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Textile Heritage of Gaston County, North Carolina
Gaston County was a center of textile manufacturing for many decades. This began with the opening of three mills in the 1850s. By 1901, local mills produced fine "combed yarn." Within the next twenty-five years, Gastonia proudly claimed to be the "Combed Yarn Capital" of the world.
As the mill industry grew, more people moved into Gaston County for work at the mills or at other industries that grew around them. Many of these industries provided machinery or supplies to the mills. Mills and mill towns became a way of life for many generations.
This guide is intended as a starting point for research on the textile industry in Gaston County and the surrounding area.
VERY IMPORTANT: If you are interested in this topic, there is a permanent exhibit called "The Ties That Bind: Carolinas Textile Exhibit" on display at the Gaston County Musem in Dallas. Their web site is here: http://www.gastoncountymuseum.org/textileoverview.htm.
These are the most important Subject headings to use when you search our Catalog:
- COTTON MACHINERY
- COTTON MANUFACTURE
- COTTON TEXTILE INDUSTRY
- COTTON TRADE
- STRIKES AND LOCKOUTS
- TEXTILE INDUSTRY
- TEXTILE MILLS
- TEXTILE WORKERS
- WOMEN TEXTILE WORKERS
Also search for the names of towns, i.e. McAdenville, or of specific companies.
[The Mills] --- [The Workers and Mill Town Life] --- [Strike! Gastonia 1929] --- [Industry Infomation and Background] --- [Bibliographies and Aids] --- [Periodicals]
The Mills
Spinning Through Time: Gaston County and the Textile Industry, by Ron Cook. 60 min. [975.6773 SPI VIDEO NC 1996] A video from WTVI/42.
The Textile Heritage of Gaston County, North Carolina, 1848-2000: One Hundred Mills and the Men who Built Them, by Robert A. Ragan. 451 p. [920 RAG NC OVER 2001]. Mr. Ragan is also the author of a series of newspaper columns on local history in the Gaston Gazette.
See http://www.glrl.lib.nc.us/lrgs/ragan.htm for a list of his articles with summaries. Gastonia Main has the Gazette on microfilm.
Looking for Gaston County Ancestors Includes Gaston County histories that discuss the textile industry. This link includes our basic list of titles.
City Directories: Gaston & Lincoln Counties This list of city directories serves as a quick guide to mill villages in Gastonia.
Gaston & Lincoln Biography Index Includes references to historical figures associated with Gaston and Lincoln County.
[The Mills] --- [The Workers and Mill Town Life] --- [Strike! Gastonia 1929] --- [Industry Infomation and Background] --- [Bibliographies and Aids] --- [Periodicals]
The Workers and Mill Town Life
Some Southern Cotton Mill Workers and Their Villages, by Jennings J. Rhyne. 214 p. [331.7677 R NCC 1930]. This description of Gaston County was published in 1930, but the research had been completed before the 1929 strike.
Hard Times Cotton Mill Girls: Personal Histories of Womanhood and Poverty in the South, by Victoria Byerly. 223 p. [920 B NC 1986]. Interviews with women, both white and black, about the grim realities of life as a textile worker. Most worked in Kannapolis, Thomasville or Greensboro.
Millhands & Preachers, by Liston Pope. 369 p. [261 P NC 1942]. This study, published in 1942, examined the relationship of the churches in Gaston County to the mill owners and millhands, especially in regard to the 1929 strike.
Spindles and Spires: A Re-study of Religion and Social Change in Gastonia, by John R. Earle, et. al. 382 p. [261.8 E NC 1976]. A re-examination of the relationship of labor and the churches done 30 years after Pope's book.
Social Consequences of Economic Restructuring in the Textile Industry: Change in a Southern Mill Village, by Cynthia D. Anderson. 169 p. [305.9677 AND NC 2000]. A sociological study, published in 2000, of how life is changing in the mill towns today, focusing on Kannapolis in Cabarrus County.
Like a Family: The Making of a Southern Cotton Mill World, by Jacquelyn Dowd Hall, et. al. 468 p. [305.9677 L NC 1987]. See the accompanying web site here: http://www.ibiblio.org/sohp/laf/.
The Story of Child Labor in the Cotton Mills Oral history, photographs and writing about child labor in the mills.
National Child Labor Committee Collection Includes child labor photographs taken from 1908 to 1924.
Child Labor in America 1908-1912 Lewis Hine's photos of child workers.
The Changing Landscape of the Erwin Mills Area Mills in the Durham area.
