Blog post #3: Textile Museum

Travelers,

At the begining of our time in Munich, Germany, one site caught my eye. The textile museum personifies how technology was changing in order to industrialize European companies. So far on the trip, I feel that we have only observed technology that was meant for improving science. At this site, technology was simpily improved to make fabric more efficiently. From the simple drop spindle all the way up to the technology of 2009, the improvments were quite impressive. This is a perfect example of how technology improves at a fast pace when the demand for it is high. Although technology was improving, the machines were still dangereous for operators to handle. Many moving parts made it easy to loose fingers and hands. Dust and loud noise was also harmful. Even metal being incorperated into the machines made them suseptable to sparks, which would eventually lead to fire. It was interesting to me that working conditions in Europe at the time were very similar to conditions in the United States. Textile industries in North America also didnt have laws to protect workers from accidents, long term damage or even fire. For example, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory experienced a fire on March 25, 1911. Inadequate saftey features and many locked doors in the factory lead to 145 deaths. I can imagine that similar incidents occured in European history. These conditions in factories may be hard to accept, but for the first time in history where machines were being used on a large scale for production, these issues may not have been thought of. However, child labor should not be included as a harsh reality that can be forgiven. The soul motivation for putting childern to work was for money. Like Germany, the U.S also employed children. I never thought of this issue as a world problem during this time in history. Although I am sure in ancient times it occured everywhere. In conclusion, the museum allowed me to realize that Europe and the U.S had similar issues during the industrialization of humanity.

Sincerely,

A.W