Belief in the integrity of the Lowell working women: An examination of Harriet Farley's writings

This paper rehabilitates Harriet Farley's words in the Lowell Offering, a magazine written exclusively by the female workers of the Lowell, Massachusetts factory mills. These textile mills began in the 1820s and employed primarily women to tend the machinery. Farley believed that women should adhere to the gender roles of the day. She lost readers when she did not become involved in the ten hour movement, a campaign led by women factory workers to limit working hours. This paper compares Farley to one of her fellow Lowell workers, Sarah Bagley, a writer for a pro-Labor newspaper. Believing men and women equals in the labor rights movement, Bagley is seen by historians as the pioneer. Farley should not be forgotten. By carefully examining Farley's words, this paper details how Farley was an innovator as well as a woman of her time.