New England's Cotton Mills: How The Records for Their Story Were Discovered

Extract

To write the history of an industry in the days before income-tax returns and statistical departments is a baffling task. In the absence of complete records of any sort, — for the industry, for a locality, or even for a single company, — every scrap of evidence becomes a pearl of great price. Every production sheet or worker's contract, every order for machinery or letter about the business, must be used to fill in the blank spaces of the picture.