Video
Slater Mill Virtual Tour Walkthrough
Transcript
For more than 200 years, people have been curious about what’s inside this old mill. It is currently set up as an exhibit, with examples of spinning and looming machines from various time periods lining each side of the 29 x 45 foot room. There are wooden beams and a wooden ceiling, white walls with many windows, and an old wooden plank floor that shows signs of finishing and reuse.
Some of the earliest people to take a tour were astonished by what they saw. The humid air was thick with dust and small bits of cotton flying about. Children who needed “air, space, and sports” were standing in front of loud machines, turning carefully prepared cotton into strands of white thread.
The children who worked in this mill reported to a man named Samuel Slater. Mr. Slater, who had also worked when he was young, paid the young peoples’ parents for the time they spent making thread in his mill. The early employees in this building, many of whom were about 10 years old, spent six days a week standing above a noisy waterwheel, watching the rush of the Blackstone River outside. Bells alerted them as to the start, middle, and end of their days, and almost all hours with sunlight were spent inside the bright mill.
In the early days, this was a spinning operation, from the 1790s through the 1820s. This building has had other lives, too, but people have come to tour the mill mostly for the story of Mr. Slater, and the children whose parents traded their time for his money. Since 1921, the mill has been a museum, and for 100 years, it was under the careful stewardship of the Old Slater Mill Association. Starting in the 1950s, children also returned in large numbers to the mill, this time, as tourists and students on field trips.
Young people came to work here to make thread on machines made of wood and metal. Along the way, they also became changemakers, people who traded their time for pay and some of their freedom so that others could enjoy cheap luxuries. This building has importance all its own, but it is also part of a larger story, one with threads that connect all of us directly to the people of the past.
While exploring this place, you will have the opportunity to see the importance of people, of power, and the process that made this mill a successful place for early industry. Imagine this mill from the point of view of a ten year old, a typical worker inside the space. What would it be like to be working here at a young age? What questions would you like to ask someone who spent important years of their childhood inside this mill?
The first version of this mill was simple. The building, handcrafted by local men, was made of oak, white and yellow pine. It was designed to provide the best conditions for spinning cotton into thread. This meant lots of light, and if possible, reducing the risk of fire. Notice the number of windows, the high ceilings, the openness of the space, and of course, some of the very old posts and beams that go back to the late 1700s.
In the belltower, up the stairs to the right of the door, there are two vertical lines that may call your attention. Near the entrance, there is an old rope that is tied to a bell at the top of the tower. This bell signaled all the important moments in a worker’s day, from start to finish. In the middle of the tower, there is a thick black metal shaft. This line runs from the attic to the basement, a final relic of an old waterpower system. The mill managers used water from the Blackstone River, located next to the mill, to power their machines. The bell was their tool for managing their workers.
There is also a portrait of a well dressed man on the wall to the right. Samuel Slater did not arrive in this country with much, but he died with a huge fortune. For about 50 years, Slater worked in a mill six days out of the week. His body was tired by the end of his life.
Yet, Slater did not become a millionaire just through hard work. Most of Slater’s employees in mills such as this one were under the age of 12. Children as young as six could be found doing work in early textile mills. Most were around 10.
A time traveler visiting the inside of this mill building when it first opened might assume they had come into a very strange classroom.
From January 1790 to July 1793, Samuel Slater worked with teams of crafts people, including adults who knew how to make iron tools and wooden machines, to get his spinning mill ready for work.
When this mill first opened in the middle of July 1793, the workers who stood in front of the loud machines were around ten years old. The machines they worked on had been made, in this village, just for them. But unlike a nicely tailored coat, or a perfectly snug hat, children did not often feel as though this was a good fit for them. Most adults, including Slater, did not agree, and thought that free children were made for this kind of work.
The mill today is usually warm and can be a little bit dusty. During the early years, it would be a hard place to spend a long day in. Small bits of cotton would be flying through the air. It might feel like being inside a snowstorm. The windows would be shut to keep heat and humidity, and those small cotton fibers, trapped inside. Children would have a hard time talking because it was so loud. Breathing could be hard, too, because the air was so thick.
Each piece of cotton brushed, sorted, pulled, or twisted by a child in this mill started as a seed, sometimes in the hands of another child, in a much warmer place, far away.
