My classmates and I were assigned to become curators for a certain portion during the industrial revolution that changed the ways people lived and worked, and how they got the products they wanted to buy. Our exhibit that we made covered the topic of weaving and producing cotton, and how it evolved during the industrial revolution. As curators we had to analyze various sources given to us about our topic and then write captions for our sources and create a museum exhibit other students could see and learn from. My groups exhibit was titled, “Spinning into the Future; A Woven Destiny”. Our title shows how that the industrialization of spinning cotton led to many other inventions, and the future for the country. This country was destined to progress technologically which started by simply weaving and producing cotton.
When reading our poster from left to right you can see how the weaving business progressed from a small at home business to large factories. First, when looking at the drawing entitled “Women Spinning” by George walker and the document named “Effect of Losing Cottage Industry for Families” you should learn how people used to make cotton in their own home while raising a family. When big factories started being run, the cottagers who worked from home lost their business and were forced to work in the harsh conditions of mills to make a living. A drawing of John Almond’s British Hand loom is the next source. Visitors should see how this hand loom created a more efficient way for a single person to produce cotton and that it was the stepping stone that led to the inventions of bigger machines found in the factories. The next source in our exhibit is a graph entitled, “Growth of the Cities, London’s Rapid Growth” you can see that as mills were opening more people started to move to the city. London’s population quickly started to grow. Our final two sources are named, “Engraving of a Spinning Jenny” and “Power Looms at a Textile Mill”. The engraving gives you a closer look at how the Spinning Jenny worked and the drawing of the mill gives you an idea of how factories functioned and looked like. When visitors visit our exhibit the main thing we want them to get out of it is how the production of cotton evolved overtime, and how more people coming to the city and the mills themselves led to more inventions and helping the progress of the industrial revolution.
When we finished our projects we visited our other classmates exhibits to learn more about the industrial revolution. I learned from the other exhibits that the industrial revolution had it's benefits, but it also had a dark side. One major invention that the industrial revolution gave birth to was the steam engine. The exhibit “Hot Stuff: how The steam engine fires up the industrial revolution” showed how the steam engine improved travel and trade and also led to the invention of many other things. “The Dark Side of The Revolution” showed the downsides to the revolution. There was a lot of pollution in the air and rivers due to the new factories. Overpopulated cities became a very unhealthy and unsafe place to live. “All work and no play” showed how the many factories of the revolution encouraged child labour. Children would work in dangerous and unhealthy places for minimum wage. Eventually acts like the factory act of 1833 made conditions slightly better because hours were limited. “Cotton or Freedom” showed how the need for cotton increased greatly. This resulted in a slave population increase because cotton workers were in high demand.
Becoming museum curators for a week was not only a lot of fun, but by looking at all of the different exhibits we learned all about the Industrial Revolution. We learned some major inventions like the steam engine and cotton mills, and how it led to bad things like child labour and more slavery.
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