John Russell Cutlery Grinding Room Employees

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From the collections of PVMA • Digital image © Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Assoc. • Image use information


About this item

John Russell started his cutlery manufacturing business in Greenfield, Massachusetts, about 1834, at the “Green River Works” along the Green River. He moved his business in 1870, to the newly-planned industrial city, Turners Falls, Massachusetts. In 1880, 51% of the people who worked there in factories were employed by the cutlery. In this photograph taken around 1890, there are both men and boys who worked in the Grinding Room. Russell employed a mix of native- and foreign-born workers from Ireland, Germany, and Eastern European countries who worked in the cutlery making over 150 kinds of pocket knives among other types of cutlery. By 1899, 28 states, including Massachusetts, had set a minimum age limit of 12 for manufacturing work, and a concerted reform campaign to ban all child labor under the age of 16. Around 1900, labor reforms would reduce the number of hours children could work to 58 per week.

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Details

Item typePhotograph
PhotographerRussell Cutlery
Datecirca 1890
PlaceTurners Falls, Massachusetts
TopicIndustry, Occupation, Work
Clothing, Textile, Fashion, Costume
Family, Children, Marriage, Courtship
Immigration
Eastern European
EraRise of Industrial America, 1878–1899
MaterialPaper
Process/FormatPrinting
Dimension detailsHeight: 10.00 in Width: 14.00 in
Catalog #L06.033
View this item in our curatorial database →
Russell Cutlery, photographer. John Russell Cutlery Grinding Room Employees. Photograph. ca. 1890. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, American Centuries. https://americancenturies.org/collection/l06-033/. Accessed on October 15, 2024.

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