The Winterthur Library

The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum

5105 Kennett Pike, Winterthur, DE 19735

302-888-4600 or 800-448-3883

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

Title: Swatch Book Collection

Dates: ca.1700-ca.1925

Call No.: Col. 50

Acc. No.: [various – see detailed description]

Quantity: 6 linear feet

Location: 39 A-E; map case 3, drawer 8; and map case B, drawer 5

SCOPE AND CONTENT

This artificial and still open collection includes both bound and unbound items containing textile fabric samples.

The collection contains swatch books representing a multiplicity of historical backgrounds and purposes. For instance, some books were created as salesmen's sample books; others as a record of the dyeing process. Still others were assembled by young women as a record of their own needlework or of local textiles.

As more relevant items are acquired, the swatch book collection continues to expand. However, it does not include textile fabric swatches that already belong to another identifiable collection. Nor does the collection contain bound volumes with some swatches that are incidental to the primary reason for the creation of said volume. Additional materials may be located by searching the catalog using the terms Textile fabrics – Sample books or Textile fabrics – Specimens. Ads and trade cards related to the textile trade are filed in Collections 214 and 9. (One trade card, 61x6, includes some lace samples.)

ORGANIZATION

The swatch books are shelved in accession number order, except that the oversized materials are shelved below the others. The finding aid lists the items in accession number order.

Each volume is also individually cataloged in the on-line catalog.

LANGUAGE OF MATERIALS

Most of the materials are in English.

RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS

Collection is open to the public. Copyright restrictions may apply.

PROVENANCE

Gifts and purchases from various sources.

Accession 2017x85: gift from American Textile History Museum.

ACCESS POINTS (for collection as a whole, not for the individual accessions, each of which also has its own entry in the on-line catalog)

Topics:

Textile fabrics – Sample books.

Yarn – Sample books.

Needlework – Sample books.

Ribbons.

Weavers.

Textile workers.

Dyers.

Swatch books.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

Location: 39 A-C, and two map case drawers

58x34

Weaving instruction manual, in French, ca. 1829.

This manual consists of diagrams and written instructions for setting up looms in order to weave a wide variety of patterns upon many different textiles. Many sets of instructions are accompanied by sample swatches of the finished textile. Certain headings include "Principes de fabrique d'etoffes de Soie," "Disposition d'un Taffetas raye Satin sur un peigne de 22 portees," "Maniere de travailler un taffetas pour la main," and "Maniere de compter le prix d'une etoffe."

62x31.1-.4

Timmich, Georg Friedrich. Farbe Buch.

Dyeing book, 1754-1758.

Georg Friedrich Timmich was a dyer in a German-speaking area during the mid-eighteenth century.

The volume (62x31.1) and the accompanying loose sheets (62 x 31.2-.4) compose Georg Timmich's collection of dye recipes for yarn and textile fabrics. Many of the recipes are accompanied by a swatch dyed to show the results. Toward the back of the volume, entries are made in a different handwriting of a more recent, probably 19th-century, style and spelling. The first page contains an ornate calligraphic verse "Alles mit Gott, So hat es keine Noth. Soli Deo Gloria" and the date 1754. Text in old German script.

62x32

Codecasa, Benedict. Muster Karte Von Iermesut, Scalli, Cettari, Cutni und Scamalagia nach Ostindischer Art.

Viennese swatch book.

Benedict Codecasa was an authorized silk manufacturer in Vienna.

This volume consists of twelve panels of 22 numbered swatches of colored woven silk and cotton. On the first and fourteenth panels are copies of a trade label in German summarizing Codecasa's business and giving his address. Identified by Florence Montgomery (Textiles in America, 1650-1870) as "a late eighteenth-century sample book of 272 swatches of striped silk and cotton materials patterned after Indian goods." Labels on the cover and slipcase indicate that this was the second in a series of sample books.

65x662.1-.7

Yarn sample books, 1847-1854(?)

This group consists of seven small paper bound volumes containing recipes for dyeing yarn, most of which are accompanied by a yarn sample in the finished color. Four of the volumes have printed covers indicating that they were manufactured in Boston or Waltham, Massachusetts, as savings account passbooks in 1847, 1853, and 1854. Presumably, the dye recipes come from that area and time period as well. The writing appears to have been done by at least two different people. One of the following names or sets of initials appears at the end of a few recipes or on the inside front cover: H. Coan; Wm. Adams; J. Lehany; W.B.; L.C.

65x693

Japanese textile sample book, 1840-1900.

(museum no. 65.94)

This volume begins with one page of Japanese calligraphy, which has been translated as reading, "Collection of samples of thick- striped cloths which is called 'Ome-jima';" or "Collection of samples of thick-striped 'Ome-jima.'" This first page is followed by fifteen pages of approximately 350 wool fabric samples.

65x695.1

Norwich worsted pattern book, ca. 1786-1793, 1831.

(museum no. 60.241.1)

This leather-bound book consists of approximately 500 swatches of various textile fabrics, including fine examples of "camelots," "sattins," "tabourets," "fleurets," "callemandres," "camelottines," "harlequins," and "grandines." Some facing pages contain manuscript notes in French, which provide specific names for the corresponding fabrics. Nothing indicates the manufacturer of the fabrics.

A faint manuscript inscription on the front free endpaper indicates a British origin, reading, "September 8, 1831. The Coronation of his Majesty King Willm. 4th took place with that of his Consort Queen Adelaide." A faint pencil sketch of a house also appears on this page.

Florence Montgomery, in Textiles in America, 1650-1870, identifies these swatches as Norwich worsteds and supplies a date of 1785. However, a researcher suggests 1786-1793, the period between the Eden Treaty of 1786, a commercial agreement between Great Britain and France, and the outbreak of war between those counties in 1793.

[copy of finding aid at repository includes index to this volume; look under the Index tab]

65x695.2

Hampp, John Christopher, 1750-1825.

Norwich worsted pattern book, ca. 1794.

(museum no. 60.241.2)

Ninety-one pages contain some 2,000 numbered swatches of variously colored and patterned worsteds, many described as “camelotts”, “ladines’, ”sattins" and as "satinets." A few captions in German appear, but the numeration is written in an English hand.

The original top board contains a torn paper label that reads "Copy of a Pattn. Book Sent to C O & [illegible, partially torn, partially worn]." The original back board has "ICH" stamped upon it in gold. Both boards are preserved separately from the pattern book.

“ICH” has been identified as John Christopher Hampp, a native of Germany (born in Marbach in 1750) who moved to Norwich and was involved in the textile trade as a master weaver, manufacturer, and merchant. He also imported medieval stained glass windows from the continent for use in English churches. He died in Norwich in 1825 and is buried at St. Giles Church.

[copy of finding aid at repository includes index to this volume; look under the Index tab]

65x695.3

J. Tuthill & Son(s) (Norwich, Eng.)

Norwich worsted pattern book, circa 1790-1797.

(museum no. 60.241.3)

Consists of 685 small, numbered swatches of variously colored worsteds, including callimancoes, camlettes, taboratts, and fine lastings or everlastings. Contains two price lists, only one of which belongs to the volume; the other includes such addressees as D. Callaghan, chez Louis Preiswerk a Bale (April 19th, 1794); Mr. Collins (June 30th, 1794); Messrs. Wm. Fox and Sons, Cheapside, London (1795); and Nethropp [i.e. Nelthropp] & Harris, Copenhagen (17 Feb, 1797). A small note reads as follows: "Engrained colors in proportion to the goodrip [?]. These goods can be made of any length or breadth in proportion to the foregoing prices. April 19th 1794, J. T & S." It is evident that the latter price list does not belong with this volume.

A researcher in England compared images of this volume with an identical one in Norwich; however, it is not clear whether the volumes were produced by the firm James Tuthill & Son, by John Tuthill & Sons, or by John Tuthill & Son. James Tuthill & Son (the son was John) was in business 1777-November 1792, when the manufactory’s name changed to John Tuthill & Sons. John Tuthill’s sons involved with the business were John Scarlin and Charles. In November 1794, John Scarlin Tuthill left his father’s firm, and the name changed to John Tuthill & Son. On November 1, 1799, John Tuthill retired , and Charles Tuthill continued to operate under his own name until his bankruptcy in 1809.

