The Factory Girl's Song
The Factory Girl's Song
Usage conditions apply
- Description
- This broadside contains the lyrics to “The Factory Girl’s Song,” a folk song whose origins date back at least to the 1830s. The song’s nineteen 4-line stanzas describe the daily work of the mill girls in different jobs: spinning, weaving, and dressing the finished cloth. At the end the singer tells of returning home to marry, giving up the rigors of tending the machinery and working for harsh overseers. The song may have originated in Lowell, Massachusetts, but some scholars suggest that the reference to wages earned in “shillings” instead of dollars may mean it had connections to Canadian immigrants to the Lowell textile mills. Several iterations of the song are known, including “The Lowell Factory Girl”, “The Factory Girl’s Come-All-Ye” from Lewiston, Maine, and generalized versions titled “Factory Girl.”
- Object Name
- broadside
- date made
- 1840s
- 1835 - 1855
- place made
- United States: New England
- Physical Description
- paper (overall material)
- printer's ink (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 9 1/2 in x 5 3/4 in; 24.13 cm x 14.605 cm
- ID Number
- 2013.0125.01
- accession number
- 2013.0125
- catalog number
- 2013.0125.01
- subject
- Girls
- labor issues
- Music
- Textile Processing and Production
- See more items in
- Cultural and Community Life: Textiles
- Cultures & Communities
- Industry & Manufacturing
- Work
- American Enterprise
- Exhibition
- Girlhood
- Exhibition Location
- National Museum of American History
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
Nominate this object for photography.
Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.
If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.
