. I guess I would like a lot more in the way of background on each of the personal stories, to feel I am really there and getting to know these ladies. It IS signficant what the women of past generations went through to give us the freedom and choices we have today.

[Nicole Bosse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicely written piece of nonfiction; anecdotal stories of the mill women's lives, interspersed with generalities about landscapes and migration patterns and jingles/poetry of the age paint a vivid picture of mill life in 19th and early 20th century America.

[Krista Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

A highly informational and historical read that is also enjoyable and interesting.

[Joyce Levinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing depiction of history.

[Heidi Klinowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

from a genealogical perspective this book had some Interesting information but not as many stories or anecdotes as I expected.

[Jeannie Mancini · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although there are some very interesting tidbits to learn about the New England cotton mills written in Moran's Belles of New England, there was very little about the GIRLS themselves. The author takes you way beyond the life of the girls and digresses heavily into the realms of the mill owners, and of the many immigrants who traveled from Europe for various reasons, coming to America to gain jobs in the textile industry. Briefly mentioning why the immigrants were important would have been plenty, but the reader must endure long paragraphs of the history of Ellis Island and that immigrant story as well. You find unending pages regarding why the Irish immigrants came to the mills after leaving their homeland out of desperation caused by the potato famine crisis. Another chapter with ongoing descriptions on why the French Canadians similarly crossed the border at a time when their economic status sent people scurrying for mill jobs, was also very tedious to read. All of this could have been condensed down to a few passages explaining why this was essential to the story of the mills, not a hundred pages of it!

This historic account takes place before the Civil War when issues of slavery in the South played a great part for the cotton mill factories. But again, the author spent way too much time informing the reader of the New England views on slavery, and how this effected local areas who were either for or against abolition including personal views from the local people questioning the right to use slaves to pick the cotton they wove. Some of this is of course relevant to the importance and history of the mills, but not to the extent the author injects into this book.

I was greatly disappointed in this book due to all the other miscellaneous historical facts I wasn't expecting to get. I really was looking for a book full of quotes, memoirs and descriptive details pertaining to the thousands of women who worked 14 hour days by the sweat of their brow running the machines and living in communal boarding houses. The initial plan from the fore founders was to provide a society for female self improvement that would allow the ladies to become financially independent and in turn help them to move on to going to school to better their lives. I did not get very much of that at all. I found that these pages and pages, chapters and chapters filled with nonpertinent trivial history more than enough for anyone interested in the women's part of this story.

I also feel the need to comment on the hundreds of typing errors in this book. It was truly deplorable how many mistakes there were! The book needed severe editing! If you are a woman, or researcher who is looking for a good deal of information on the women in the mills, I can't say I'd recommend this book at all. If you want a book full of just plain history of the people and the places where the mills are located, and how these people affected New England manufacturing, politics and society, you might get something out of it. I believe the title was very misleading and can't say on the whole I enjoyed this book.

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a masterful, definitive, and eloquent look at the enormous cultural and economic impact on America of New England's textile mills. The author, an award-winning CBS producer, traces the history of American textile manufacturing back to the ingenuity of Francis Cabot Lodge. The early mills were an experiment in benevolent enlightened social responsibility on the part

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book started out rather abruptly--not much of an introducation, but after that it was very well-organized and informational. A good history of all groups involved in the New England textile mills.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can be a bit dry at time but oh so interesting if you have an interest in the American textile industry, or the Industrial Revolution, or New England history. Um, clearly I liked this book.

[Shari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely well researched and written.