Bernadette Cloutier worked in the Production Department of the Bates Mill, her job was to decide the color of the spread and to change the colors on the looms. She shares how she got started, in the finishing room and then operating the switchboard. Cloutier describes...
Ray and Rita Thibault worked various jobs in the shoe mills. Ray discusses his job as a pattern maker and Rita talks about her childhood and work as well. Both speak positively of the shoe industry.
Germain Letourneau was a worker at the Hill and Bates Mill. He initially discusses his family and then his jobs as a supervisor at the mills, including a strike he helped organize. He also describes the step-by-step process of making yarn.
Emeril Bergeron worked in the mills for forty years. He discusses both the differences in the communities of Lewiston and Auburn and the community of the mill. He also details the generational differences between education and his family’s views on it. Finally,...
Donald Caron was a mechanic in the textile mills from the 1940s to 1970s. He discusses growing up in Lewiston. This includes his schooling, religion, and the community in both Lewiston and Auburn. He also discusses other childhood memories and his experience being...
