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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall

@factorygothic.bsky.social

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Sharing 19th-century Gothic industrial research Dr. Bridget Marshall (she/her), Professor of English, University of Massachusetts, Lowell Book: http://tinyurl.com/h79c3epk

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · Apr 28

Very exciting mail today: actual physical copy of my new edition of Mary Elizabeth Braddon's The Factory Girl (1863), via Wales University Press: www.uwp.co.uk/book/mary-el.... Available in the US in June: press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo... It includes all the original illustrations!

photo of the cover of the book "Mary Elizabeth Braddon: The Factory Girl (1863) edited by Bridget M. Marshall"

book open to Chapter 1 featuring an illustration

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 1d

Dealing with an unfortunate halt to progress. Because the Center for Lowell History is in a National Parks building, it is closed, so a chunk of my current research project is on hold. Their digital collections libguides.uml.edu/archives/dig... are great but not quite what I need right now.

Black and white image of machines on a factory floor but no workers -- "The Cotton Department" https://archive.org/details/Negative085

Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 1d

10 October 1893 a Boston Daily Globe headline asked "Who is Waterproof Man?" who was haunting the young women of Exeter, NH, assaulting them, and tearing off pieces of their clothing. Factory girls and shop girls were terrified. Rumors claimed it was a prank by students at Phillips Exeter.

headline:
WHO HIS WATERPROOF MAN.
Is a Terror to Young Women of Exeter NH
Assaults them on the street and taps on their window panes.
Object seems to be to get mementoes of clothing -- students suspected.

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Reposted by Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall

Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 6d

If you are a supporter and reader of @contingent-mag.bsky.social one of the biggest things you can do to help us at the moment is get this CFP to the NTT folks in your life. The fracturing of social media has made it very difficult to get the word out esp. to adjuncts and VAPs.

CFP: A Time of Monsters

The monster has been here all along. It is a historical constant that manifests in wildly different ways across time, place, and culture. Whatever form it takes, the monster claws at categories; it un...

contingentmagazine.org

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 8d

Some gravestone rubbings from the collection at the Center for #Lowell History. Augusta H. Locke (the rubbing omits the "E" at the end) and Susan E. Parker worked in Lowell's mills. Augusta's age is listed as "17 years, 4 months, 10 days," a specificity that surprised me. Each day is precious.

rubbing of a stone that reads
Erected
to the memory of
Augusta H. Lock
Who died Oct 23, 1843
Aet 17 years
4 mos & 10 days

https://libguides.uml.edu/c.php?g=420473&p=4123983#s-lg-box-wrapper-15219746

rubbing of a gravestone that reads
Susan E Parker
of
Bluehill Me
Died March 16, 1834
Aet 25
https://libguides.uml.edu/c.php?g=420473&p=4123983#s-lg-box-wrapper-15219746

Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 9d

I encountered this thread from @midnightpals.bsky.social and thought it was hilarious -- just delightful to imagine a Hellman's garlic aioli-scented book. Then like 10 minutes later, I discovered from another post that this promotion is real and I don't even know what to say. Hellman, WTF?

The Midnight Society @midnightpals.bsky.social · 9d

Jennifer Armentraut: Submitted for the approval of the midnight society, i call this the tale of the scone of stone and bone
King: what's that smell?
Armentraut: oh you mean that garlic smell?
Armentraut: that patented Hellmans original mouth-watering garlic aioli smell?
King:
King: yeah that smell

Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 10d

Even mill girls enjoyed a cozy fall murder mystery. Fantastic short story "A Woman's Revenge" appeared 1 Oct 1842 in The Factory Girl newspaper. It tells the tale of an "unaccountable murder" in Williamstown, Vermont and ends with a written confession by the murderess: "I slew him!"

newspaper column titled "For the Factory Girl" "A Woman's Revenge" opens the story, citing "strange and horrible acts of demonism"

header reads "The Factory Girl" "New-Market, Oct. 1, 1842

Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 17d

Exhausted and grieved to share that our perfect dog, Alice, passed away peacefully yesterday. She was surrounded by her loving but heartbroken family and she had a belly full of rotisserie chicken. You can see her in action, as we like to remember her: youtu.be/GC9fMdTUsng?...

