This year, all Valley Talks will be presented in a hybrid format, meaning guests have the option to attend the presentation in person at the Museum or virtually through Zoom. In checkout, make sure to select the correct ticketing option that reflects how you would like to attend the presentation.
Woven fabric made New England a success. Textile workers made that fabric. Dominating New England for over a century, textile work peaked in 1920. Half a century later, Steve Dunwell photographed mill workers to capture a fading industry. When Dunwell took the photographs, six out of seven jobs were gone. Yet thousands of mill workers remained in the 1970s, keeping the machines running. Their jobs were sometimes difficult, often dangerous, and always noisy. Each had an immigration story to tell. Like the textile industry, this project began in Rhode Island before expanding across New England. Join Dunwell as he discusses the exhibit With These Hands, which will be on display in the Museum’s changing gallery from Friday, February 21st until Saturday, April 26th, and how it captures a special time in a unique environment, now almost, but not entirely, gone. The Museum will open at 12pm for visitors who wish to explore the exhibit ahead of the talk.
Steve Dunwell is a professional photographer living in Boston. He creates images of New England – its people, landscape, and industry – for publications, for collectors, and for advertising. Starting in 1973, with a grant from the Rhode Island Arts Council, he began to photograph mill workers around New England. Adjacent to small rivers like the Blackstone, he found scores of industrial sites, vestiges of a vanishing world. These portraits were shown, along with history, in the book “The Run of the Mill.” His interest in industrial documentation and preservation continues to the present, alongside a career centered on architectural and aerial imagery. His 15 photo books on regional landscape and cityscape include “Extraordinary Boston” and the best-seller, “Boston Freedom Trail.”
The Museum’s 2025 Valley Talks series is presented by the Museum of Work & Culture Preservation Foundation and the RI AFL-CIO.
The Rhode Island Historical Society, the state's oldest and only statewide historical organization, is dedicated to honoring, interpreting and sharing Rhode Island's past to enrich the present and inspire the future. Founded in 1822, the RIHS is an advocate for history as a means to develop empathy and 21st -century skills, using its historical materials and knowledge to explore topics of timeless relevance and public interest. As a Smithsonian Affiliate, it is dedicated to providing high-quality, accessible public programming and educational opportunities for all Rhode Islanders through its four sites: the John Brown House Museum, the Museum of Work & Culture, the Mary Elizabeth Robinson Research Center and the Aldrich House.
Find more Rhode Island Historical Society Events and Community & Culture events in Woonsocket
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