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Here are the questions that each group must answer. Make sure your answers are DETAILED and EASY TO UNDERSTAND, since that is the point of the assignment.

GROUP A–LIFE IN THE LOWELL MILLS
1. Where is Lowell?
2. What were the mills and what is produced in them?
3. Who started the first complete mill, and where? Provide a BRIEF history.
4. When did the Lowell mills first open, and what was there before?
5. How were the mills powered? Give a brief description of how they worked.
6. What made Lowell a good location for the mills?
7. Briefly describe the 5 steps in the textile making process and how machines made each step easier.

GROUP B–DAILY LIFE
1. From where and what types of families did the mill girls usually come from in the early history of the mills? (Meaning, before the 1840’s)
2. Describe the different types of people that worked in the mills from the 1830’s to the 1920’s.
3. Why were some of the motivations of the girls come to work at the mills?
4. How long did the girls usually stay employed at the mills? For what reasons might they leave?
5. Where did the girls live while working at the mills? Describe.
6. List four of the rules that the girls had to follow. Who wrote these rules?
7. Why were there so many rules for the workers?
8. What did the girls do for fun?
9. The girls often considered themselves to be “family.” What do you think contributed to this sense of community and friendship?
10. What was the “Lowell Offering?” Who contributed to it? Why did it exist?

GROUP C–WORKING CONDITIONS
1. Describe a mill girl’s typical schedule–How many hours and days per week did the girls work?
2. How much did the girls make per week? Were they paid by the hour?
3. Use the Inflation Calculator to determine what that would be in today’s money.
4. Describe some of the machines found in the mills?
5. Describe three different jobs performed by the mill workers. What kind of work did they entail? Describe the work that they did.
6. Describe the atmosphere inside the mills (air quality, sounds, temperature, etc…)
7. What were some of the dangers or health concerns of working in the mills?
8. How and why did the working conditions in the mills worsen over time?
9. Why did the pay decrease for the workers over time?
10.  Why would the mill hire child workers?  What did these workers do, and what were they paid?

GROUP D–REFORM AND IMMIGRATION
1. What was the Lowell Female Labor Reform Association (LFLRA)?
2. Who was Sarah Bagley, and why is she important?
3. What was the 10-hour petition, and was it successful?
4. The mill girls protested their working situation in 1836. What were they protesting and how did they do it? (Petition, strike, violence?)
5. What song did the girls sing during the protest? Give the lyrics and describe why you think they chose this song.
6. Why did American women start to leave the factories for good? Who took their place?
7. What is the area known as “the acre” in Lowell?
8. What economic factors led to the decline of the Lowell mill system? (This was also known as the Golden Experiment.)