John Tuthill was born around 1736 and died July 13, 1801. He married Rachel Scarlin (died March 1818, age 74). They had 4 daughers and 3 sons. John Scarlin Tuthill (1768-1841) was a merchant. Charles Tuthill (born 1769) carried on the family worsted business until he declared bankruptcy.

The same researcher noted that the Tuthills were engated in the Russian trade. British striped callimancoes were popular in Russia, but Catherine the Great banned their import in December 1793. This ban was a blow to the Norwich callimanco trade. Because of the number of striped callimancoes in this volume, it was probably produced before Dec. 1793. (A pattern book produced by the Tuthills in 1794 has many fewer callimancoes than are present in this volume.)

[copy of finding aid at repository includes index to this volume; look under the Index tab]

65x695.4

Norwich worsted pattern book, 1788.

Cover title: "Counter, 1788"

(Dispatch book, 1788)

(museum no. 60.241.4)

Ninety-four pages consist of some 4,240 small swatches of variously colored and patterned worsteds. Notes between groups of swatches indicate that this volume was originally a record of fabrics ordered by different customers during the course of one year. Examples of such notes read "order DF sent 18 Jany. 1788" and order HVV sent 15 Novr. 1788."

Nothing indicates whose dispatch or order book this was. None of the customers have been identified.

[copy of finding aid at repository includes index to this volume; look under the Index tab]

65x695.5

Tuthill, Charles.

Norwich worsted pattern book, ca. 1800-1808.

(museum no. 60.241.5)

This book, which includes some 850 small, numbered swatches of variously colored and patterned worsteds, was initially put together by Charles Tuthill, a fabric merchant in Norwich. He declared bankruptcy in 1809, and it is likely that this volume was then acquired by Booth and Theobald of Norwich, which name is written inside the closing flap.

Florence Montgomery, in Textiles in America, 1650-1870, notes that "the arrangement and numbering of swatches corresponds exactly to a book inscribed “Charles Tuthill Norwich” which is in Castle Museum, Norwich" (p. 403). The Downs Collection copy has the identical information stamped in gilt, but a slip of paper pasted over this stamp means only a part of it can be read.

Charles Tuthill was the son of John Tuthill and grandson of James Tuthill, both worsted manufacturers in Norwich. In 1805, Charles moved to London and established himself as a merchant, but he continued producing textiles in Norwich. He was declared bankrupt on April 12, 1809. It is most likely that Booth & Theobald acquired the pattern book at the auction of Tuthill’s stock and then added their name and covered over Tuthill’s name. The partnership of Booth & Theobald (Edward Temple Booth and Thomas Theobald) was established in August 1803 and continued until the firm declared bankruptcy in 1838. (In early 1819, Booth’s son Edward entered the business, which became known as Booth, Theobald & Booth.)

At some point, the all these Norwich worsted volumes found their way into the archive of Willet, Nephew & Co., manufacturers in Norwich. In 1904, the archive was sold to the Aberfoyle Mills of Chester, Pennsylvania. William T. Galey, the president of Galey & Lord, owners of the mills, donated these volumes to the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. Winterthur Library eventually acquired the volumes from the Philadelphia institution.

[copy of finding aid at repository includes index to this volume; look under the Index tab]

65x695.6

Hampp, John Christopher, 1750-1825.

Norwich worsted pattern book, ca. 1794.

(museum no. 60.241.6)

Eight-nine pages present some 1,500 small, numbered swatches of various worsteds. Two pages include notes on the specific kinds of textile, such as "camelots" and "clouded calles (callimancoes)."

The name or initials of John Christopher Hampp do not appear in this volume, nor is the original binding extant. However, the format of the volume is identical to that of acc. 65x695.2, which is a Hampp volume. Furthermore, many of the samples in both volumes are identical. Thus, this volume is being attributed to Hampp.

[copy of finding aid at repository includes index to this volume; look under the Index tab]

65x696

Ribbon sample book, ca. 1826-1864.

This volume contains 345 of originally 354 samples of woven ribbons, each measuring 6.5 x 15.5 cm. Notes on the first page read "French. Recd. from Mr. Dresser, 10 Sept. 1864, E.D.." Below that: "James Dudden Dresser." And to the sides: "From the firm Dresser in Coventry" and "(Coventry)." The paper to which the ribbons are attached is watermarked "J. Green & Son, 1826," which firm may have been in Maidstone, Kent, England. A small inscription on the second page reads "Henry Dresser."

65x697 (flat on shelf)

Printed challis sample book, ca. 1830 (perhaps from Alsace, ca.1845-1850).

This book consists of 304 "tissus d'habillement," colorful swatches of challis, a soft wool or wool-cotton cloth, in varying sizes up to 25 x 18 cm. The swatches are included in no apparent order. The inside front cover contains a printed label from a French papermaker/blank book binder in Paris.

See under Index tab in copy of finding aid at this repository for additional comments about this volume.

65x698

Manchester pattern book, 1783.

(museum no. 65.2134)

This book consists of 432 samples, divided into 16 panels of 27 numbered swatches. The textiles include various kinds of Manchester, England printed cotton velvets, dimities, quiltings, cords, diapers, etc. The panels unfold in such a way as to allow the subdued colors of all 432 samples to be viewed simultaneously. On the reverse side of an inner panel is the inscription "Thomas Smith, Manchester, 23 August 1783."

Note: The museum has a pair of breeches made of fabric similar to that of swatches numbered 6179 and 6186.

65x699

Gould, Nathl. (Nathaniel)

Manchester pattern book, ca. 1780-1790.

(museum no. 65.2135)

This volume consists of 12 panels of 12 numbered swatches each, numbered 2209-2352 (three swatches are presently missing). The textiles represent a variety of Manchester, England, cottons, including corduroy and velveteen, mostly drab in color. The panels unfold from the center so that the subdued olive-browns of all 141 swatches can be viewed together. Inscriptions indicate that this swatch book came from Nathaniel and Josh. [Joseph] Gould in Manchester.

A seventeen cm length of a gauzy ribbon is laid into the volume. It might have migrated to this volume from another, but if that is so, the original location of the ribbon is unknown. A previous owner of the volume had given it the number Sf812.

Nathaniel Gould (1756-1820) and his brother Joseph (1754-1821) were cloth merchants in Manchester, England. Nathaniel was also well-known for his philanthropy.

65x700

Manchester pattern book, ca. 1775-1815.

(museum no. 65.2136)

This volume contains 30 panels of numbered swatches, most with 14 swatches per panel. The textiles are various kinds of Manchester, England cotton dimities. The panels unfold so that all 412 swatches can be viewed simultaneously.

66x141

Rowan, Archibald Hamilton.

Sample book of designs for printed cotton, ca. 1795-1799.

Archibald Hamilton Rowan, a member of the Society of United Irishmen, was exiled from Ireland before coming to America and settling on the Brandywine River near Wilmington, De. After peddling birch beer and garden produce in the streets of Wilmington, Rowan purchased a calico-printing firm from the Jordan family in late 1796 or early 1797. Rowan continued the business until May 29, 1799. Unable to compete with British merchants, he sold his inventory to James Lea and offered the manufactory for sale. Ultimately, he returned to Ireland.

This book consists of over 140 numbered block impressions on paper, many brightened by watercolors, that provide examples of eighteenth-century calico-printed textiles. Many of the designs bear a resemblance to contemporary English work. Six of the patterns have dark plum backgrounds, similar to an English dark-ground style for ladies' dresses. Three- or four-inch borders of a rich, dense style harmonize with more widely spaced flowers in other patterns, suggesting their intended use as furnishing chintzes. Patterns with sprigs were used for dress-goods. Small, stylized figures appearing in fields of several patterns are typical of contemporary shawl chintzes. Other designs include geometrical and stylized striped lining materials. Although a note on the front wrapper indicates that these are wallpaper designs, Rowan's career suggests otherwise. The papers on which the patterns are printed bear the watermark of the Gilpin paper mills, also located along the Brandywine River.

