Industrialization and Progressive Reform in the Craft Revival

In this lesson plan, originally published on the Craft Revival website, students will analyze the process of making a hobby into a job. They will explore Craft Revival work environments, representations of industrial work environments, and data regarding Craft Revival work. To close the activity, students write a journal entry comparing Craft Revival and industrial work experiences.

A lesson plan for grades 8 and 11–12 Social Studies

By Patrick Velde

Provided by Hunter Library at Western Carolina University

(Photograph courtesy of Hunter Library at Western Carolina University. More about the photograph)

Learn more

• Photographs of Lewis W. Hine From The History Place, these images document child labor in America from 1908–1912.
• Industrialization and Progressive Reform in the Craft Revival Reading selections can be found as PDFs under the Materials/Resources section on the Craft Revival website version of this lesson plan.
• Craft Revival: Shaping Western North Carolina Past and Present This website tells the story of the historic Craft Revival and its impact on western North Carolina. The website and database are constructed from selected photographs, letters, pamphlets, records, and objects to create a cohesive story.
• The Craft Revival and economic change In this lesson plan, originally published on the Craft Revival website, students will interpret photographs and artifacts as representations of western North Carolina’s economy at the turn of the century. They will also analyze historical census data and produce a visual web that will represent the changing nature of the economy of western North Carolina.

Related pages

• The Craft Revival and economic change: In this lesson plan, originally published on the Craft Revival website, students will interpret photographs and artifacts as representations of western North Carolina’s economy at the turn of the century. They will also analyze historical census data and produce a visual web that will represent the changing nature of the economy of western North Carolina.
• Turning the century: Students will create a museum display illustrating life during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
• Primary source letters lesson plan: This is one of a series of activities that will help educators use the Tobacco Bag Stringing project...

Related topics

• Learn more about Appalachia, Craft Revival, North Carolina, Progressive era, history, industrialization, reform, rural life, social studies, and work.

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Summary of activities

Students will:

• analyze the process of making a hobby into a job
• analyze and describe Craft Revival work environments
• analyze representations of industrial work environments
• analyze data regarding Craft Revival work
• write a journal entry comparing Craft Revival and industrial work experiences

Background information

Students will examine the Craft Revival movement as a reaction to the industrialization of America by middle class northern reformers. This lesson can easily be integrated into a United States history unit and discussion of the process of industrialization, its effects, and its response. Having analyzed the initial industrialization of the country, this lesson can serve as a component of the discussion of progressivism and its relation to the growth of industrial America. The Craft Revival allows for a different means of analyzing the efforts, prejudices, and effects of Progressive reformers than the traditional lesson on urban Progressivism (or at least a valuable supplement!).

The Craft Revival was not a simple story of American progress and reform. The Revival occurred in a time of serious economic transition in the southern Appalachians and the nation as a whole. The Revival was rife with romantic conceptions of pre-industrial mountaineers and the perceived need to uplift the mountaineer families. Revival leaders saw craft production as a means to creating economic opportunity for mountain families without exposing them to the harsh conditions of wage labor found in factories, mills, and work in extractive industries. Many of these leaders believed that the lifestyles of mountain families could be maintained and protected from industrialization, if work opportunities could be created that did not remove the workers from their homes. This lesson seeks to show how the practices of the craft revival felt the conflicting pulls of the need to meet economic concerns (consumer interests, cost effectiveness) while attempting to make what leaders called “meaningful work” (work that was enriching to the spirit and culture of mountaineers). More importantly, this lesson should expose the differing experiences of many craftsmen.

Learning outcomes

Students will:

• understand the Revival in the context of Industrialization
• identify the economic factors that shaped the Revival
• reflect on the working conditions in industrial facilities
• evaluate historical sources for validity

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

This lesson should take three block schedule periods.

Technology resources

This lesson requires internet access.

Materials/Resources

• Selections from Jane Becker’s Selling Tradition: Appalachia and the Construction of an American Folk, 1930–1940: pages 126–130 and pages 144–149.
• Selections from David Whisnant’s All That is Native and Fine: The Politics of Culture in an American Region: pages 160–161 and page 172.

Pre-activities

Instructors will need to examine the Craft Revival website to gain a familiarity with the information available. Instructors will need to read the sections of All That is Native and Fine and Selling Tradition list above and excerpt appropriate passages for students reading (have longer or shorter selections depending on the students).