On plantations in the southern United States, as well as the Caribbean and throughout South America, very young people would have done the work of planting, harvesting, and cleaning the cotton grown near their homes. These children and the parents who also tended to the fields were enslaved, meaning they did not work by choice, and did not earn any money. They did not have the freedom to leave and often worked very long hours to tend to the cotton plants.
In learning the process through which cotton seeds became spools of thread, and later, cloth for people to wear, we can follow the movement of people, ideas, and money across thousands of miles of space. Just as importantly, we can connect with people who lived in a very different time. Ann Arnold, one of the first employees here, had no idea she could be making history by starting to work for Slater at the age of 10. Nor did the children of Caleb Greene, or the Widow Rebecca Cole.
The evidence, the stuff of their life stories, is found in the log books about the mill as well as in the passed down clothing made from threads in old New England mills. Each time we look closely at a dangling thread, or a loose stitch, or even the weave of a favorite shirt, we can think about the global chain of events that had to happen to pull and twist the fluffy parts of a plant into something we can wear.
Most people today do not make their own clothing. In the United States, it is also now illegal for children to work inside of mills such as this one. However, there are threads that still connect us all to this story. People, including children, who are not free, are part of the worldwide process of making much of our clothing. All of us are still connected to the process of industrialization that took place along the shores of the Blackstone River.
Descriptive Transcript
The flythrough tour of Slater Mill opens with a still image of the interior of a sunlit mill building with National Park Service and NCPTT logos in the upper left, and the name Slater Mill in the bottom center. The tour begins at one end of the main mill building and moves toward the river side of the building. For more than 200 years, people have been curious about what’s inside this old mill. It is currently set up as an exhibit, with examples of spinning and looming machines from various time periods lining each side of the 29 x 45 foot room. There are wooden beams and a wooden ceiling, white walls with many windows, and an old wooden plank floor that shows signs of finishing and reuse. As we move down the long axis of the building toward the center, we pass textile machines and barrels of cotton on both sides. Some of the earliest people to take a tour were astonished by what they saw. The humid air was thick with dust and small bits of cotton flying about. Children who needed “air, space, and sports” were standing in front of loud machines, turning carefully prepared cotton into strands of white thread. The children who worked in this mill reported to a man named Samuel Slater. Mr. Slater, who had also worked when he was young, paid the young peoples’ parents for the time they spent making thread in his mill. The early employees in this building, many of whom were about 10 years old, spent six days a week standing above a noisy waterwheel, watching the rush of the Blackstone River outside. Past the center of the mill, there is equipment to the left and right that shows how a bale of cotton is broken down, carded, and prepared for spinning. Bells alerted them as to the start, middle, and end of their days, and almost all hours with sunlight were spent inside the bright mill. In the early days, this was a spinning operation, from the 1790s through the 1820s. This building has had other lives, too, but people have come to tour the mill mostly for the story of Mr. Slater, and the children whose parents traded their time for his money. Since 1921, the mill has been a museum, and for 100 years, it was under the careful stewardship of the Old Slater Mill Association. Starting in the 1950s, children also returned in large numbers to the mill, this time, as tourists and students on field trips. When we reach the riverside end of the building, we turn and walk back along the other side of the long axis of the mill with machines that turn cotton into thread on the left and windows on the right. Young people came to work here to make thread on machines made of wood and metal. Along the way, they also became changemakers, people who traded their time for pay and some of their freedom so that others could enjoy cheap luxuries. This building has importance all its own, but it is also part of a larger story, one with threads that connect all of us directly to the people of the past. While exploring this place, you will have the opportunity to see the importance of people, of power, and the process that made this mill a successful place for early industry. Imagine this mill from the point of view of a ten year old, a typical worker inside the space. What would it be like to be working here at a young age? What questions would you like to ask someone who spent important years of their childhood inside this mill? The first version of this mill was simple. The building, handcrafted by local men, was made of oak, white and yellow pine. It was designed to provide the best conditions for spinning cotton into thread. This meant lots of light, and if possible, reducing the risk of fire. Notice the number of windows, the high ceilings, the openness of the space, and of course, some of the very old posts and beams that go back to the late 1700s. In the belltower, up the stairs to the right of the door, there are two vertical lines that may call your attention. Near the entrance, there is an old rope that is tied to a bell at the top of the