Factories Archives | National Humanities Center

Factories

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Closing: The Life and Death of an American Factory

By Cathy N. Davidson (NHC Fellow, 1995–96) Closing explores the meaning of work—what it means when you have it, what it means when you do not. The story of the White Furniture Company—a century-old, family-owned business that was bought out by a huge corporate conglomerate and later closed—puts a human face on an economy in costly … Continued

Progressivism in the Factory

During the Progressive Era, from the 1890s through the 1920s, the idea of progress manifested itself in a variety of ways from cleaning up slums to eliminating government corruption to Americanizing immigrants to standardizing industrial practices. Such initiatives often sought to improve life by applying insights derived from the newly emerging social sciences—disciplines like sociology, … Continued