A map that shows the location of Rowan's mill is available in the collection.

Publications: Montgomery, Florence. Printed Textiles. New York: Viking Press, 1970.

Kiefer, Kathleen, “Archibald Hamilton Rowan’s Pattern Book: A Preliminary Technical and Stylistic Analysis,” (student paper), 1994. (filed with this finding aid)

69x78 (flat on shelf)

Print sample book, 1795.

A sample book containing colored woodblock prints. Although all but one of the samples are printed on paper, Florence Montgomery believed the patterns were for textiles, not for wallpaper. The one sample which is not on paper is indeed printed on fabric; furthermore, some of the patterns do give the illusion of including lace or broderie anglaise. Although most of the patterns were designed to be borders, a few could be overall designs. The smaller patterns may have been intended to be borders for handkerchiefs or neckerchiefs. The patterns are numbered but are not in consecutive order. The country of origin is not known, but the samples are possibly from France.

The samples are mounted on dark paper. If there were a back cover, it is now missing. Some of the samples are loose, but none are completely detached. The string binding the pages together may be new. (Trex 3255)

69x210 (flat on shelf)

Gibard, G. Cours de Fabrique par Theorie.

French textbook with illustrations and fabric swatches, 1829.

This volume includes approximately 185 pages of handwritten text, dealing primarily with the fabrication of silk cloths. It consists of diagrams and written instructions for setting up looms in order to weave a wide variety of textile fabrics. Weaving instructions correspond to 59 actual fabric swatches. Most swatches are discussed, in increasing complexity, in terms of "remettage," "ourdissage,"(warping) "lissage,"(glossing) and "armure"(loom patterns). Text in French.

69x211 (flat on shelf)

Textile sample book, 1858-1859.

This book contains a brief title page reading only "Colloring Book." This is followed by approximately 200 sample swatches of printed cotton textile fabrics. The swatches are pasted onto the versos, while the rectos contain pieces, dates and color names, apparently recording the printing of the various patterns. Colors include black, red, brown, lilac, drab, chocolate. The names repeated throughout the volume indicate a New England origin, probably Rhode Island, Massachusetts (possibly even Essex County), or Maine. The personal names recorded are A. Maitland, A. Sutherland, Tim Driscoll, and Henry Ham(p)son.

69x216

Swatch book, ca. 1800-1825.

This book contains about 350 remarkable samples of a wide variety of textile fabrics. Written remarks next to each swatch seem to indicate the producer and the available supply of fabric, perhaps establishing the book as an inventory or order book for a dry goods store. What are assumed to be producers appear as "W. & C.," "S. & N.A.," or "R.R. & Co.," etc.

Florence Montgomery, in Textiles in America, 1650-1870, identifies the following types of fabric in this volume: printed cottons, woven linens, silk ribbons, net, baize, wool, velvet, gauze, vestings, nankeen, florentine, moreen, broadcloth, coating, cassimere, sinchaw, chambray, cambric, and leno.

70x76 (flat on shelf)

Bartsch, I.G.

Sample book of silk weaving.

This book consists of 100 swatches of woven silk, lithographed plates depicting looms, weaving patterns, diagrams, etc. Many of the illustrations show how the fabric was woven. Weaver's drafts in the volume are both lithographed and in pen-and-pencil. Some drafts contain handwritten notations about the quantity of thread needed. Several of the patterns are numbered and correspond with swatches located in the front of the volume. Floral and geometric patterns predominate, although a few crests were woven into the fabric. All lithographs bear the name I.G. Bartsch and Al. Leykum, lithographer. Captions and handwritten notations in German.

70x78 (in box, 39 B 2)

Textile samples, 1809-1845.

This collection consists of 27 sheets with numerous small, numbered fabric swatches on each. Such fabric types as calico prints, denim, broad cloth, woven fabrics, cashmere, wool, and felt are represented. Some sheets contain text, perhaps ordering information. Several sheets are addressed to B. Schier. The last page bears the label "Bloc de 25 Feuilluts pour Etudes et Croques, Papier Pur Chiffon." Text in French.

The text on 70x78.8 has been translated as follows:

“Tissue made by the inhabitants of the island of Hawaii one of the Sandwich where Cook was killed. The tissue is made by beating under water the bark of the tapa tree. Brought back by the Captain who escorted on the islands the bodies of him and of the Queen of the Sandwich Islands who died in England. Donated by M.[illegible], October 4, 1813.”

(piece on back): “On one of the Sandwich Islands where Cook was killed, this material was made.”

71x62 (in miscellaneous box 3; see also 08x76)

Carquillat, François (1803-1884).

Woven portrait of J. M. Jacquard, ca.1839

A portrait woven out of black and grey silk, captioned “A la Mémoir de J.M. Jacquard,” woven by Carquillat, and manufactured by Didier Petit et Cie, perhaps in 1839. The image, woven on a Jacquard loom, is based on a portrait by Jean-Claude Bonnefond (1796-1860).

(The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a more detailed version of this portrait, which they attribute to Michel-Marie Carquillat. The Art Institute of Chicago has a copy of this portrait. See also acc. 08x76 in this collection.)

(Trex no. 3552)

71x132

Swatch book, possibly 1830's.

Consists of nine large swatches of floral-printed calicos and dimities, each measuring approximately 22 x 26 cm. The back cover contains the handwritten name "Mrs. R. Rolles." No direct evidence of date or manufacturer.

[See under Index tab in copy of finding aid at this repository for additional comments about this volume.]

72x55.1 (flat on shelf)

French printed silks, Spring 1841.

This volume contains 502 examples of flowered and patterned silks that are French in origin. The swatches are pasted within hand ruled borders and probably represent new dress fabrics for 1841. Some feature printed designs, while others have patterns woven into the fabric, including stripes and fleurettes, most on a light background. A few have a silk warp and cotton weft and might have been used for handkerchiefs. Several of the swatches are numbered. Patterns are shown in a variety of color schemes.

72x55.2 (flat on shelf)

Album of printed silks, ca. 1830-1850.

This volume, from the same firm as 72 x 55.1, contains approximately 890 swatches of lightweight printed French silks, displaying a huge variety of patterns and colors in excellent condition. “Un bel album, tres caracteristique de son epoque." No text.

72x55.3 (flat on shelf)

Album of dress silks, spring 1849.

This album, from the same firm as 72 x 55.1-.2, contains 490 pieces of exquisite dress silks, including taffetas, tone-on-tone or multicolored brocades, floral patterns in multicolored bouquets, lace, etc. All is in excellent condition.

72x55.4 (flat on shelf)

Collection of silks and velvets, 1856.

This collection, from the same firm as 72 x 55.1-.3, consists of 94 large swatches intended for dressmaking. The samples are in a variety of patterns and colors and are found to be in excellent condition.

72x55.5 (flat on shelf)

Livre d'Echantillons, 1857.

This book, from the same firm as 72 x 55.1-.4, contains 1,400 samples of Indian cottons. Enormous variety of styles and colors.

72x56 (flat on shelf)

Silk samples, ca. 1840-1850.

Over 600 variously sized swatches of silk are pasted within hand-ruled borders. The especially bright and colorful swatches are probably of French origin. On the cover, which may not be original to the leaves, is written "Stoffmuster."

72x57

D. & J. Anderson.

Pattern book of cottons, 1887-1909.

D. and J. Anderson manufactured a wide variety of cotton fabrics in Glasgow, Scotland, at the turn of the century.

This pattern book from the firm contains hundreds of small swatches of colored cotton textile fabrics. Identification numbers are written next to the swatches, along with weaving information and dates. On the inside front cover an inscription reads "J. Anderson, her Husband, Deceased was the head of D. & J. Anderson of Glasgow Scotland. This pattern book was from his firm. Gift Myra Service 4-70."

73x164

Dye sample book, 1858.

