Claire Meikle was born in Willimantic, CT, in 1926 and is still living in 2014. With the exception of a few years, she has lived there all of her life. She was born in a tumultuous decade, the year after a debilitating strike at Willimantic’s American Thread Company, a time when the New England textile industry showed its first signs of decline.
Claire’s memoirs are thus the story of the decline and eventual transformation of a New England textile mill town, and as such have importance as a historical document. It was edited by Adam Phelps, who treated it as a document, letting Meikle’s own words shine through, edited mostly for grammar and clarity.
Although Meikle refers to “Girl Alone” as a novel, it is not a work of fiction, but rather her nonfiction memoirs and recollections. The Mill Museum does not own the copyright to “Girl Alone.” Anyone wishing to copy all or portions of “Girl Alone” should contact Claire Meikle and Adam Phelps.
