Pepperell Manufacturing Company records

An extensive run of the textile firm's records (1850-1932), including minutes, general accounts, production records, and correspondence; letters of William Dwight, Edward W. Codman, George Dexter, Philip Y. De Normandie, William Amory, and Walter H. Bradley, treasurers; and William P. Haines, Henry S. Howe, Robert McArthur, and E. L. Morrill, agents. Includes subsidiary collections for Saco Water Power Co. (1741-1911; copies of deeds only before 1839; letters of W. S. Dennett, agent); Laconia Co. (1844-1911; general records and letters of Otis Holmes and August Haines, agents); Massachusetts Cotton Mills (1839-1926; stockholders' records and accounts); and the ship Pequot (records for 1852-1864). Includes records of Bliss, Fabyan & Co. as selling agent for some firms.

The collection contains records of women both as workers and as investors. A particularly interesting feature of this collection is an 1893 volume of "Wages and Duties," which contains very precise descriptions of the duties and wages of factory workers in the Pepperell and Laconia Mills, often with gender identification. For instance, the job description of Fly Frame Girls in the Main Carding Room states that they run 10 frames, or an average of 170 spindles each, 8 X 4. They set up their roving, oil top rolls and spindle, and doff, and average 77 hanks per week on 1.92 hank roving @ 8 cents per hank. Price reduced Jan. 29, 1894, to 7 1/4 cents per hank.