This small volume contains 292 swatches of printed cotton textiles, most in shades of pink, purple, maroon, or brick red. It also includes manuscript dye recipes for most swatches. On verso of the fourth leaf is a note that reads "Robes dyed Novr. 17th/58"; on verso of the third leaf from the back, another inscription reads "Oct. 27th/58." Together, these two notes have been taken to indicate a creation date of 1858. The volume is assumed to be of English origin, although a previous owner noted of the swatches, "Many of French origin."

75x9.1-.4 (flat on shelf)

Harris, Kate S. (Catherine Smith), 1857-1940.

Harris, Sarah Bradway (Sallie), 1832-1909.

Johnson, Sarah Marion Harris, 1859-1929.

Fabric scrapbooks, ca. 1880-1890.

These scrapbooks were assembled by Sarah Bradway (Sallie) Harris and her daughters Catherine Smith (Kate) Harris and Sarah Marion Harris Johnson of Salem County, New Jersey. Sarah Bradway’s family were Quakers, although her husband’s family were not. The fabrics date from ca.1770 to1890, but most date 1820s-1880s. For more about the Harrises and the scrapbooks see the thesis of Sarah Suzanne Woodman, The Fabric of Their Lives: A Commemoration of Family, Friends, and Community by Three Women in Salem County, New Jersey (University of Delaware, 2003). Shelved with the scrapbooks is an index to the fabrics, also compiled by Sarah Woodman.

Each one of this four-volume set consists of fabric swatches sewn to the pages of a scrapbook album, over 700 swatches in all, with some duplication between the scrapbooks. The scrapbooks were most likely assembled between 1880 and 1890. The set features many wedding dress swatches; fabrics for household furnishings are also included. The origin and approximate age of many of the swatches are given in handwritten legends, such as "Painted Muslin from Mary Griscom about 75 years old"; "Homemade Linen check belonged to Lydia Harris who died in 1843"; "Bought at auction 40 years ago by Susan Denn for 7 cents a yard"; "Anna Powell's wedding dress, married Waddington B. Ridgway 2nd month 8th 1859"; and "Border of a shawl found in a bundle of clothes which floated up on the Penns Neck shore over 25 years ago." 75x009.4 features a number of toiles and ribbons from the World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition in New Orleans, 1884-1885. The collection includes silk, wool, cotton, and linen from China, England, France, India, and the United States. Most of the swatches were collected from the Harris women’s friends and relatives in Salem County.

75x130 (flat on shelf)

Old Southampton Odds and Ends, not completed before 1898.

Swatch book.

The bulk of this volume consists of large fabric swatches pasted to card stock. The collection includes examples of wool, linen, and cotton, demonstrating their application to various items such as tablecloths, pillowcases, ribbons, wedding dresses, chintz, paisleys, embroideries, calicoes, and imported examples from India. Most swatches have handwritten legends relating the origin or use of the fabric, such as "Pillow case linen, Eliza Halsey," or "Merrimac calico, Civil War," or "Linens from Long Springs Farm, now Hampton Park, ancestral home of Mrs. Mary A. Herrick." One page contains a large hand-stitched quilt square; another contains a small sketch of a "windmill at the corner of Windmill Lane and Hill St." Also included are ten pages of typed verbatim extracts of essays by Alice Morse Earle, originally published in her Home Life in Colonial Days (New York: Macmillan, 1898). The title is inspired by the handwritten inscription on the first leaf.

76x98.1016 (in miscellaneous box 3)

Pennsylvania ribbon

[late 19^th century?]

A pale tan ribbon with the word “Pennsylvania” printed on it. Nothing indicates the age or the purpose of the ribbon. Both ends are frayed.

76x98.1017 (in miscellaneous box 3)

Washington Bicentennial Bookmark, 1932

Woven by J. & J. Cash, Inc., South Norwalk, Connecticut

A peach-colored ribbon woven with a portrait of George Washington, a decorative border, and the words: “Washington Bicentennial Book Mark, 1732-1932, All Good Wishes from Hotel Commodore, New York City, Come Again.” The woven designs are in blue and red. Some of the thread ends are loose.

76x98.1018 (in miscellaneous box 3)

McKinley calendar ribbon

A blue ribbon made after the assassination of William McKinley in 1901. The ribbon includes the words “McKinley Calendar,” a portrait of McKinley, a summary of his life and career, words of farewell, and a calendar for the year 1902. The ends are decorated with fringe. A bad stain mars the portrait.

76x98.1019 (in miscellaneous box 3)

Rosser-Gibbons Camp of Confederate Veterans.

Ribbon for Grand rally and picnic, 1898.

A pale blue ribbon decorated with the seal of Virginia and printed with the words “1861-65, Grand Rally and Picnic by Rosser-Gibbons Camp of Confederate Veterans, Luray, Va., August 25^th, 1898.” Pin holes are easily discernable in the upper edge. The long edges of the ribbon are beginning to fray.

77x46 (in miscellaneous box 3)

Bookmark

Bookmark embroidered in cross-stitch on card stock, not on fabric, but the card is attached to silk ribbon. The bookmark bears the initials C. E. L. and the number 73 (probably a reference to the year 1873).

77x60.3 (in miscellaneous box 3)

Erie Canal ribbon, ca. 1825

A white ribbon, 5.5 cm wide and 23 cm. long, in the middle of which is a round picture, printed in black, bearing the inscription “Alliance of Neptune and Pan, Union of Erie with the Atlantic.” The picture shows Neptune in a shell with his arm around the shoulders of Pan, who is in a small canoe being paddled by an Indian. In the background can be seen a cherub(?) blowing a seashell and a lighthouse.

The ribbon was purchased at the same time as a letter from Nathan S. Roberts, civil engineer in charge of construction of the canal, and may have belonged to him. Furthermore, Col. 243 contains a watch paper which was cut out of an identical ribbon (acc. no. 76x69.9).

77x110

Manchester pattern book, 1783.

The inscription "Manchester, 2nd October. 1783" is the only identification in this volume which consists of 16 panels each with 27 small swatches of colored, patterned textiles, though three swatches are now missing. Many of these textiles have been identified as corduroys. Each of the swatches has a numbered label affixed to it. The book is bound so that the panels unfold from the center, eventually exposing all 16 sets of swatches at one time.

Identified by Florence Montgomery (Textiles in America, 1650-1870) as "identical to a book at Colonial Williamsburg."

77x199 (in miscellaneous box 3)

Washington Beneficial Society.

Ribbon, ca. 1819

An off-white ribbon, 7 cm. wide by 30 cm. long, issued by the Washington Beneficial Society, which was instituted on April 19 and incorporated on August 3, 1819. The inscription does not give the city or state of incorporation, but it is believed to have been in Philadelphia. In the middle of the ribbon is a picture, with a bust of George Washington at the top. Under him appears an image of a physician attending a sick man, who is lying in a canopied bed; off to one side is another man sitting at a small table covered with a cloth. This may be an image of Washington on his death bed. The picture is printed in black ink.

77x 15 (in miscellaneous box 3)

Ames Manufacturing Company.

Benjamin Franklin statue commemorative ribbon, 1856.

An off-white ribbon, 6 cm. wide by 22 cm. long, issued by the Ames’ Manuf’g Co. at the inauguration (or dedication) of a statue to Benjamin Franklin in Boston on September 17, 1856. The ribbon is decorated with a portrait of Benjamin Franklin, and vignettes showing a printing press, Franklin flying a kite during a thunder storm, Franklin at the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, and Franklin as a peace commissioner in France.

The statue was placed in front of City Hall on School Street. It was erected to commemorate the sesquicentennial of Franklin’s birth. The money was raised by public subscription. The sculptor was Richard Saltonstall Greenough. Bronze panels on the base of the statue depict Franklin as a printer, as an experimenter with electricity, and as a signer of the Declaration of Independence and the Treaty of Paris ending the American Revolution. The Ames Manufacturing Company cast the statue. The employees who attended the dedication ceremony (which was a holiday celebration) wore ribbons such as this one.

78x100

Lace-making instructions, ca. 1885-1900.

This volume consists of a pocket-sized book, into which instructions for making a variety of knitted lace patterns have been both written and pasted, along with small samples of actual lace corresponding to each set of instructions. Many of the sets of instructions are newspaper clippings. As well, there is an example of drawn-thread work and an example of cross stitch. The first three pages contain what appear to be milk production records for four months of 1885. The previous owner has related that the volume came from Virginia.

