Thinking with Our Grandmothers: Past, Epidata, and Future in Designing a Proximity Affordance

This paper examines the limitations of historical documentation, focusing on the lives of mill girls in Manchester, New Hampshire’s textile mills through photographic images and family memories. While photographs, like those by Lewis Hine, provide insight into the physical conditions and harsh realities faced by young workers, they do not capture the inner lives of child laborers or the broader social context shaping their experiences. The authors highlight the shortcomings of traditional archival practices, particularly the subject headings applied to Hine’s photographs, which fail to reflect the complexities of mill girls' lives. Drawing on personal perspectives from the authors—whose grandmothers worked in the mills—the paper explores the emotional and social consequences of child labor, including physical harm, cultural divides, and lasting social stratification. By applying the Proximity and Epidata model (Bonnici and O’Connor), the paper advocates for a more nuanced approach to archival research that incorporates the often-overlooked "backstories" of historical documents. This approach can foster deeper connections to artifacts and enrich our understanding of the past's ongoing impact on cultural memories. The paper presents a revised framework to better document and preserve the lived experiences of mill girls, bridging the gap between superficial historical data and the lived realities of marginalized individuals.This paper examines the limitations of historical documentation, focusing on the lives of mill girls in Manchester, New Hampshire’s textile mills through photographic images and family memories. While photographs, like those by Lewis Hine, provide insight into the physical conditions and harsh realities faced by young workers, they do not capture the inner lives of child laborers or the broader social context shaping their experiences. The authors highlight the shortcomings of traditional archival practices, particularly the subject headings applied to Hine’s photographs, which fail to reflect the complexities of mill girls' lives. Drawing on personal perspectives from the authors—whose grandmothers worked in the mills—the paper explores the emotional and social consequences of child labor, including physical harm, cultural divides, and lasting social stratification. By applying the Proximity and Epidata model (Bonnici and O’Connor), the paper advocates for a more nuanced approach to archival research that incorporates the often-overlooked "backstories" of historical documents. This approach can foster deeper connections to artifacts and enrich our understanding of the past's ongoing impact on cultural memories. The paper presents a revised framework to better document and preserve the lived experiences of mill girls, bridging the gap between superficial historical data and the lived realities of marginalized individuals.