Stolen Childhood

Close up

Analyzing the documents for our exhibit was very important, We had to read the source and then find how it tied into our topic of child labor and what the information told us about it. In our exhibit on child labor we had six documents. There's a table with information about the ages of factory workers, a written account of factory conditions, pictures of things they had to go through with descriptions, and official legal statements about it from the time. When making the exhibit we put these sources in order based on the time they were about so it would go in chronological order. The title "Stolen Childhood" came from brainstorming the main idea of child labor. We came to the conclusion that these kids didn't get to do childlike things and had to intensely work as if they were adults, that their childhoods were stolen by this system. It goes with our chained documents and neutral color scheme to show sadness. We hope people who see our exhibit learn the bad side of the Industrial Revolution. In all the new inventions and societal changes the children who suffered because of it must be recognized and we hope visitors will know that it was not a fun time for many of the people living through it.

It was fun to see the other exhibits too. I liked seeing what each group did differently and how they presented their information. All the groups' exhibits were hung up around in a square area so when walking around from where mine was I saw the exhibit on slavery in the industrial revolution. I liked how the group had a big wheel to spin to read the information with their title "Behind the Scenes" right in the middle and the images around the poster to better get their point across. I felt this topic was similar to ours since it was also about the hidden suffering of laborers in the Industrial Revolution.
Next, I saw "Tearing Down Families" an exhibit that showed the evolution of looms during the industrial revolution. It talked about how industrialization was impacting families of the time. The title is useful because it keeps the focus of their sources and information on the people of the time so you weren't just reading facts but thinking about how the actual people felt.
Unlike the more serious topics the poster on transportation called "All Aboard" was fun and colorful. It used train tracks and rivers to connect the information. The two types of drawing around it show the two main focuses of transportation during the industrial revolution, the locomotive and steam boat. There's a picture of a steam engine at the top which shows how it works and powers the two inventions.
The last exhibit taught me about the negative impact of the Industrial Revolution on the general people. Over-industrialization caused much poverty for families. The factories also dumped waste into the river causing pollution of the waters.
The exhibits we made were a great way for us to learn about the side of industrialization that is often hidden by the new ideas and creations and it was good to be creative in our showcase of the information.