A beautiful white dog with black face spots standing up and looking happy in her yard.

Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 21d

It's a beautiful day at the #Lowell Kinetic Sculpture Race. Perfect weather and wonderful crowd plus the Party Band. My fave was Moo Haul: the Legend of Storrow. (Non-Boston area people look up "storrowing.")

Photo of a bike-based contraption that is decorated as a "Moo-Haul" truck that has been "storrowed".

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Reposted by Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall

Kevin Corstorphine @drkevcorstorphine.bsky.social · 23d

Heads up @igagoths.bsky.social - delighted to announce the CFP for IGA 2026: 'Gothic Selves/Artificial Others' hosted at the University of Hull 28-31 July! hullgothic.wordpress.com

Gothic Selves/Artificial Others

18th Biennual Conference of the International Gothic Association: 28-31 July, 2026. Hull, UK

hullgothic.wordpress.com

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Reposted by Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall

Joseph Fink @planetoffinks.bsky.social · Sep 5

a reminder that you can still sign up for the settlement if they stole your work www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com/contact

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · Sep 5

#OTD 5 Sept 1874 the Daily Southern Cross (Auckland NZ) informed readers of a "Novel Scalping" in which a 14-year old factory girl in Birmingham got her hair caught in a spindle and that "her head was completely scalped all round, the skin and hair being torn off as clean as a night-cap."

Newspaper article quoted in the post. Source: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/daily-southern-cross

Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · Sep 3

I am at home, safe.
But I am listening to the police scanner while many of my UML colleagues and students are currently sheltering in place in their classrooms and offices due to reports of a man with a large gun on campus. www.nbcboston.com/news/local/u...

UMass Lowell locks down campus for possible armed individual on campus

The campus of UMass Lowell is under a shelter-in-place order after a person was reported with what is suspected to be a gun, a campus official said Wednesday.

www.nbcboston.com

Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · Sep 3

1910 US census indicates my great-grandmother Margaret Agnes Valentine worked as a lacer in a cotton mill at age 15. She lived to age 99 and I knew & loved her, but never knew anything about this until right now. It's an unnerving discovery after all these years of researching mill girls.

handwritten census documents listing
Valentine (sp?) Alfonse
--- Mary - wife
---Annie - daughter
---Della - daughter
---Mary - daughter
---Margaret -- daughter

handwritten census listing for
Warper Silk Mill
Lacer Cotton Mill
Warper Cotton Mill
Lacer Cotton Mill

Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · Aug 23

Delighted to have this arrive today in the mail today: The Edinburgh Companion to the Victorian Ghost Story, edited by Andy Smith, including an essay from me about "Ghostly Machines and Mechanical Ghosts." Full TOC and ordering info: edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-vic...

cover of a book: "The Victorian Ghost Story: An Edinburgh Companion"

black and white illustration featuring a ghostly female ghost with one arm around a smokestack and pointing the way for two figures behind her, including a skeleton with a crown. It is an illustration from an 1868 book to go with the poem "The Night Mail North". More info: https://www.oldbookillustrations.com/illustrations/flitting-ghosts/

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Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · Aug 15

teachers!

excited to share a new website at this late date of Aug 15 to try to help us collectively prepare for back to school in the interpretative humanities classroom assaulted by the AI grift, so we don't have to go it alone.

take a look, share, + most importantly: CONTRIBUTE
against-a-i.com

AGAINST AI

against-a-i.com

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · Aug 14

In today's revisions, I have cut 14 semi-colons from this essay (at the request of the editor); I am in mourning. Not so much killing your darlings as maiming them?

Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · Aug 12

I had success with pairing a comic I love -- Allie Brosh's "Adventures in Depression" -- with David Foster Wallace's story "The Depressed Person." Note that DFW is very DFW in this story and it's not to everyone's taste.
hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2011/10/adve...
harpers.org/wp-content/u...

Adventures in Depression

Some people have a legitimate reason to feel depressed, but not me. I just woke up one day feeling sad and helpless for absolutely no reason...

hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com

Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · Jul 24

I am wondering about all of this, too, Mike! I am wondering if there's any difference in AI integration issues between Canvas and Blackboard, since our campus *just* made the switch to Canvas. Sigh.

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · Jul 24

Just successfully accomplished this and feel the slightest bit better about things.
www.engadget.com/big-tech/how...

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · Jul 23

FWIW, in relation to the article's question about the impact of teachers' gender on student success, all the teachers listed have men's names; there are two women "Assistants."
Oh, and one girl was taking Greek with 12 boys; 59 girls took Latin, along with 51 boys.

close up of the document showing the names of the teachers; all teachers are male-named, and there are two "assistants" with female names.
Full original here: https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbpe.06201600/

Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · Jul 23

Other great data found here includes the different subjects that were taught to boys/girls & how many were taking each subject. Top classes for boys: Composition (99), Declamation (99), Penmanship (61), History (56); for girls: Vocal music (145), Composition (145), Penmanship (139), Arithmetic (85).

A section of the document titled "Order of Exercises" that separates into "Male Department" and "Female Department" showing the different subjects offered to students and the number of males/females in each class.
Full original here: https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbpe.06201600/

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · Jul 23

A small sampling of deportment: Three girls -- Lucy A. Eaton (2), Clara A. Fletcher (3), and Arabella L. Lunt (2) -- were the ones to watch out for. Among the boys, Abel C. Tuttle (6), Lyman P. Byrant (6), Edward H. Carlton (7!), Lucius W. Hinton (5), Patrick W. Rend (5) and many more!

one column from the document listing the names of "Females" and showing that all of them have a "deportment" grade of "1"
Full original here: https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbpe.06201600/

A list of names for students who are "Males" highlighting a "deportment" grade ranging from "1" to "5" with a lot of variation.
Full original here: https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbpe.06201600/

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · Jul 23

This article reminded me of this item from 1856 www.loc.gov/resource/rbp... showing the grades of each student at #Lowell High School. Boys' scores for "deportment" range from 1 to 7 (1 being the highest/most positive), while girls' scores are almost always "1" with just two 2's and one 3.

A scan of a historical document that includes dense lists of data for "Males" and "Females" including full names and scores for "Presence," "Absence," "Deportment," and "Rank."
Full original here: https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbpe.06201600/

Scan of header for a historical document titled "Examination of the Lowell High School Monday, July 21, 1856.
Full original here: https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbpe.06201600/

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · Jul 16

This is amazing! I love it!

Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · Jul 14

#OTD 14 July 1906, Wales' Weekly Mail published "Ghost in a Factory," an account of a ghostly figure walking through the factory a night, "everything natural in appearance except the head, which looked as if it had been crushed or mutilated, only a stump remaining..." On-theme for Bastille Day?

"GHOST IN A FACTORY"
"Bristol is puzzled with a spook that has walked regularly for a fortnight. The foreman on night duty at a large factory discovered it one night between eleven and twelve.
...
[three men agree to come back to watch another night]
..they saw the solitary figure (in a couching position, walking with deliberate stride, and casting a shadow as it went) emerge apparently from the wall in the corner, cross the archway, and in about three minutes return again, disappearing over the wall."

Full original here: https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3378305/3378307/42/factory%20ghost

"The foreman says the figure was that of a man clad in dark clothes and carrying himself with a marked stoop -- everything natural in appearance except the head, which looked as if it had been crushed or mutilated, only a stump remaining...."

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