Conclusions
The archaeology of life on Front Street, however, has revealed much more about the conditions of mill life than one might imagine. The early twentieth-century notion that “mill workers came only with what they could carry and left behind little” is perhaps too simplistic a view of their lives, especially as the early twentieth century progressed and consumer possibilities broadened. As consumers, their aspirations grew, even against the backdrop of the Great Depression, to obtain products of innovation that made life easier and more comfortable. For some families such as the Kirbys of Schoolfield, this may not have been fully realized until the years following World War II. It can be argued that the textile industry's goal to “heighten materialistic consumer interests...” for its workers was achieved, and this helped to make life more tolerable, as did the strong bonds of family and community which extended well beyond material things (Zingraff 1991:202).
