Masthead for The Voice of Industry
The Voice of Industry is a rich resource for studying the labor history of the antebellum era in New England. However, access in microfilm format (analog or digitized) with its numerous pages of tightly presented text, can be a challenge for users to navigate. This LibGuide offers transcriptions and facsimiles of key passages that can be used and cited.
The Voice of Industry was a worker-run newspaper published from 1845-1848, in response to the social changes brought on by the Industrial Revolution. Shortly after it started publication in Fitchburg, Massachusetts the paper moved to Lowell, where its publishing committee was expanded to include Sarah Bagley, then president of the Lowell Female Labor Reform Association, the first union of workingwomen in the United States. Under Bagley's influence, the paper became the official herald of the Association. For a time, the publication listed both Lowell and Boston as its location before settling on the later. The paper addressed a number of issues, including capital punishment, Christianity, education, labor, the Mexican war, slavery, and women's rights.
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