"Those Valuable People, Those Africans"

---------- Original Message ---------- From: Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation <info@charlesrivermuseum.org> Date: 05/30/2023 4:29 PM EDT Subject: June Museum Machinations: Gearing Up For Summer!

Including a very special Mill Talk

View this email in your browser https://mailchi.mp/charlesrivermuseum/busyseptember-1443329?e=a11b668c27 https://charlesrivermuseum.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d00175d4c54fb8...

Thursday, June 29th, 7PM Mill Talk: Those Valuable People, the Africans https://charlesrivermuseum.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d00175d4c54fb8... The Slave(ry) Trade, the Global Cotton Kingdom, and the Industrial Textile Revolution in World and U.S. History https://charlesrivermuseum.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d00175d4c54fb8... This Mill Talk is FREE and Open to the Public Registration Required https://charlesrivermuseum.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d00175d4c54fb8... Register https://charlesrivermuseum.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d00175d4c54fb8... The success of the Boston Manufacturing Company and, subsequently, the City of Lowell and indeed the entire United States cotton textile industry, was dependent on the use of African slave labor. We believe that no conversation on American Industry's origins and powerful growth can be had without acknowledging this fact and engaging in an often difficult discussion about this subject.

The Charles RIver Museum is pleased and honored to host Ronald W. Bailey, https://charlesrivermuseum.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d00175d4c54fb8... Professor of African American Studies at the University of Illinois, serving as Department Head from 2012 to 2022, for this landmark Mill Talk.

This talk will explore a key chapter in trans-Atlantic, U.S., and African American history. The title is from a quote from Malachi Postlethwayt, a British mercantilist theorist in 1745.

The book on which this talk is based chronicles contributions made by millions of African peoples and their descendants to the vast “wealth of nations” that financed the economic and social progress of modern Western civilization called the “industrial revolution.” The same global process has been identified as one cause of the “underdevelopment” in Africa and other parts of the world. The phenomenal contribution resulted from the uncompensated labor of enslaved Black peoples across several centuries and on several continents. Prof. Bailey has coined the term “slave(ry) trade”™ to encompass an array of activities generally considered as separate developments. This includes the trade in Africans as commodities; commerce in slave-produced goods, especially sugar and cotton; trade among slave-based economies; production of manufactured goods from slave-produced raw materials; and related financial and commercial activities. Register https://charlesrivermuseum.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d00175d4c54fb8... The Mill Talks at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation are free and open to the public and are made possible by the generous support of the Lowell Institute https://charlesrivermuseum.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d00175d4c54fb8.... https://charlesrivermuseum.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d00175d4c54fb8... https://charlesrivermuseum.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d00175d4c54fb8... Our BRICKS & STORIES tours continue in June! Friday June 2nd, Saturday, June 10th, & Saturday, June 24th Walking Tour: THE MOTHER OF ALL TEXTILE MILLS https://charlesrivermuseum.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d00175d4c54fb8...

Curious about the old mill complex by the river? Discover the history and architecture of the world’s first modern factory, the 1813 Boston Manufacturing Company, which lies right in your own backyard! Learn how this maze of buildings developed from a single brick mill—and why that humble mill was a powerhouse of industry and innovation!

Friday, June 30th THE MILL GIRLS IN STORY & SONG! https://charlesrivermuseum.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d00175d4c54fb8... Come learn about the first industrial mill in the United States at the Charles River Museum of Innovation and Industry. Join us as we address the role of women in industrial America. The tour explores the trials and triumphs of mill women who worked in Boston Manufacturing Company and the Boston Associates’ textile mills in Waltham and Lowell, Massachusetts.

All tours are FREE to the Public and meet outside our Visitor Entrance at 11:30 AM!

Visit our full calendar of events HERE! https://charlesrivermuseum.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d00175d4c54fb8...

Now OPEN Saturdays For LEARNING & FUN!

Come visit, learn and have fun! 12:30PM-2PM RESERVE TICKETS IN ADVANCE https://charlesrivermuseum.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d00175d4c54fb8... Standard Museum Admission applies Activities will be aimed at ages 6-14, but all ages are welcome!

Wednesday, May 31st, at Noon Mill Talk Recording YouTube Premiere: New England Textiles: Sustaining the Tradition Fifty Years and Still Spinning This Mill Talk was recorded in September, 2022 and will premiere on YouTube https://charlesrivermuseum.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d00175d4c54fb8... on Wednesday, May 31, 2023 at noon.

In the wake of the 1970 closure of Cheshire Mills, a woolen mill that had been operated by the Colony family since the mid-1800s, John “Chick” Colony founded Harrisville Designs in Harrisville, New Hampshire.

Today, a half-century on, Harrisville Designs, still owned by Chick and his wife, Patricia – and whose sons are now involved in running the business - is sustaining a textile tradition in Harrisville that dates back to the late 1700s. Harrisville Designs not only spins virgin wool yarn but also manufactures a range of floor looms, table looms, and lap looms.

Harrisville yarns and looms are widely used for both weaving and instruction by members of the Weavers’ Guild of Boston, whose Centennial Celebration exhibition were on display at the Charles River Museum in 2022.

In this talk, Chick Colony, with his 50 years of hands-on perspective, will discuss ongoing developments in New England textiles since 1971, touching on sheep, scouring, dyeing, and – of course – manufacturing, and where we, and Harrisville Designs, may go from here.

https://charlesrivermuseum.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d00175d4c54fb8... View this Mill Talk on YouTube https://charlesrivermuseum.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d00175d4c54fb8...

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Our mailing address is: Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation 154 Moody Street Waltham, MA 02453