Working Life

Two facing pages from a mill ledger recording the hours worked by individual employees.

An image showing several mill employees using large hoses to wash waste products from the mill into the river.

A page of an early ledger tracking the Fries Mill's expenditures.

A photograph of a young woman working on a machine winding bobbins.

A photograph of a mill employee posing with holiday decorations in the mill.

A photograph of (left-right) Whiz Farmer, Shirley Trent Litteral, Larry Kirby, and an unknown man with flawless weaving

A photograph of Sena Funk monitoring woven fabric being wound.

A photograph of a group of employees receiving an award.

A photograph of Earl Johnson, Garnett Stuart, and Ramona Johnson in front of textile machinery.

A photograph of three men having a discussion on the porch of the mill.

A photograph of a mill employee monitoring yarn spinning.

A photograph of a group of employees, one of whom is receiving an award. Left-right: Calvert Wilie, Jessie Jenkins, Emmet Vaughan, rest unknown.

A photograph of two mill employees responsible for transferring yarn bobbins from one stage to another.

A photograph of several employees conversing near machines winding spun yarn onto bobbins for weaving.

A photograph of the weaving department of the Fries Mill in front of a calendar indicating that they had gone one year without injury on the job.

A photograph of an employee receiving a plaque and a statue of a bird.

A taped-together collage of informal employee photograps. Top, left-right: unknown, Cox, Jones, unknown. Middle, left-right: unknown, Henry Thornton, unknown, unknown. Bottom, left-right: unknown, Hutch Stata, Walter Johnson.

A letter asking the mill to support an amendement that would change the way the work of women and children was limited in Virginia.

An image of a bobbin winding machine sent to the Fries mill.

A letter offering jobs and perks to a family in order to convince them to go work at the Fries mill.

A letter introducing a new mill employee, sent to the Fries Mill from another mill owned by the Washington Mills Company.

A letter to the mill superintendant asking about jobs for men being released from jail.

A letter about a personnel change within the Fries Textile Mill.

A letter from Haywood Haynes informing the mill that he and his family would be coming to work at the mill, with information about his family and their housing needs.

A letter from Mrs. Patsie Pruitt asking for her job back at the mill. She had moved to Maryland, but wanted to go back to Fries because child labor laws in Maryland prevented her children from working.

The mill, most obviously, presided over the working life of the town. They supplied most of the jobs in Fries, and owned the properties on which many of the other establishments in the area operated, giving them a certain influence over these jobs as well. It was a desirable place to ork for many, as the application letters demonstrate, and employee appreciation was a part of the business model.

A letter to responding to a telegram about a man potentially trying to convince mill employees to quit in order to work at another company.

A letter from the treasurer of the Washignton Mills Company inquiring about several employees wh had quit their jobs in North Carolina in order to work at the mill in Fries.

A letter to a former mill employee accusing him of trying to convince his former coworkers at the mill to quit and join him at his new company.

The mill was a desirable place to work, but they also had to be wary of poachers, who would convince mill employees to quit in order to gain skilled workers for their own companies. It is clear that the mill felt entitled to the labor of these people, and so took steps to prevent their being convinced to leave.