Have students read The Story and Revival in Context sections of the Craft Revival website and answer the questions on the provided introductory handout. This will serve to introduce students to the idea of the Craft Revival as part of a larger movement and a reaction to the process of industrialization.

Optional involvement activity

Students will identify a favorite hobby or activity that they practice in their spare time (outside their profession as a student!). They will develop a plan for utilizing this activity as a moneymaker. They will create a daily schedule of the work required to become a professional at whatever their activity may be. An example might be how to become a professional basketball player. The student would plan the number of hours each day that would be devoted to practice, weightlifting, stretching, cardiovascular training, etc. They should consider the work required in becoming a professional, as well as the work required to maintain it as an occupation (in this case the intensive travel time, constant media exposure, etc.). Students should then complete a reflective journal entry or other writing activity exploring the impact of the changes necessary to transform their hobby into an occupation. Have students consider the following questions:

• Would their personal practice of this activity change? If so, how?
• Would the pursuit of this activity for economic gain alter the enjoyment of the activity?
• What external conditions (a demand/marketplace) would have to exist in order to make this feasible?
• Would they have control over the final product they produce?
• Who controls access, marketing, and distribution of the final product?
• Do these external factors change the practice or enjoyment of the activity?
• What do current professionals in this field get paid?
• What would be the minimum amount that the student would accept as desirable pay?

In essence this activity is an opportunity-cost analysis.

This section serves as a way to bring students closer to the ideas and problems that Craft Revival leaders and craftsmen encountered in their efforts to find meaningful work.

Activities

1. Have students search the Craft Revival database for pictures of craftsmen at work. Have them write descriptions of the environments where craftsmen are shown working. Where were the workplaces? Were there large production centers? What were the crafts being produced? What craft is most often represented in production? Students should gain a sense of the focus in the Revival on creating work for mountain families that did not remove them from the agricultural/rural setting that leaders saw as essential to the “mountain character.”

   This activity may require a discussion regarding photographs as historical evidence and the interpretation of primary sources in general. Many of the Doris Ulmann photographs appear staged, and as such are a constructed vision of the working conditions of revival craftsmen. The instructor may wish to lead a discussion about the analysis of primary source documents, documentary photography, and the complexities of their interpretation.

2. Have students compare the work settings in images in the Craft Revival database with images found on websites depicting working conditions for industrial centers of the era. Have them examine Lewis Hines’ photographs at The History Place website. An analysis of Jacob Riis’ photographs might also serve as an example of the urban conditions (although most of his photographs show living conditions rather than working conditions) that revival leaders were reacting to. This can lead to a discussion of the role of muckrakers in the Progressive Era reforms.
3. Introduce students to the findings of the Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau during 1933–1934 provided in Becker’s Selling Tradition. Information on the types of craft production centers analyzed can be found on pages 126–130, 144–149 for wages earned, 150–152 for working experiences/conditions. This fairly dense, academic work may need some summary and selection by the instructor based on the abilities of the students. David Whisnant’s All That is Native and Fine also provides valuable information. The story of Hayden Hensley found on pages 160–161 and supplemented with information on page 172 can serve as a useful illustration of the complexities encountered by revival-era craftsmen and their reactions. Through the analysis and comparison of working conditions students should develop an understanding of the difficulties of poor Americans in securing “meaningful work.” See Links section to find these materials online.
4. As a culminating activity, students will write a fictional diary entry of a revival-era craftsman who has previously worked in a southern textile mill. They should reflect on the similarities and differences in the work and working conditions experienced. Students should include an argument or opinion (still writing as the craftsman) about which work is more desirable. Have students draw from their knowledge about factory working conditions and wages as well the information they have gained about revival-era working conditions and wages. An additional diary writing for a Craft Revival leader may introduce students to the idea of positionality and frame of reference for historical events. Students will be forced to recognize and empathize with the different experiences and beliefs that these two disparate parties would bring to the table.

   Alternative assessment: Formal essay along the same criteria as the diary entry.

Assessment

1. Students will complete the introductory worksheet.
2. Students will complete a plan for pursuing an interest as an occupation.
3. Students will complete a reflective journal entry.
4. Students will complete two formal “in character” journal entries.

Supplemental information

Critical vocabulary

muckraker

the searching out and publicizing of scandalous information

Additional resources

• Becker, Jane S. Selling Tradition: Appalachia and the Construction of an American Folk, 1930–1940. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998.
• Whisnant, David E. All That is Native and Fine: The Politics of Culture in an American Region. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 1983.