MOSI Google Hangout

Hi!

In our class, we are continuing to learn about the industrial revolution, a very intriguing time in history. To help us get more of an insight on what times were like for factory workers during the industrialization, our class decided to host a google hangout with Jamie, a museum curator at the museum of science and industry. In order to prepare for this meeting, We watched a brief previously recorded video of Jamie to get a quick look at what we would be seeing later. In that video, we witnessed all of the machines that factory workers had to use to make pieces of cloth. After the short video, we collaborated with our groups and came up with a few questions to ask Jamie regarding his job or any other questions about the MOSI.

This machine on the screen is the power loom, which was a mechanized loom used for spinning together separate pieces of fabric

Overall, I learned that the general textile manufacturing process was a very dangerous job that had many young children and women employed. It was the farthest thing from an ideal lifestyle, but since the children were orphans, they had no other option than to work in the dangerous factories. Over time, the machines began to develop into more mechanized and safe machines which granted fewer injuries in the work place. Prior to the safer machines, many men, women, and children would get caught in the rotating leather belts and were either mangled in a machine or had their arm torn off. There was a balance between positive and negative impacts the industrial revolution had on textile production for families. For one, the machines made the cloth making process much faster; what would've originally taken three weeks would now take around a day or so. During the time, the salary varied depending on how many pieces of cloth you produced. With the faster production, families were payed much more than they were previously.

This Google Hangout was one of the more interesting activities we had done in class and I enjoyed doing something outside of the box. Jamie was very friendly and insightful and helped me learn a lot more about the MOSI than I was expecting. I would enjoy hosting more hangouts with other experts on the topic!