78x178

Le Gueult & Dulongraix.

Letters, ca. 1800.

This volume contains four letters with wool felt and calico samples, written to the firm Le Gueult & Dulongraix at Vire from the firm Cattres & Martin. The letters involve crediting accounts and filling orders. Samples show the types of fabrics in which the firms were dealing. The felt samples have numbers, possibly for orders, associated with them. The dates used in the letters are from the French Republican calendar. Text in French.

78x221 (in miscellaneous box 3)

A. O. Crane & Co.

Battle of Bunker Hill centennial commemorative ribbon, 1875.

A white ribbon, 7 cm. wide by 16 cm. long, copyrighted by A.O. Crane & Co. of 98 Kingston St., Boston, in 1875, to commemorate the centennial of the Battle of Bunker Hill. On the ribbon is printed 1775, The Battle, 1875, Centennial, a picture of the Bunker Hill Monument, with a note that the cornerstone was laid in 1825, pictures of George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette (although he was not present at the battle), and phrase “They both still live in the heart of every true lover of liberty.” All this is followed by a picture of Washington’s coach, which according to the inscription on the ribbon, was presented to him after his first inauguration as president, and in which Washington and Lafayette rode. At the bottom of the ribbon is the copyright statement and an ad for a heliotype picture of the Battle of Bunker Hill which could be ordered from Crane & Co.

The ribbon has some brown stains on it.

78x246 (in miscellaneous box 3)

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company.

Ribbon, 1828.

A decorative ribbon, 10 cm. wide by 14 cm. long with two pictures printed on it: one of a neoclassical building (which resembles a bank or a government building), and the other picture shows a train crossing a bridge, beneath which is the date July 4, 1828. The train consists of an engine, a coal (or wood) car, a baggage wagon, and a passenger coach. Several figures are depicted riding the train. A sailboat and a steamship are on the river over which the bridge crosses.

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad began construction on July 4, 1828. Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Maryland, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, turned over the first spade of soil. Undoubtedly, the ribbon was issued to commemorate that event. It is not known what building is supposed to be represented.

79x251 (in miscellaneous box 3)

Beneficial Society of Journeymen Tin Plate and Sheet-Iron Workers.

Ribbon, 1832.

A ribbon, 6 cm. wide by 17.5 cm. long, on which is printed the phrase Beneficial Society of Journeymen Tin Plate & Sheet-Iron Workers. A hammer and a mallet are also depicted, and the printer’s name, Johnson, is present. Handwritten on the ribbon is the name John Smack Aimes and the date 1832. Nothing gives a clue as to where this society was located.

80x91 (in miscellaneous box 3)

Croton Aqueduct (N.Y.)

Ribbon, 1842

A ribbon, 8 cm wide by 20 cm. long, printed to commemorate the “Completion of the Croton Aqueduct” in New York on October 14, 1842. A picture shows an Indian talking to an engineer (as evidenced by his holding a surveying instrument); a bald eagle appears between them. In the background are seen a part of the aqueduct, a tower (probably part of the reservoir), and a large fountain. Under the picture is printed a history of the aqueduct, and lists of members of the engineer corps and of the New York Common Council. The ribbon was printed by W. L. Ormsby; the letters were engraved on a machine invented by Ormsby.

80x135.8 (in miscellaneous box 3)

Silk needlepoint bookmark

Ca.1840-1900

A design wrought with silk thread on green card stock, which is in turn mounted on a silk ribbon with fringe. The stitch used is the tent stitch commonly found in needlepoint. The design on the bookmark is of two(?) animals (perhaps a ewe and lamb) under a tree (there are too many legs for one animal, but only one head is visible).

80x251 (flat on shelf)

White goods sample book, 1855-1860.

This book consists of over 2,000 numbered swatches of variously patterned white goods pasted into a very thick volume. Manuscript notes on each page give the name and price of the textiles. A notation on verso of the front, free-end paper reads, "15.9.55, White Book No. 8803, In giving orders please give Book as well as pattern Nos." These swatches only occupy the first half of the volume, as those originally in the second half have been removed. Some documents laid in at front suggest that this volume may have been kept by one Samuel R. Shipley while working for Charles W. Churchman in the dry goods business in Philadelphia, PA and before beginning his own firm in January 1858 (Shipley & Hazard). The second half of the volume has been re-used as a scrapbook to house engravings and other illustrations of buildings in and around London, England, as well as long columns of newspaper descriptions of the sights. A few clippings from a Philadelphia newspaper with similar descriptive commentary are laid in. This scrapbook section runs from the back cover towards the center. The book is bound in leather with extensive hand-tooling on all surfaces.

[see back of folder for indexes to this volume, one index for the illustrations and another for the names of the fabric patterns]

81x48 (in miscellaneous box 2)

Cotton swatch

Plain swatch of cotton pinned to a note stating that is was “woven by the manufacturing machinery from Maryland in the procession at the inauguration of Genl. [William Henry] Harrison, Washington, March 4^th 1841.”

(Trex no. 8545)

81x49 (in miscellaneous box 3)

Carquillat, Françcois.

Woven portrait of George Washington, 1876?

French woven silk, a portrait of George Washington, with leaves and an eagle. Marked Carquillat tex, Allardet del. Woven on a Jacquard loom. Based on portrait by Gilbert Stuart; reported to have been made for Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876.

The textile has been mounted on cloth-covered mat board.

(The Louisiana State Museum has an example of this item.)

(Trex no. 8546)

81x85 (in miscellaneous box 3)

Woodcarvers Association (Cincinnati, Ohio)

Ribbon

Green ribbon with gold-stamped letters reading "Woodcarvers Association of Cincinnati, O."

(Trex no. 8567)

81x299 (in miscellaneous box 3)

African Benevolent Society

Ribbon

Ribbon printed with the words "African Benevolent Society," 1840's. There were organizations with that name in several cities in the United States.

81x461

Jordan, Marsh & Co., 450 to 456 Washington St., Boston, Mass.

Swatch book, 186-.

This book contains 198 small swatches of cloth sold through Jordan, Marsh & Co. The notice facing the first leaf states, "In submitting to your attention the accompanying samples of the very latest Foreign Fabrics in the newest designs and colorings, we would call your attention to the fact that each style is designated by its own number, and the width and price plainly marked." The swatches are grouped, six to a page, in families of similar textile, e.g., "Cashmeres," "Drap d'Alma," and "Brocade." Interestingly and in spite of the claim of the introductory notice, the only color available in this volume is black.

83x140.1 (in miscellaneous Box 3)

Hudson-Fulton Handkerchief

1909

Handkerchief, probably cotton, about 17 ¾” square, with designs printed in black. In the middle is a view of the Statue of Liberty with the skyline of New York in the background. In the corners are pictures of Henry Hudson, his ship the Half-Moon, Robert Fulton, and his steamboat Clermont. These corner vignettes are connected with leaf-like scrolls. In the middle of each side is a shield decorated with stars at the top and stripes beneath. The handkerchief was probably made as a souvenir for the Hudson-Fulton Celebration held September 25 to October 9, 1909, in New York, which commemorated Hudson’s exploration of the area in 1609, and Fulton’s launching of his steamboat Clermont in 1807.

84x055

Chintz samples, 1840.

There are five colorful pieces of chintz, cut for use as fabric samples. Each has a label affixed to the fabric with what might have been its price.

84x88 (in Miscellaneous Box 2)

Silk samples, ca.1816.

A sample of black, blue, and cream plaid silk; a length of maroon ribbon, 6.5 cm. wide, with a brown and cream pattern and picots running down both sides; and two hanks of silk filament that have not been spun into thread. One hank is cream colored, and the other is a pale yellow. Unfortunately, there is no documentation to indicate the origins of any of these items or to verify the date.

85x129

Cloth sample book, 1836.