tower. This bell signaled all the important moments in a worker’s day, from start to finish. In the middle of the tower, there is a thick black metal shaft. This line runs from the attic to the basement, a final relic of an old waterpower system. The mill managers used water from the Blackstone River, located next to the mill, to power their machines. The bell was their tool for managing their workers. There is also a portrait of a well dressed man on the wall to the right. Samuel Slater did not arrive in this country with much, but he died with a huge fortune. Going out the door and down the stairs of Slater Mill we turn to the right, away from Blackstone River and move between the buildings. Slater Mill, on the right, has buff colored siding and cream trim. Wilkinson Mill on the left is a stone building. Directly ahead is a red colonial house that used to belong to Sylvanus Brown. For about 50 years, Slater worked in a mill six days out of the week. His body was tired by the end of his life. Yet, Slater did not become a millionaire just through hard work. Most of Slater’s employees in mills such as this one were under the age of 12. Children as young as six could be found doing work in early textile mills. Most were around 10. A time traveler visiting the inside of this mill building when it first opened might assume they had come into a very strange classroom. From January 1790 to July 1793, Samuel Slater worked with teams of crafts people, including adults who knew how to make iron tools and wooden machines, to get his spinning mill ready for work. When this mill first opened in the middle of July 1793, the workers who stood in front of the loud machines were around ten years old. The machines they worked on had been made, in this village, just for them. But unlike a nicely tailored coat, or a perfectly snug hat, children did not often feel as though this was a good fit for them. Most adults, including Slater, did not agree, and thought that free children were made for this kind of work. Passing between Slater Mill and the Sylvanus Brown house, the Pawtucket skyline and city hall come into view. Going around the far side of Slater Mill, the tour proceeds back toward the river across a grassy area with trees. The mill today is usually warm and can be a little bit dusty. During the early years, it would be a hard place to spend a long day in. Small bits of cotton would be flying through the air. It might feel like being inside a snowstorm. The windows would be shut to keep heat and humidity, and those small cotton fibers, trapped inside. Children would have a hard time talking because it was so loud. Breathing could be hard, too, because the air was so thick. Each piece of cotton brushed, sorted, pulled, or twisted by a child in this mill started as a seed, sometimes in the hands of another child, in a much warmer place, far away. On plantations in the southern United States, as well as the Caribbean and throughout South America, very young people would have done the work of planting, harvesting, and cleaning the cotton grown near their homes. These children and the parents who also tended to the fields were enslaved, meaning they did not work by choice, and did not earn any money. They did not have the freedom to leave and often worked very long hours to tend to the cotton plants. In learning the process through which cotton seeds became spools of thread, and later, cloth for people to wear, we can follow the movement of people, ideas, and money across thousands of miles of space. Just as importantly, we can connect with people who lived in a very different time. Ann Arnold, one of the first employees here, had no idea she could be making history by starting to work for Slater at the age of 10. Nor did the children of Caleb Greene, or the Widow Rebecca Cole. The evidence, the stuff of their life stories, is found in the log books about the mill as well as in the passed down clothing made from threads in old New England mills. Each time we look closely at a dangling thread, or a loose stitch, or even the weave of a favorite shirt, we can think about the global chain of events that had to happen to pull and twist the fluffy parts of a plant into something we can wear. Most people today do not make their own clothing. In the United States, it is also now illegal for children to work inside of mills such as this one. However, there are threads that still connect us all to this story. People, including children, who are not free, are part of the worldwide process of making much of our clothing. All of us are still connected to the process of industrialization that took place along the shores of the Blackstone River. The tour ends next to the stone wall beside the river and a gate that can be opened to let water into the raceway under the mill to turn the wheel. The final view is of the side of Slater Mill ends as text scrolls onto screen. National Center for Preservation technology and training https://www.nps.gov/ncptt Project Lead: Jason Church; Scanning: Catherine Cooper; Video Production: Isabella Jones; Script by: Allison Horrocks; Narration by: Benedicte Hubuer; In Collaboration with Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park
Description
Step into history with the Slater Mill Virtual Tour! Explore the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution through an immersive experience, narrated from a child’s perspective. Discover the lives of young workers, the spinning and looming machines, and the global story of cotton production. Learn about Samuel Slater’s mill, the workers’ sacrifices, and how this iconic site shaped America’s industrial legacy. Brought to you by NPS and NCPTT.
Duration
7 minutes, 39 seconds
Credit
NPS Video
Date Created
06/01/2024
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