"The Lighting Up" will be presented March 17th, 2004 at 7PM at the Dover Public Library-Sponsored by Friends of the Dover Public Library

Please join Brenda Whitmore for questions and answers following the showing. To request a showing or speaking appearance, please contact Brenda at 603 742-4139 or e-mail. For more on the strike and the video, check out NHPTV: NH Outlook: 8/27/03-The Lighting Up or NH Public Radio-The Front Porch.

Remember March is Women's History Month!

"The Lighting Up" was a term commonly used to describe the time of the year in September when the factory owners would light up the workplace with whale-oil lamps. This allowed work to begin early in the morning and continue long after sundown. The workers despised the "Lighting Up" and management simply acknowledge it as a necessary activity to regulate the work hours and manage the production of goods. The black soot and fumes from the lamps were unhealthy and unbearable to breathe. The already dangerous conditions in the mills were augmented by the introduction of fire and flames throughout..... From September 21st to March 21st, when the lamps were blown out, "The Lighting Up" was a dangerous and unhealthy time.

In the early eighteen hundreds, young women began the migration from the farms to the factories of New Hampshire; many of them finding themselves in Dover, NH. They came for the opportunities unavailable to them on the farm, including education, social activities and the chance to earn money. What they sacrificed in return was their youth and their health.

What happened next no one could predict. Not only was the Industrial Revolution erupting all over New Hampshire and New England, but a quiet revolution of women's' rights in America was also steadily evolving. Women began to demand fair wages, reasonable hours of work, and safe and healthy work conditions. Women were challenging the social and political institutions of the day.

In response to the wage reductions, strict rules, blacklists, and unsafe and unhealthy work conditions, the women of Dover, New Hampshire would organize and protest over and over again. The first strike by all women factory workers in the United States would occur in Dover, NH in 1828. The light of subtle revolution had been set in motion and there would be no turning back... "The Lighting Up" had begun.

About the Writer/Producer, Brenda H. Whitmore:

Brenda Whitmore has been a resident of Dover, New Hampshire since 1979 after having grown up in Manchester, NH and attending the University of New Hampshire.

Brenda is a Construction Project Manager for the University of New Hampshire. For the past 15 years she has worked as a repair and renovation specialist for the campus. Brenda most recently completed the renovations and restorations to Murkland Hall, a late 19th, century structure, and one of the oldest buildings on the campus of the University of New Hampshire. The exterior restoration and rehabilitation of Thompson Hall, UNH's only current building on the National Register of Historic Places, and the campus's signature building is her latest project.

Brenda is a life long student. She received her first degree, a BA in Microbiology, from the University of New Hampshire in 1981. In 1983 she received her NH secondary science teaching credentials from St. Anselms's College in Goffstown, NH. In 1999 she completed a degree in Women's Studies, and in 2002 she completed her Master of Arts. The "Lighting Up" is the capstone project for her master's degree. Brenda teaches history workshops for the Division of Continuing Education, and currently she is pursing her PhD. in American History at the University of New Hampshire. Her research will continue to focus on Women's History with specific regard to the Industrial Revolution and emerging capitalism in the United States and their impact on women's lives.