The book consists of fifty-one pieces of woven and printed cotton fabric, probably available through J.W. Gibb's dry goods store. Patterns are calico in style with shades of brown and tan predominating. Originally a gift from J.W. Gibbs, a Philadelphia dry goods merchant, to Mrs. Catherine Hillegas on August 4, 1836, this volume was later purchased by Parke Edwards for his personal library.

A paper about this volume is filed with the finding aid at this repository.

85x164 (flat on shelf)

“The Poor Slave” broadside printed on fabric, ca.1834.

An abolitionist broadside printed on fabric headed “The Poor Slave: Dedicated to the Friends of Humanity.” Across the top are four pictures: two are seals of abolitionist groups, both of which bear the date 1834. The other two pictures share the caption “Which of these systems of education shall we hand down to posterity?” One picture shows a white man whipping slave children chained together; the other shows a white man teaching African-American children in a school. But most of the broadside is text, including passages from the Bible, a story about the Liberty Bell, and stories of children learning about the evils of slavery. The fabric was printed by the Boston Chemical Printing Company.

85x175 (flat on shelf)

Needlework sample album, 1600-1899?

This album contains 26 individual pieces of needlework samples dating from the 17th to the 19th centuries in a wide variety of styles and fabrics. Most are of English origin, although some are French or Italian.

86x35 (in miscellaneous box 2)

Chair Makers.

Evacuation Day commemorative ribbon, 1830.

A ribbon, almost 7 cm wide by 22 cm. long, apparently printed by chair makers to be worn as part of Evacuation Day festivities in New York City in 1830. The ribbon bears the words “Chair Makers. Evacuation. Nov. 25^th, 1783. La Fayette Discipulus Washingtonis Galliae Insignis Liberator. 27^th, 28^th, 29^th, July, 1830.” In addition the ribbon depicts two chairs and an allegorical picture of a woman (in classical dress and holding a staff on which is placed a liberty cap) freeing a man from his chains; over them appear clouds, an eagle, an American shield, and a French shield. Under them are sprays of flowers and leaves tied with a ribbon.

During the early 19^th century, New York City commemorated the day British troops evacuated the city following the end of the American Revolution, which event took place on November 25, 1783. In 1830, it was decided to add a celebration of the French revolution which had occurred on July 27-29 of that year to the Evacuation Day festivities. As a result of that revolution, Lafayette had been named as the new head of the French National Guard.

86x166

Hautmann, Heinrich. Calculationsbuch.

Book of weaving instructions, ca. 1800-1849.

This book contains instructions for setting up looms to weave 33 different patterns of textiles. Calculations of costs are also included. Small swatches of 33 textiles are pasted into the volume; fourteen larger swatches are laid in. Written in German fraktur script. Both fabric swatches and text are in good condition.

87x47.1-.5 (in miscellaneous box 1)

Ribbons

Five pieces of silk ribbon, including one floral, one red grosgrain with checkerboard border, one black and gold floral, one roman striped, and one plain salmon (plain, but very wide). All date to the 1890's.

87x49 (in miscellaneous box 3)

A “housewife” (a fabric case which could be rolled up) showing samples of fabrics, with silk edging.

87x50 (in miscellaneous box 3)

Doll quilt

Doll quilt showing samples of variously printed cotton.

87x193 (in miscellaneous box 1)

Floral ribbon

Piece of silk ribbon, woven with a pattern of flowers, 33" long, 1890's.

88x91 (in Miscellaneous Box 2)

Card of fabric samples, ca. 1820.

This card consists of twelve small samples of woven fabrics of English origin. The patterns are all floral; some are sculpted. Each sample has a number associated with it that was probably used for ordering the fabric. The word Cassimeres, the name "Henry Lee," and the number "594" are written in ink on the outside of the card. Lee may have been an agent for the firm selling these patterns. A woodcut engraving depicting a boy on an island surrounded by boxes, trees, tools, and an anchor is also present.

88x230.1 (in miscellaneous box 3)

Silk ribbon – “Christmas Greetings”

An ivory silk ribbon with a poem printed on it in purple ink: “I send to you, dear friend today/ A Christmas gift so fair/ That monarchs oft have failed to find/ It ‘mong their jewels rare./ ‘Twas sent to earth long ages since,/ It came from Heaven above,/ A gift the poorest may bestow,/ The Christmas Gift of Love.” The ribbon could have been given as a Christmas present or a Christmas card. The author of the poem is identified by the initials M.E.S. The ribbon is about 8 inches long and 2 3/8 inches wide.

88x230.2-.3 (in miscellaneous box 3)

Bookmarks

Two bookmarks embroidered in cross-stitch on card stock, not on fabric. One design shows a lamb sitting on the ground beneath a cross decorated with a floral wreath; it is attached to a silk ribbon. The other bookmark was not completed and is now damaged. The pattern is stamped onto the card and reads “Christ is Risen.”

89x43 (flat on shelf)

Ribbon sample book, 19th century.

Although anonymous, the creator of this book has been identified as a large French firm of the nineteenth century.

The volume contains hundreds of samples of colorfully decorated silk and ribbons. The original bright colors of these exceptional samples have been well preserved. Though without any text whatsoever, the arrangement suggests that the book was either a sample book to show to prospective customers, or a record of work completed by the manufacturer.

90x29 (flat on shelf)

Lace samples, ca.1830-1870

This volume consists of some 500 variously-sized samples of machine-made lace in a wide variety of patterns. Each sample contains a small paper label on which are written item numbers and prices as well as the printed initials “A.L.L.” The samples may have come from Nottingham, England.

[Similar sample book may be found in the Grossman Collection, Col. 838.]

90x033

Geser, Albert.

Thread sample book, 1862-1863.

Albert Geser's name appears on the inside front cover of this volume with an address in the Swiss canton Saint Gallen. He is presumed to have been a cloth or thread manufacturer as well as the owner of this volume.

The book consists of a large number of thread samples, and a very few fabric swatches, with accompanying notes in German indicating kinds of fabric woven and names of color. The end of the volume contains a price index; a table of weavers' salaries; a list of names (perhaps customers) from London, Manchester, Glasgow, and Liverpool; and a handwritten copy of a note from a Basel newspaper suggesting how to apply for a loan in England. Text in French, German, and English.

93x69 (flat on shelf)

Swatchbook, ca. 1830-1850.

This book contains over 800 numbered cotton fabric swatches produced by a roller printing process from an unidentified mill, probably located in Manchester, England. A wide array of colors and patterns are represented, including calico flower prints in pinks, blues, and yellows; stripes of stylized flowers and leaves; geometric figures; and Rococo designs.

See under Index tab in copy of finding aid at this repository for additional comments about this volume.

93x135

Tatting sample book, ca. 1850-1900

This book consists of 34 samples of tatting, representing examples of different stitches. The hand-done lace has been dyed in a variety of pastel colors.

93x136

Ribbon sample book, possibly of French origin, 18--?

This book consists of ten panels, all with samples of ribbon woven in a brocade design. Each panel has four sets of designs, with three samples of varying colors in each set. Colors include red, blue, lavender, gold, and light blue. Geometric leaves and flowers predominate.

94x10 (flat on shelf, in own box)

Cocheco Manufacturing Company, New Hampshire.

Fabric samples, ca. 1880-1890.

The Cocheco Manufacturing Company produced printed textiles in Dover, New Hampshire. The company evolved from the Dover Cotton Factory, which was started in 1812. During the 1820s, the company became one of the first to mass-produce printed cottons. Throughout the century, Cocheco expanded its printing operation. In 1909, Cocheco became part of the Pacific Mills of Lawrence, Massachusetts. Printing operations moved to Lawrence, but cotton fabrics were manufactured at the Dover plant until the mill was closed in the 1940s. Cocheco produced both dress and furnishing prints as well as novelty items. Beginning in the 1840s, Lawrence & Co. acted as the selling agent for Cocheco. In 1843, Lawrence assumed agency for Cocheco, including its print works. The firm helped Cocheco overcome financial losses, exerted influence over the mill's product line, and served as quality control inspector. Lawrence provided Cocheco with paper sheets and cardboard folders to which the mill attached fabric samples. These were used by salesmen of Lawrence. Lawrence served in the aforementioned capacity until 1929, when it was liquidated.

