How do people handle challenges in the workplace?

Summary:  In this lesson, you will look at primary sources that show how Maine industry workers found ways to deal with workplace hazards and complications in the textile and sardine industries. 

Share whatever information from this introduction you feel will help provide context for your students before they investigate the primary sources.

The Lesson

1. Present as much as desired from the introductory information below to your students to give them context for the lesson. Depending on reading level, they could read the introduction as a homework assignment, or you could go over it together as a class.
2. Students choose (or the teacher assigns) one or more of the primary sources to work with.
3. The primary source can be projected/viewed on a big screen by the full class, or printed, so each student has their own copy.
4. This is a mystery-solving activity – students should not know details about the sources in advance. Without first seeing the source label information, students practice their observation and analysis skills. They only see the source, and have to use their skills to pull out information about it. 
   • Option 1 – Open inquiry
     • The teacher leads a full-class discussion using the prompts “What do you see?” and “What do you wonder?” The class should be encouraged to look at tiny details and pull out clues from each source. This can also work as a whiteboard or post-it note activity, with students writing their own comments in response to the sources.
   • Option 2 – Guided worksheets
     • Students complete an Analysis Worksheet  for each source. They can make educated guesses using whatever information they find in the sources. Note – This can be completed as a class, individually, or in small groups.
5. Present the source label information (the “answers”) to the students. Were you surprised by anything you learned? Have you found more connections between the different sources?
6. Repeat with as many sources as desired.
7. Discuss all the sources together. What sources did you work with? What did you learn from them? What questions do you have? How do the different sources connect to the theme, or to each other?
8. Optional: use the recommended activity prompts and reflection questions for further discussion.

What is industry?

The Industrial Revolution began in America in the late 19th century. In a short period of time, industries grew as a result of rapid innovation. But what is industry? Specifically, what industries are important to Maine and why?

Industry is defined as an, “economic activity concerned with the processing of raw materials and manufacture of goods in factories,” but what does this mean? Let’s think about it in relation to some of Maine’s largest industries. When people think of Maine, often one of the first things to come to mind is the state’s coastline and easy access to the ocean.​​ The ocean and its resources are very important to the Maine fishing industry. Fishermen work to catch fish to sell both to individual consumers, but also to businesses such as sardine canning companies. In this example fishermen will catch the raw material, the sardines, and sell them to a canning company. They are later processed and canned for selling as a product. 

This is just one example of an industry in Maine. Other industries include logging, agriculture and farming, granite, textiles, shipbuilding, ice harvesting, and more. All of these involve the use of raw materials or the creation of a product to be sold both in and out of state. We rely on industry as a key aspect of Maine’s economy. It creates thousands of jobs for Mainers, and ensures people are provided with necessary resources. It is also important to consider some of the downsides of industry. Many workers have been unnecessarily injured or mistreated, and there are environmental impacts.
Investigating primary sources related to Maine industries will help to showcase the benefits and downsides of innovation and production. Industry has evolved and changed significantly throughout history, and is a key part of the story of the state of Maine.

Additional Industry Information:

Unions

Having a job in a Maine industry can be very beneficial and rewarding, but there also are risks involved. Many occupations are dangerous, and in the past, some businesses have exploited their workers.

To advocate for fair wages and safe conditions workers joined together in labor unions. Labor unions are organizations that protect the rights and interests of industry workers. 

Each different type of industry could have its own union. 

If necessary, the unions would go on strike. A strike is when workers protest against the way they are treated by their employers by refusing to work. Sometimes strikes were successful, other times they were not. In 1934 there was a nationwide textile strike that started in the southern states, but spread quickly to the factories in the northern states as well. At some factories in the South, the strike got violent and people were killed. In Maine, the National Guard was called out to prevent textile workers from joining the strikes, but the workers walked out anyway. Ultimately, the strike fell apart and the unions did not succeed in their demands for shorter hours and better pay. 

In more recent times, workers in many industries have unionized so they can negotiate with companies like Starbucks and Amazon. In September of 2022, a national railway strike was avoided in the United States when the union successfully negotiated for better hours and pay for railway workers. 

Child Labor

Before factories existed, children often worked on family farms or around their homes with chores or odd jobs. Child labor in factories became common in Maine in the 1800s. Families were often large and in order to earn enough money to support everyone, the children were sent to work too. Children as young as seven would work in factories for 50-70 hours a week and earn as little as a dollar a week for their work. The work they did was often using machines that could be dangerous, and many children got injured. The environments they worked in were not clean and caused health issues.

Throughout the 1800s, child labor laws were made that limited the work day and increased the minimum age to work. A greater importance was placed on education and many people began to think it was more important to send children to school than to send them to work. Today, there are many laws in place that protect children in the workforce and that limit the types of work children can do. In order to work in Maine now, children under 16 years old must have parental permission and a work permit signed by their school superintendent before they can start a job. The times of day and number of hours a child can work are also restricted. 

Optional Activity:

1. Design a union flag for the textile industry or for the fishing industry. Why did you pick the colors or images that you did?

Reflection Questions:

• Were unions helpful to industry workers? Would you want to be in a union?
• Can you think of jobs that children might have done in other industries besides sardine canning and textiles?
• Why do you think so many children worked?
• How are the children in the sardine industry picture similar or different to the children in the textile mill picture?

Maine Industry Primary Source Sets developed in collaboration between the Maine State Archives, Maine State Library, and Maine State Museum.