Migration and Mill Work
Portuguese Communities in Industrial New England
DECEMBER 3–6, 2017
A Multi-site Traveling Academic Conference
Lowell/New Bedford/North Dartmouth/Fall River
Free and open to the public
This unique academic conference incorporated museum exhibits, historical site visits, and thematic talks and tours in Lowell, New Bedford, Fall River, and North Dartmouth, Massachusetts, linking research themes to the living history of the communities under consideration.
International scholars and local experts examined the waves of migrant laborers in textile and manufacturing mills, and the settlement and development of early Portuguese communities in New England from the late nineteenth century onward. The conference also served as a working meeting for researchers organizing an edited volume on the theme for the project The Color of Labor: the Racialized Lives of Migrants, which is supported by a European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant.
View Full Conference Program (pdf)
Conference Program
Sunday, December 3: Lowell, MA
10am–12pm: Guided tour
The Creation of Lowell through Millwork and the Immigrant Labor Force
US National Park Service Guides, UMass Lowell History Department Grad Students
Location: Lowell National Historic Park
2–3pm: Conference Welcome and Lowell Historical Keynote
The Mills Beckon: Immigrant Life in Lowell, 1880–1920
Robert Forrant, Distinguished University Professor of History, UMass, Lowell
Location: Events Center, Boott Mill
3–4:30pm: Oral History Panel
The Portuguese Immigrant Experience in Lowell since the 1960s
Location: Events Center, Boott Mill
4:30pm: Migration and Millwork Conference Opening Reception and Historical Exhibit – From the Atlantic Islands to Lowell, Massachusetts: the Mill City’s Portuguese Community
Robert Forrant, Kady Phelps, Molly Mahoney and Frank Sousa, UMass Lowell
Location: Counting House, Boott Mill
Monday, December 4: Lowell, MA
9am–5pm: Migration and Millwork Conference Paper Presentations
View presentation details (pdf)
Location: Boott Mill #6
Tuesday, December 5: New Bedford and North Dartmouth, MA
10am–12pm: New Bedford’s Transition between Whaling and Millwork
NBWM Guides
Place Matters: The Portuguese Community in 1900, New Bedford, Massachusetts
Rose P. Rodrigues, Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology, Fairfield, University
Location: Energy & Enterprise Gallery, New Bedford Whaling Museum
Opportunities for research on Portuguese topics available at the Grimshaw-Gudewicz Reading Room and Archives, New Bedford Whaling Museum
Mark Procknik, Librarian
Location: Cape Verdean and Azorean Whaleman Galleries, New Bedford Whaling Museum
2:30–5:30: Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese American Archives presentations, North Dartmouth, MA
Historical Exhibit: Understanding the 1920s in the South Coast
Sonia Pacheco, Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese American Archive
Remarks on the Strike of 28 Archive and Oral History Archives
Daniel Georgianna. UMass, Dartmouth
Racialism, Social Sciences and the Politics of Knowledge in the 1920s: the Case of Two Portuguese Communities in New England
Cristiana Bastos. ICS, Universidade de Lisboa
Wednesday, December 6, North Dartmouth & Fall River
10am–4pm: Migration and Mills published volume paper workshop
Location: UMass Dartmouth, Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture
7–9pm: Fall River Historical Keynote at Casa dos Açores da Nova Inglaterra
The Fall River Family Wage System During the Spindle City’s Textile Heyday
Philip Silvia, Dept. of History, Bridgewater State University
The Portuguese Immigrant Experience of Fall River
Closing Meal and Reception
Location: Casa dos Açores da Nova Inglaterra, Fall River
Jointly Sponsored By
The Color of Labor: the Racialized Lives of Migrants (ERC Advanced Grant Project) Institute of Social Sciences, Universidade de Lisboa
The Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese American Archives (FMPAA), University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
Saab Center for Portuguese Studies, University of Massachusetts, Lowell
Lowell National Historic Park, US National Park Service, Boott Cotton Mills Museum
New Bedford Whaling Museum, New Bedford, Massachusetts
Casa dos Açores da Nova Inglaterra, Fall River, MA