The volume consists of four folders featuring 22 samples from the Cocheco Manufacturing Co. and sold by Lawrence & Co. Three contain samples of printed cottons; the fourth is larger and has samples of extra-heavy twilled creton in a pattern named "Vouchers." The three smaller cardboard sheets include an engraving of the print works and surrounding buildings in Dover by E.A. Fowle. Information concerning the amount of fabric produced and the date shipped is written in pencil on these three. Patterns are identified as Waggish, Avidity, and Audubon. All four patterns are represented in three to seven different color schemes. Geometric and floral motifs predominate.

Publications: Affleck, Diane L. Fagan. Just New from the Mills: Printed Cottons in America. North Andover, MA: Museum of American Textile History, 1987.

Additional records of the Cocheco Manufacturing Co. can be found at the Museum of American Textile History, North Andover, MA.

94x69

Mercer, John.

Letter, 1844, with samples

This letter was written by Mercer to his son about the kind of fabric that customers were buying in London in the autumn of 1844. Twelve fabric samples are affixed to the stationery. Mercer critiqued the appearance of the swatches, writing about unnecessary blotches and spotting. He also included brief words about his health, the tiresomeness of London, and his own notoriety.

94x113 (in Miscellaneous Box 3)

Samples of Londrins Seconde de la Gravette

One sheet containing twelve samples of brightly colored wool felt.

94x114 (in Miscellaneous Box 2)

Letter to Citizen Vitte from Monsieur Siguiere, 1801

The letter was written to Citizen Vitte at Arles, France, from M. Siguiere of Nimes, France, to convey information about the ordering and prices of textiles. Eighteen samples of velour, striped twill, cashmere, and Siberian Kalmuck felt are included.

95x28 (in its own box)

National Tailoring Co.

Fabric samples, 1936

Consists of 44 wool fabric samples available from the National Tailoring Co. for men's suits in the Fall and Winter of 1936. Fabrics were from a number of makers including the American Woolen Co., Uxbridge Mills, Dunn Worsted Mills, and Cleveland Mills. Each of the samples is numbered and mounted on a cardboard backing with information describing the nature of the fabric and its class.

95x93 (in miscellaneous box 3)

Botany Worsted Mills, Passaic, N.J.

Fabric samples, [not after 1924]

This item is an accordion-type folder featuring 64 fabric samples of worsted wool from the Botany Worsted Company of Passaic, NJ. Each sample is in a different, numbered, solid shade of color.

(Botany Worsted Mills of Passaic, NJ was incorporated in May 1889. It was organized by foreign investors, mainly Kammgarn Spinnerei Stoehr & Company of Leipzig, Germany as a way to avoid textile tariffs. From 1919 until 1923, the company was operated by the U.S. government Office of the Alien Property Custodian. In 1924, it became one of several companies owned by Botany Consiolodated Mills, Inc. Later, its name was changed to Botany Mills, under which it operated until at least 1945.)

97x23.17 (in miscellaneous box 3)

Ribbon honoring Frances Cleveland, ca.1886.

A ribbon, 6.5 cm. wide and 14 cm. long (including fringe), woven with a black and white portrait of Frances F. Cleveland. The ribbon is also decorated with purple violets. Frances Folsom married President Grover Cleveland in the White House on June 2, 1886, when she was not quite 22 years old. Because of her youth, she became very popular, and her image was widely used in advertising. Nothing about the ribbon suggests the purpose for which it was created.

97x145

Garner & Co.

Swatch book, 1896-1897

A record book containing swatches of fabrics, with notes about dyes, washing, starching, weights, measurements, finishings, and other writings on the production of a variety of cotton fabrics. These writings are dated. The fabrics include bandana and handkerchief prints, shirting, moire skirting, sateens, drills, taffeta silk finish, sheetings, ducks, percales, etc. On pages 14 and 15 are patterns for portraits of William McKinley and Garret A. Hobart, the Republican Party nominees for president and vice-president in 1896. At the beginning of the volume are prints for bandanas and what are probably prints for handkerchiefs, several featuring images of children. One set of prints illustrates the story of "Who Killed Cock Robin." Other fabrics show a variety of prints, stripes, plaids, and solids. Printed labels appear with some of the swatches, and many bear the name Garner & Co., New York, suggesting that the cloth was manufactured for the firm to sell in its shop.

[note: this was formerly cataloged as Doc. 1097]

99x87

Silk swatch book and weaving instructions, from France, 1835-1836

A notebook from the Department de Rhône, France, dated 1835-1836, containing swatches of silk fabrics, design drawings, and weaving instructions. This manuscript appears to have been kept by someone who made fabric for men’s vests. Among other things, the notebook includes descriptions of the different colors and textiles to be used for vests; contains a price list of different weights of fiber used to produce cloth; indicates colors and hues for Paris customers; summarizes merchandise in the writer’s store as of September 1835; includes the times to see American and Parisians to show them the new fabrics; and mentions a payment from a government agency for products. Most of the swatches are dark colors; many have floral patterns.

00x51 (flat on shelf)

Lace samples book

18^th-20^th centuries.

Notebook containing samples of laces, almost all of which are labeled as being from the Fayen collection. The kinds of lace represented are Slav or Arabian lace, Mechlin, lacis, Irish point crochet, Binche, Valenciennes, rose point, Devonia, net brodé (or hollie point), tatting, knitted, Saxony guipure (also called Maltese), Chantilly, and appliqué or Youghal lace. A few machine made laces are included for comparison purposes. Many of the laces are from the 18^th and 19^th centuries, but some are from the early 20^th. The notebook also contains photos and photocopies of samples of other kinds of laces.

01x58.2 (flat on shelf)

Ladies’ linen cambric handkerchiefs box

Late 19^th century.

A box which once held a half dozen ladies’ linen cambric handkerchiefs, style no. 111, of superior quality. The box has been decorated with a picture of a vase of flowers, decorative paper, and two strips of woven ribbon, with a round design on it and picot edges. No names are associated with this item.

04x21 (flat on shelf)

Brown, Ella C. Jenkins, b.ca.1856.

Geraldine’s scrapbook of dresses, 1889-1904.

Biographical note: Geraldine Fay Brown was the daughter of Ella C. Jenkins and J. Merrill Brown. Geraldine was born August 11, 1887, in Newton, Massachusetts. Her father was an architect. Geraldine had an older brother named Clarence, who also became an architect. Geraldine may have gone to high school in New York City.

Description of scrapbook: A scrapbook with fabric swatches, pictures of dresses, notes about the dresses, and a photo of Geraldine Brown, kept by her mother in Massachusetts, 1889-1904. The items are arranged in chronological order, so one can see a progression in changes in styles. Typically, each entry includes swatches of fabric and trim, a picture of the dress made from the fabric, the date the dress was made, special notes about the dress (details about the design or a note about when a dress was first worn), and the price of the fabric per yard, or a note about from whom the fabric was received. Some dresses were made of fabrics reused from other dresses. Most of the pictures are printed, perhaps taken from pattern envelopes. A few of the dress pictures have changes indicated in pencil, such as a change in sleeve style; one picture is hand drawn. Wool, silk, velvet, cotton, lace, braid, and ribbon are found among the swatches.

The earliest swatches are for the first colored dresses Geraldine wore, made when she was two years old. No pictures accompany these swatches, but one dress had a square neck, one a low neck, and one was a Mother Hubbard style. Her first woolen dress was made when she was three. In November 1890, Aunt Harriet helped make the dress that was worn on Geraldine’s first trip to Boston. The scrapbook includes a tintype of Geraldine taken at Point of Pines when she was four years old. On the opposite page is a swatch of the fabric for the dress worn in the photo. She received her first silk dress when she was four; it was worn to Philip Bird’s party in November 1891 and later to a G.A.R. fair in February 1892. Other dresses were noted as being worn to dancing school, parties, a concert, an operetta, to make visits, or to attend graduation ceremonies. One set of swatches is labeled “made by the New York girls and sent June 20, 1902. Worn at her graduation from the Horace Mann Grammar School, June 25.” Another dress was sent to New York for Geraldine’s sixteenth birthday in August 1903. At the front of the scrapbook are a sample of pre-1850 silk from Grandmother Jenkins, a swatch from Mother Brown dated 1888, and a piece of ca.l850 cotton from Grandmother Brown.

