The course of industrial decline : the Boott Cotton Mills of Lowell, Massachusetts, 1835-1955
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The course of industrial decline : the Boott Cotton Mills of Lowell, Massachusetts, 1835-1955
（John Hopkins studies in the history of technology, new ser.,
Johns Hopkins University Press, c1993
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Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. [253]-276) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Studies of American industry frequently cite Lowell, Massachusetts as an early model for business practices. Scholars have sought to explain the city's rise to prominence, the impact of its textile mills on workers and on commerce, and its part in regional development and American prosperity. In this book, Laurence Gross sets out to look beyond these issues. Focusing on Lowell's Boott Cotton Mills, he examines the industry's struggle to maintain its prominence, the causes of its decline and its ultimate flight south. Gross puts much of the blame for the pattern of events on the mill-owners themselves. They resisted reinvestment, so their operations became less efficient. They kept antiquated machinery running long after it was safe to do so, and they were slow to increase to issues of worker safety. The increased textile demands of World War II, Gross suggests, only forestalled the mill's inevitable demise. This book aims to throw new light on the interaction of labour, business and technology.
As one of many American companies that succumbed to obsolete equipment, poor management and changing markets, the Boott Cotton Mills experienced problems that have become all too familiar as America's industrial base continues to decline.
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