This is a unique account of working-class childhood during the British industrial revolution, first published in 2010. Using more than 600 autobiographies written by working men of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Jane Humphries illuminates working-class childhood in contexts untouched by conventional sources and facilitates estimates of age at starting work, social mobility, the extent of apprenticeship and the duration of schooling. The classic era of industrialisation, 1790–1850, apparently saw an upsurge in child labour. While the memoirs implicate mechanisation and the division of labour in this increase, they also show that fatherlessness and large subsets, common in these turbulent, high-mortality and high-fertility times, often cast children as partners and supports for mothers struggling to hold families together. The book offers unprecedented insights into child labour, family life, careers and schooling. Its images of suffering, stoicism and occasional childish pleasures put the humanity back into economic history and the trauma back into the industrial revolution.

In Child Labor and the Industrial Revolution, two sisters work in a linen mill under horrible conditions. Years later, the girls, now women, are about to receive an honor for an interview with the National Child Labor Committee.

An NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People ILA Children's and Young Adult's Book Award—Intermediate Nonfiction 2014 VOYA Non-Fiction Honor List The Industrial Revolution for Kids introduces a time of monumental change in a "revolutionary" way. Learn about the new technologies and new forms of communication and transportation that impacted American life—through the people who invented them and the people who built, operated, and used them. In addition to wealthy industrialists such as John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie and ingenious inventors such as Eli Whitney and Alexander Graham Bell, you'll learn about everyday workers, activists, and kids. The late 19th and early 20th centuries come to life through the eyes of hardworking Chinese immigrants who built the Transcontinental Railroad; activist Isaac Myers, an African American ship caulker who became a successful businessman and labor union organizer; toiling housewife Hannah Montague, who revolutionized the clothing industry with her popular detachable collars and cuffs; and many others who help tell the human stories of the Industrial Revolution. Twenty-one hands-on activities invite young history buffs to experience life and understand the changing technologies of this important era.

Illustrates the experience of children who lived during the American Industrial Revolution. Captivating text, informative infographics, and historical photos make this title a compelling and thought-provoking read for young history lovers.

A comprehensive study of the occupational health of employed children within the broader context of social, industrial and environmental change between 1780 and 1850.

Despite its decline throughout the advanced industrial nations, child labor remains one of the major social, political, and economic concerns of modern history, as witnessed by the many high-profile stories on child labor and sweatshops in the media today. This work considers the issue in three parts. The first section discusses child labor as a social and economic problem in America from an historical and theoretical perspective. The second part presents child labor as National Child Labor Committee investigators found it in major American industries and occupations, including coal mines, cotton textile mills, and sweatshops in the early 1900s. Finally, the concluding section integrates these findings and attempts to apply them to child labor problems in America and the rest of the world today.

Children have worked for centuries and continue to work. The history of the economic development of Europe and North America includes numerous instances of child labor. Manufacturers in England, France, Belgium, Germany, and Prussia as well as the United States used child labor during the initial stages of industrialization. In addition, child labor prevails currently in many industries in the Third World. This book examines the explanations for child labor in an economic context. A model of the labor market for children is constructed using the new economics of the family framework to derive the supply of child labor and the traditional labor theory of marginal productivity to derive the demand for child labor. The model is placed into a historical context and is used to test the existing supply-and-demand-induced explanations for an increase in child labor during the British Industrial Revolution. Evidence on the extent of childrens employment, their specific tasks and trends in their wages from the textile industry and mining industry is used to support the argument that it was technological innovation which created a demand for child labor. Certain mechanical inventions and process innovations increased the demand for child labor in three ways: increasing number of assistants needed; increasing the substitutability between children and adults, and creating work situations that only children could fill. Specific innovations in the production of textiles and in the extraction of coal, copper and tin are highlighted to show how they favored the use of child workers over adult workers. The book concludes with a look at the current situations in developing countries where child labor is prevalent. Considerable insight is gained on the role of child labor in economic development when this historical model is applied to the contemporary situation.