Dick, Lillian: Transcribed interview

Archive

-

Mississippi Valley Textile Museum

Name/Title

Dick, Lillian: Transcribed interview

Entry/Object ID

2021.08.32

Scope and Content

TRANSCRIBED INTERVIEW - audio on cassette tape, no video Interviewer: Joel Fortune Interview Date: August 19, 1987 Lillian told the story of how she wanted to leave school at twelve years old and her father had to get a permit to allow her to do it. She started at thirteen in 1926 in the worsted room where she worked as a spinner. She talked about the processing of wool into twists and what went on in the winding room, the weaving room, and about bobbins. She described how the spinning machine worked. She enjoyed the work and stayed for seven years until she was twenty in 1933. When her children were older, she worked at the Rosamond and Collie mills around 1937 as a winder, and also mended worsted cloth, she talked about working the night shift at the Collie Mill. She talked about the Depression and wartime boom in production and changes to mill production after the war. She described a typical workday. Her husband worked as a weaver in the army after the Second World War. Her father also worked at the mill where he made bobbins for looms. He then worked in the finishing department which made better money. She talked about the Collie bus which transported workers to the mill as well as wages and the closure of the Appleton mill and instituting the mill as a museum.

Collection

Mill Workers Memory Project

Cataloged By

Natalia Pochtaruk

Lexicon

Search Terms

Rosamond Mill, Collie Mill, worsted room, spinner, twists, winding room, weaving room, bobbins, spinning machine, winder, mending, shift work, Depression, wartime boom, weaver, World War Two, Second World War, loom, finishing, museum history, Collie bus, wages, almonte, 1987, pension, appleton, menders, entertainment, women in the workplace, school, weaving, Shop Street, warehouse, counting house, housing, Church Street, Elgin Street, Campbell Family, Penman, Old red mill, winter, 1930s

Legacy Lexicon

Object Name

Dick, Lillian: Transcribed interview

Archive Details

Creator

MVTM

Date(s) of Creation

Aug 19, 1987

Location

Location

Building

Library

Category

Permanent

Date

November 7, 2023

Relationships

Related Person or Organization

Person or Organization

Dick, Lillian

Person or Organization

Fortune, Joel

General Notes

Note

Status By: Cameron Hill

Created By

admin@catalogit.app

Create Date

August 5, 2021

Updated By

Unknown

Update Date

February 10, 2023