Waterpower, Workers & Woven Wire — How Gilbert & Bennett Fits the Textile Industry Pattern (In-Person)

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This program is offered in partnership with The Granite and The Town of Redding.

For more than a century, woven fabric made New England a success, and Gilbert & Bennett Wire Mill occupied an unusual niche in that story.

Author and photographer Steve Dunwell visited many of these factory villages in  the 1970s, creating images of workers and their environment. Since then, he has returned to these sites many times, including visits to G&B in 2006.

Combining images of workers and similar mill villages, Dunwell examines the larger story of industrial labor in New England — how it rose, flourished and dominated the region, and later, how it declined.

About Our Presenter

Steve Dunwell captures New England — its architecture, landscape, and industry — in photographs.  He has published 17 photo books and manages Back Bay Press. The textile industry history has always been his primary interest, starting with an intensive documentary immersion into the world of New England mills in the 1970s. That project culminated in the publication of the book, The Run of the Mill in 1978.

 

Dunwell has maintained a keen interest in photographing various mills throughout the region. His recent work featuring portraits of mill workers was organized into an exhibition, With These Hands, and displayed at the Museum of Work & Culture in Woonsocket, RI, and at the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation in Waltham, MA.