This Museum Exhibition will cover topics on life in industrial America spanning from the end of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century and how industrialization changed the United States of America forever. The focus of the exhibit will illustrate and explain the effects of industrialization on families living in those industrial cities such as New York City and Chicago. Subjects of discussion include life in industrial cities, sustainable incomes, work ethic, the tenement housing problems, and other facets of the daily lives of families living in the industrial age that will aid in telling this story. It will also incorporate an interview from Edith Hopkins, who grew up during the early 20th century and is also my grandmother, consisting of accounts from her childhood throughout Industrial America. The Exhibition will explain and illustrate the daily aspects of family life in American cities, spanning from the 1880s through the 1960s and from the accounts of the people who lived through industrialization.
In the last twenty years of the 19th century some American cities witnessed substantial increases in their cities population. This increase was largely due to immigrants and domestic citizens hoping to find a more improved life than what they had left behind. The exhibit will focus its’ attention on New York City because it had endured many of the effects of these mass increases in city populations. But with so many people migrating to one place comes unwanted consequences to overcrowding. Housing came to be the most evident problem of industrialization solely because there were too many people crowded in one area. Throughout the 19th century in New York City buildings that had once been single-family dwellings were increasingly divided into multiple living spaces to accommodate this growing population.[1] By the start of the 20th century New York City had 2.3 million inhabitants living in tenements, these people counted for two-thirds of the city’s population.[1] The housing problem arose because the tenements that were inhabited were often lacking proper ventilation, indoor plumbing, cramped living, and many other unsafe and unlivable conditions, but these people had no other option. The location of the tenements, at least in New York City, were arranged to accommodate the lowest-income families, but the tenements in the city of Chicago were settled around industrial factories like stockyards or shipping areas to accommodate the people working in those factories.[1]
Tenements were constructed in a way that would maximize the number of people that could live in one apartment, because there were so many people. Built side by side without a lawn and placed in low-income, crime ridden areas and the construction in a way acted as a catalyst to the housing problem. The overall layout of the tenements in low-income areas consisted of buildings that were five stories high and contained twenty three-room apartments, four to a floor.[2] Each apartment only totaled to about 325 square feet, which included a front room, kitchen, and small bedroom. But the only room to have access to natural light was the front room and all other apartments were closed off from natural light. [2] Throughout this exhibit I will provide illustrations of the inside of an average tenement and the lack of safe and healthy living areas. Many of the tenements built before 1867 did not have many of the basic necessities needed such as toilets, showers, and running water. It was not until after 1867 that housing reforms began. Lawmakers established other reforms, that will be discussed further in the exhibit. There were commonly shared toilets located in the back of tenements but were often not connected to sewage lines.[2] This exhibit will detail the harsh living conditions that families faced throughout the industrial era. Encompassing pictures taken by photographers during this time showing family and work life and how the tenants were able to survive this time.
Family life was largely altered due to the fact that the families who migrated to the cities were in a completely new environment. Meaning they are forced to adapt to living in crowded tenements rather than having much more space living in rural areas. This is also the transition that happened at the beginning of the 20th century where domestic families would be economically forced to migrate to the city for better work. As well as the switch from America being a largely agricultural industry to a manufacturing industry. Not only were tenement rents’ high, the wages paid were not nearly enough to cover the rent alone as well as not providing benefits like health insurance.[3] In order to survive in industrial cities during this time, families would have to find alternative sources of income to provide only the basic necessities for themselves and their children. Some alternative sources include knitting clothing to sell, making objects to sell on the street, and other ways in which families produced income. Even while families, including children, are working multiple jobs they are still prone to inadequate housing and healthcare.[3]
In this exhibit I will attempt to explain the significant connection between life and work. Continual work was a common theme evident in most families living in industrial cities. Instead of working the normal hours, 9-5 pm, families continued to find ways to create additional income after their primary job. Meaning that leisure time was almost non existent which can then cause problems within the household. In some cases children’s health was harmed due to the lack of proper sleep caused by continual work. In addition, staying up til late hours of the night (9-10pm) can cause interference with the children’s development and injure their nervous development. [4]
The exhibit will cover the early years, 1860s-1899, of tenement housing and life in industrial cities. As well as covering the later years of industrialization from the start of the 20th century, 1900-1930, and will incapsulate the facets of daily life and how most families were able to survive in such conditions.
- History.com Editors, “Tenements “, A&E Television Networks, Date Accessed December 16, 2019, Date Published April 22, 2010.
- “Tenement Housing .” U*X*L Encyclopedia of U.S. History . Encyclopedia.com. (December 17, 2019). https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/tenement-housing
- Covey, Martin. “Introduction: Work and Families.” Michigan Family Review. Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2007. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/mfr/4919087.0012.101/–introduction-work-and-families?rgn=main;view#N1
- Streightoff, Frank. The Standard of Living Among the Industrial People of America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1911