Manchester Mills: England vs New England

Tonight on the Front Porch, we're examining the culture surrounding Amoskeag Mill. The manufacturing center was largely modelled after the mills in Manchester, England. But soon after the first bricks were laid in the 1830's, the resources and labor practices developed very differently here than they did abroad. We'll compare the lives of the mill community in New England to its counterpart in northwest England, and we'll look at how their differences reflect on today's manufacturing culture.

Our guests are:

Sandra LeBeau, independent scholar, and adjunct associate professor of European and American History at Colby Sawyer College

Russ Thibeault, president of Applied Economic Research. Thibeault grew up in Manchester, both his parents worked at the mill; his company has done studies on mill site's feasibility as a mixed use location at the end of the 20th century.

***This interview originally aired June 12, 2006***