PLACE, POWER, AND PATERNALISM: IMAGINED HISTORIES AND WELFARE CAPITALISM IN BURRILLVILLE, RHODE ISLAND, 1912 TO 1951

Abstract

This article examines the history of community investments made by woolen manufacturer Austin Levy in the town of Burrillville, Rhode Island, in the first half of the 20th century. These investments, characteristic of the paternalistic welfare capitalism typical of the era, sustained the town as a vibrant industrial producer at a time when capital was disinvesting from other communities in the region. Levy's investments in the workplace and the community and his interventions in the town's built environment were noteworthy because they were grounded in an attempt to reproduce an imagined history of the town, linking images of pre-industrial Puritan New England with the paternalism of the early-industrial Rhode Island System mill village. Although his attempts to construct new identities for himself, his town, and his workers met with some resistance, the project was generally successful. His result suggests a reconsideration of the viability and desirability of such projects for contemporary communities attempting to stave off industrial decline. [Key words: paternalism, welfare capitalism, textiles, New England.]