[The Mills] --- [The Workers and Mill Town Life] --- [Strike! Gastonia 1929] --- [Industry Infomation and Background] --- [Bibliographies and Aids] --- [Periodicals]
Strike! Gastonia 1929
The 1929 strike at the Loray Mill is the best known event in Gaston County's history - one which drew worldwide attention.
Gastonia, 1929 : The Story of the Loray Mill Strike, by John A. Salmond. 226 p. [331.892877 SAL NC 1995]. This 1995 publication is the most detailed study available and should be the first thing read by anyone interested in the topic. Consult the very detailed bibliography for further references.
The Thirteenth Juror : The Story of the 1929 Loray Strike, by Robert L. Williams and Elizabeth W. Williams. 250 p. [331.76 WIL NC 2004]. A revised edition of the original 1983 publication, written by local historians.
The Loray Mill Strike, by Robin Hood. 152 p. [331.892 H NCC 1932]. A 1932 thesis done at the University of North Carolina.
June 29 -- Strike at Loray Mill A historical overview of the strike.
Gastonia, 1929: Strike at the Loray Mill A detailed history of the strike.
[The Mills] --- [The Workers and Mill Town Life] --- [Strike! Gastonia 1929] --- [Industry Infomation and Background] --- [Bibliographies and Aids] --- [Periodicals]
Some Basic Industry Information and Background
The Textile Industry in North Carolina: A History, by Brent D. Glass. 119 p. [677.09756 GLA NC 1992]. This publication from the North Carolina Division of Archives and History gives a concise history and a useful bibliography in 119 pages.
The Men and the Mills: History of the Southern Textile Industry, by Mildred Gwin Andrews. 367 p. [388.4767721 AND NCC 1987].
Understanding Textiles, by Billie J. Collier, et. al. 567 p. 6th ed. [R677 COL 2001]. A basic text on textile manufacturing, including processes, machinery, terminology.
Textiles, by Sara J. Kadolph, et. al. 419 p. 8th ed. [677 KAD 1998]. Infomation on textile manufacturing.
The Rise of Cotton Mills in the South, by Broadus Mitchell. 281 p. [338.4 MIT NC 2001]. This is a reprint of a 1921 publication.
Cotton Mill, Commercial Features: A Text-Book for the Use of Textile Schools and Investors, With Tables Showing Cost of Machinery and Equipments for Mills Making Cotton Yarns and Plain Cotton Cloths The complete 1899 text and illustrations by Daniel Augustus Tompkins put online by the "Documenting the American South Project."
[The Mills] --- [The Workers and Mill Town Life] --- [Strike! Gastonia 1929] --- [Industry Infomation and Background] --- [Bibliographies and Aids] --- [Periodicals]
Bibliographies and Aids to Further Research
Women and Children of the Mills: An Annotated Guide to Nineteenth-Century American Textile Factory Literature, by Judith A. Ranta 330 p. [R016.8108 RAN 1999]. Covers the mill industry before it came to the South.
Textile Mills, Mill Villages, and Mill Life in North Carolina: A Sociological Perspective A finding aid on U.N.C.'s North Carolina Collection on the sociological aspects of North Carolina mill life, mill villages, and textile work. It was last updated in 1996.
The Cotton Industry in North Carolina Several bibliographies on the North Carolina cotton industry that was done by staff of the Joyner Library's North Carolina Collection at East Carolina University.
Internet Resources for Textiles Links compiled by the Gutman Library, Philadelphia University.
The Southern Textile Association A textile association for the Carolinas, located in Gastonia.
[The Mills] --- [The Workers and Mill Town Life] --- [Strike! Gastonia 1929] --- [Industry Infomation and Background] --- [Bibliographies and Aids] --- [Periodicals]
Periodicals
We have files of the following magazine titles relating to the textile industry. Ask for these at the Reference desk at Gastonia Main.
America's Textile Reporter, Jan. 1959-Dec. 1972.
America's Textiles, Dec. 1972-Mar. 1986.
America's Textiles International (A.T.I.), Apr. 1986-Nov. 1986.
ATI, Dec. 1986-Mar. 2001.
Textile Industries, 1959-1984.
In 2002 Textile Industries merged with Textile World (below).
Textile World, 1959-2003.
See http://www.textileworld.com. Click on the "Past Issues" link for several years' back files of Textile World and Textile Industries.
Textiles Review, 1946-1978 [R070 T].
See also later title, Ti-Caro Views, 1979-1987 [R070 T].
[The Mills] --- [The Workers and Mill Town Life] --- [Strike! Gastonia 1929] --- [Industry Infomation and Background] --- [Bibliographies and Aids] --- [Periodicals]
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