The Labor Movement in the U.S. South: Records of Textile Mills

The Wilson Special Collections Library at UNC Chapel Hill maintains several large collections of business records from individual textile manufacturing firms. These collections are largely from the perspective of capital and industry, but they also contain extensive documentation on the lives of Southern textile workers, particularly from the mid- to late-twentieth century in North Carolina.

Burlington Industries, Inc. Records
Burlington Industries, Inc., founded by James Spencer Love (1896-1962), opened its first cotton manufacturing plant in 1924 in Burlington, N.C. The company found success throughout the 1900s, focusing on the development of diverse products, innovative technology, and a well-trained workforce. The company continued to grow until the 1990s, when significant financial losses led to its bankruptcy filing in 2001, and subsequent purchase in 2003 and merging with Cone Mills in 2004 into International Textile Group (ITG).

Cone Mills Corporation Records
Cone Mills Corporation (and predecessor Proximity Manufacturing Company and its other subsidiary and affiliated companies) manufactured denim and other textiles chiefly in North Carolina and South Carolina. Moses Herman Cone (1857-1908), Ceasar Cone (1859-1917), and other Cone family members began investing in the textile industry in the late nineteenth century and for much of the twentieth century were world leaders in textile manufacturing.

Dan River Mills, Inc., Records
Dan River Mills was established at Riverside Cotton Mills in 1882 in Danville, Va. Riverside Cotton Mills merged with the Dan River Power and Manufacturing Company in 1895. In the late 1800s, Dan River was the largest textile mill in the South. The mill developed a mill village for its workers known as Schoolfield which was annexed by the city of Danville in 1951. Dan River Mills went into chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2004 and was sold in 2006 to Gujarat Heavy Chemicals. The mill was closed and the mill building was imploded in 2008.

Glencoe Mills Records
Glencoe Mills, established in 1880, was one of several mills owned and operated in Alamance County, N.C., by the Holt family. The collection consists of records of Glencoe Mills, the Glencoe Mills store, Lakeside Mills, Windsor Mills, and Carolina Mills. Early mill records consist mainly of correspondence, inventory books, day books, ledgers, time records, meeting minutes, letter books, and other records. Glencoe Mills closed in 1954.

Rocky Mount Mills Records
Rocky Mount Mills, located in Rocky Mount, N.C., was one of the first cotton mills constructed in the state of North Carolina, dating back to 1816. From 1825 to 1883, the Battle family maintained ownership of the mill. As the southern cotton industry grew after the Civil War, the cotton mill experienced rapid growth. The company also supported a residential village for employees, which was eventually incorporated into the city of Rocky Mount in the 1920s. The mill was a major supplier of cotton yarn to the United States Army during World War II. The general decline in southern textile industry beginning in the 1970s eventually impacted Rocky Mount Mills, and the mill closed its doors in 1996.

Textile industry--North Carolina.

Cotton manufacture--North Carolina.

Cotton trade--North Carolina.

Cotton trade -- Southern States -- History -- 19th century.

Southern States -- Economic conditions.

Photograph of textile mill looms, from Cone Mills Corporation Records, Southern Historical Collection, UNC Chapel Hill Library