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Much on the Pemberton Mills disaster...

Item # 713905 ·
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NEW YORK SEMI-WEEKLY TRIBUNE, Jan. 17, 1860  

* Pemberton Mill disaster
* Lawrence, Massachusetts

Page 2 has an editorial on the Pemberton Mills disaster, headed: "The Catastrophe at Lawrence". Almost the entire page 3 and part of page 3 are taken up with details of the tragedy, and includes a crude diagram of the buildings. There is also a related article on page 4.
On January 10 a section of the building suddenly collapsed, trapping several hundred workers underneath the rubble, in what has been called "the worst industrial accident in Massachusetts history" and "one of the worst industrial calamities in American history."
Page 4 has: "Slavery In Nebraska".
Eight pages, nice condition.

Background: The Pemberton Mills collapse on January 10, 1860, in Lawrence, Massachusetts, stands as one of the deadliest industrial disasters in American history, claiming the lives of an estimated 145 workers—mostly young Irish immigrant women and children—when a poorly constructed five-story textile mill pancake-collapsed and subsequently caught fire from a rescuer's overturned lantern. The tragedy was fueled by egregious structural negligence, including the use of cheap, defective cast-iron pillars that buckled under the immense weight and vibration of overloaded machinery on the upper floors. Although the coroner's inquest ultimately acquitted the mill's owners and architects of criminal liability, public outrage over the preventable slaughter catalyzed a massive legislative shift. Its lasting historical significance lies in how it shattered public tolerance for unregulated industrial conditions, forcing New England to pioneer the nation's first rigorous industrial building codes, mandate material stress testing, and establish regular state factory inspections that fundamentally transformed American workplace safety standards.

Item from last month's catalog - #368 - released for July, 2026

Category: Pre-Civil War
No Longer Available
100% Authentic: Original printing, never a reproduction.