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"Working in the Factories:"
Using Local Census Data to Explore the Industrial Revolution

Two young spinners at the close of a week's work leaving the cotton mill in Easthampton, Mass.
Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Digital ID nclc.02629

  Introduction

In a series of lessons, students examine the trend away from farming and toward manufacturing in 19th and early 20th century Massachusetts, and explore whether that trend was reflected in their own community. Students retrieve state- and county-level historical census data about farming, manufacturing, and population from the Internet.

They create visual displays of the data with maps (generated on the website) and graphs (created by students). Students use the maps and graphs to answer questions about employment and immigration in their county long ago.

In the previous lesson, students explored historical census data about manufacturing establishments in their county. Now, students research the number of people actually employed in those establishments.

This lesson is geared toward students in grades 9-12 studying U.S. history. It integrates graphing and data analysis.

Social Studies Standards Addressed

• USI.28 Explain the emergence and impact of the textile industry in New England and industrial growth generally throughout antebellum America.

• USII.2 Explain the important consequences of the Industrial Revolution.

• USII.3 Describe the causes of the immigration of Southern and Eastern Europeans, Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese to America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and describe the major roles of these immigrants in the industrialization of America.

Mathematics Standards Addressed

• 10.D.1 Select, create, and interpret an appropriate graphical representation (e.g., scatterplot, table, stem-and-leaf plots, box-and-whisker plots, circle graph, line graph, and line plot) for a set of data and use appropriate statistics (e.g., mean, median, range, and mode) to communicate information about the data. Use these notions to compare different sets of data.

Instructional Technology Standards Addressed

• 1.24 Produce simple charts from spreadsheet.

• 3.16 Collect, organize, analyze, and graphically present data using the most appropriate tools (e.g., spreadsheet, database, graphing, and concept-mapping tools).

Duration:  This lesson requires one class period.

Class Setup: Each student or work group will need access to a computer with Internet connection.  Before the lesson, decide whether you want students to work individually or in groups of 2 or 3 (depending on their experience and your level of computer access).

Introduce the lesson:

Explain to students that they'll be researching census data about the Industrial Revolution.   We will use the Historical Census Browser at the University of Virginia to explore census data.  If you have not already done lesson 1, use the suggestions there to help introduce students to census data.

In this lesson, students will explore the number of people employed in manufacturing during the Industrial Revolution in their county and in Massachusetts as a whole. They will collect data on “Persons Employed in Manufacturing” for Massachusetts and their county from the Historical Census Browser website. Students will also gather general population data to calculate the percentage of the population employed in manufacturing.

If students have not done lesson 1, use the information there to locate your own county, and follow the steps to model for them how to gather data from the website.

Do a little exploring on the website before the lesson to determine how you want students to gather the data given their skill level, amount of computer access, and the time you have. You might choose to let students gather all the data themselves, divide into groups and assign each group to collect a portion of the data, or collect the data yourself to give to students.

Gather data:

Students will gather data for Massachusetts and for their county; they also gather population data for the state and county as a whole.

1. Give students time to gather data about Persons Engaged in Manufacturing at the state and county level. Students should also gather data on the total population of Massachusetts and their county (available under the General Population category in the Historical Census Browser.

2. Remind them to save the data in a spreadsheet or some other way they can use later.

3. Explain that some tables may show “N/A” or a column of zeros for some years, which means that the data was not transcribed to this website for some reason.

Students calculate the percentage of the population engaged in manufacturing at the state and county level and create two graphs

1. Ask students to use the information they’ve gathered to calculate the percentage of the population engaged in manufacturing (1820-1880) for Massachusetts and their county.

2. Have students use the data they’ve gathered to create 2 graphs

• Percentage of Population Engaged in Manufacturing (1820-1880) – Massachusetts
• Percentage of Population Engaged in Manufacturing (1820-1880) – Our County

• Distribute the Industrial Revolution: Manufacturing Employment worksheet. Give students time to answer questions.

• As a class, discuss students’ responses to the questions.

Variations for Younger Students
For younger students, you may wish to vary this lesson by doing one or more of the following:

• Gather state-level data for the students and hand out a pre-made graph; students can focus on gathering the county-level data only.

• Gather all the data from the website in advance for students and hand out printed (or electronic) data tables; students won’t do the Web component of the activity, but will just do the graphing of the data.

• Create the graphs for students, and have them use the graphs to answer the questions.

• Internet access for each student or group
• Microsoft Excel or similar graphing program for each student or group
• Copies of the Industrial Revolution: Manufacturing Employment worksheet for each student

For this lesson you’ll need access to the Historical Census Browser at the University of Virginia website. This site provides access to historical census data at the state and county levels. Students will download census data from the website to make graphs. For step-by-step instructions on using the Historical Census Browser, click here.

Recommended background reading for teachers: Historical Atlas of Massachusetts, “Industrialization and Urbanization, 1860-1900” (pages 34-37

Evaluate students’ responses on the Industrial Revolution: Manufacturing Employment worksheet. Were students able to:

• Correctly read the graphs to answer question 1?
• Make reasonable analyses of the information on the graphs to answer question 2?
• Make reasonable analyses of the information on the map to answer question 3?

1. Massachusetts Counties Map
   (Also available online at http://www.sec.state.ma.us/cis/cispdf/ma_counties.pdf)

2. Student Worksheet: Manufacturing in Massachusetts (see below)

"Industrial Revolution: Manufacturing Employment in Our County"

Questions

1.       Compare the graphs of manufacturing employment in Massachusetts and in your county. In general do the patterns of change on the two graphs appear similar or different? Describe them.

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2.       Look at the data on your graphs for 1870. Based on this data, do you think manufacturing was an important industry in your county in that year?

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3.       Look at the map of persons engaged in manufacturing in Massachusetts in 1870 below. Describe how your county compared with other counties in Massachusetts.

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MASSACHUSETTS COUNTIES IN 1870: PERSONS ENGAGED IN MANUFACTURING	Source: Historical Census Browser at the University of Virginia
	Legend:

This lesson was designed by Elizabeth C. Finison
Questions? Contact k12.msp@umb.edu

The Mass. Studies Project	These curricular modules were developed with support from the John H. and H. Naomi Tomfohrde Foundation. The "Our Town, Our City" Curricular Resources Project is an initiative of the Massachusetts Studies Project, Institute for Learning and Teaching, University of Massachusetts, Boston The lesson plan formatting is based on The WebQuest template.