Boston Manufacturing Company Records
Boynton, I.M. 75 young women from 15 to 35 years of age, wanted to work in the cotton mills! :in Lowell and Chicopee, Mass. [S.l. : s.n., ca. 1870].
The Boston Manufacturing Company was a textile firm established in Waltham, Massachusetts in 1813 by investors of the Boston Associates. The company operated the first mill in the world to combine all aspects of the manufacture of cotton cloth under one roof. The company built its labor force by contracting with individual New England farm girls, who lived in dormitory-style boarding houses, which has come to be known as the Waltham system. The Boston Manufacturing Company records contain administrative material, financial records, correspondence, and labor and production records of the Waltham-based textile firm founded in Waltham, Massachusetts in 1813. The administrative records include stockholder's records, director's records, and meeting minutes. Financial records include ledgers, journals, cash books, invoices, sales records, and semi-annual reports containing general financial statements. Labor and production records include payroll, time books, summaries of production costs, amounts produced, and values of products. The payrolls list women workers for the period from 1817 to 1881.