A class paper about this scrapbook is filed with this finding aid. See also Laura Walikainen, The Three Architectures of “Geraldine’s Scrapbook of Dresses” (University of Delaware thesis).

04x150

The House Carpenters’ Benevolent Society of the Village of Brooklyn.

Ribbon, ca. 1833.

A silk ribbon commemorating the House Carpenters’ Benevolent Society of the Village of Brooklyn, New York, incorporated in 1833. The name of the organization is printed on the ribbon, along with a circular vignette depicting a mother with her two sons, one of whom plays with wood and carpentry tools. In the background, a house is being built.

The society was authorized by an act of the New York legislature on April 4, 1833. The act names as members Newell Bond, Burdett Stryker, John Baldwin, Henry Moon, Nicholas B. Rhodes, and James Dezendorf. The purpose of the society was twofold: to provide aid to unfortunate members of the society and their families, and “to diffuse knowledge and information … throughout their profession.” The ribbon has a decorative selvage, was perhaps originally white or ecru, and is printed in black.

[For comparison, see Col. 301, acc. 07x34, certificate of membership in the New York Benevolent Society of Journeymen Cabinet Makers.]

06x51 (flat on shelf)

Eagen, Mary Helen.

Graded sewing course, ca.1900.

A workbook kept by Mary Helen Eagen for a manual training course, probably during her studies at a teacher’s training school, possibly in New York City. The lessons are for grades 1A-6B. Each section begins with a statement of the course of study and a syllabus for the class. Most lessons include samples. Grade 1A begins with simple knotting of cords and introduces rattan and raffia. Simple items are made by both girls and boys with these items. Grade 1B introduces more complicated knot work. Grades 2A and 2B build on these skills and introduce needle and thread, but it is not clear if boys are to be participants in the sewing drills, although basketball nets and sailor knots are among the items to be made. Each subsequent grade adds to sewing skills, including basting, seaming, making button holes and sewing on buttons, darning, and making an apron. A sample apron is included in the volume. The lessons include notes on the history of weaving and looms, different kinds of scissors, and other background material. By grade 6, students were learning to draft patterns, which utilized mathematical skills, and estimate amounts of fabric required. Two exercises on pieces of fabric printed with Steiger’s Elementary Sewing Design, copyright 1897 are laid into the volume. There are blank pages where additional samples could be placed. Several small slips of paper are laid into the volume; these contain critiques of Miss Eagen’s work.

06x141 (flat on shelf)

Bastian, F. (Mrs.)

Crochet and tatting sample book, ca.1890-ca.1920.

A volume containing over one hundred samples of crochet and tatted lace, most mounted onto pages, but a few just laid into the book. Several samples include rick-rack or ribbon as part of the design. Most samples would have been suitable for edging or insertion lace, but some samples could have been made into doilies or mats, and one piece is a small basket. Also laid into the volume are pictures of designs available from DMC, J. & P. Coats, and Bucilla, companies which made crochet and tatting thread.

Nothing is known about Mrs. Bastian.

07x5 (flat on shelf)

Henry Remsen, Jr., and Company

Pattern book [of textiles], 1767.

Swatch book inscribed inside front cover: Henry Remsen Junr. & Company, their pattern book, received from Messrs. Benjamin & John Bower, merchts. in Manchester, New York, October 20th, 1767. The book contains 41 pages of fabric swatches, containing from one to twenty examples of textile fabrics per page. Some additional pages of swatches have been torn out. Each swatch has an order or sample number. The first examples are of fustian (cotton and linen blend), mostly checks, simple plaids, stripes, and one basket-weave sample. Some of the striped fabrics may contain silk or woolen threads. As well, the book contains examples of moleskin, cotton velvets (called Manchester velvets), cotton corduroys, and dimities woven in various patterns. A few of the fabrics are labeled barragon, rib, or dyed jeans. There are no prices. Henry Rutgers Remsen wrote his name on one page. An inscription appears on the inside back cover: from Mary L. Ogden to Cornelia(?) [illegible].

Henry Remsen, Jr., was one of the largest importers of dry goods and prints in New York City, with his store located in Hanover Square. He was the son of Hendrick (1708-1771) and Catalina Remsen and was born on or about April 5, 1736. In 1761, he married Cornelia Dickenson. They had at least two sons, Joris and Henry (also known as Henry, Jr., lived 1762-1843). Remsen was elected a member of the New York Chamber of Commerce on August 2, 1768. He died on March 13, 1792. One of Remsen’s grandsons was Henry Rutgers Remsen (1809-1874), a noted New York City attorney. Nothing is known about Benjamin and John Bower of Manchester, England.

Note: The Metropolitan Museum of Art has another Remsen volume, dated 1769. It also holds a volume related to the Bowers.

07x81 (in Miscellaneous Box 2)

Mallatrat, Frederick.

Letter to Robert Thorpe, with samples, 1816.

A letter from Frederick Mallatrat, York, to Robert Thorpe, Alnwick, Northumberland, June 11, 1816, enclosing 30 samples of wool and cotton textile fabrics. Mallatrat offered Thorpe good terms on any order placed because of the current depressed conditions in the market.

Frederick Mallatrat was listed as a woolen draper and tailor in the 1823 York, England, directory, with his shop located at 45 Coney Street.

07x147 (in Miscellaneous Box 2)

Alex. P. Mende & Co. (New York)

Dyed thread sample book, 1896.

A sample card of dyed threads, showing the various shades available from different strengths of the dyes and different ways of dyeing. The dyes only came in yellow, blue, and red, but could also be mixed to form other colors. The dyes were for use on cotton, union, linen, jute, silk, and paper.

Alex. P. Mende & Co. was located at 536-540 West 14^th Street, North River, New York City. It manufactured fast colors, black dyes, and chemicals for dyeing, direct printing, and finishing of cotton, wool, unions, jute, and flax.

08x50 (flat on shelf)

Oak Hall (Firm)

Custom samples, 1890.

A book containing approximately 110 samples of fabric, mostly wools, intended to be used for men’s, youth’s, and boy’s ulsters, overcoats, suits, other coats, pants, and vests. The book was originally issued with fabric samples for spring and summer 1890, although the cover of the volume is labeled as samples for fall and winter 1890. Inside, a letter dated June 28, 1890, instructed the owner to remove certain samples (which was done) and stated that samples for fall and winter were to be sent later and could be added to the book. A price list for the clothing is glued inside the back cover. Additional instructions on how to place orders are inside the front and back covers, with the admonition that large spring-bottom pants were considered to be in poor taste. Oak Hall was also prepared to furnish sports clothing, G.A.R. goods, and military and firemen’s uniforms. This particular copy of the sample book includes a letter from Wile, Brickner & Co. of Rochester, N.Y., to a customer in New Hampshire.

G.W. Simmons & Co. of Boston ran a clothing store called Oak Hall. This particular sample book was used by Wile, Brickner & Co. of Rochester, N.Y., to solicit business from Jas. W. Garvin of Wakefield, N.H.

08x76 (in miscellaneous box 3; see also 71 x 62)

Woven portrait of J. M. Jacquard, ca.1839?.

A portrait woven out of black and grey silk, captioned “J.M. Jacquard, né a Lyon le 7 Juillet 1752, mort le 7 Aout 1834.” Two captions appear below the portrait, but they are difficult to read. One appears to read Fque [fabrique?] de Passetat F.C. St.(?) Etienne, and the other Balangard Romier dld. The portrait is very similar to that found in acc. 71x62, although this one has less detail.

08x122 (flat on shelf)

Catering Collection, Potters Diary, 1827-1841, No. 5 [letter book with textile samples], 1827-1841.

Bound volume of extracts of letters, accompanied by about 1200 textile samples, from British firms operating in Brazil. These letters deal with the importation of textiles into Brazil. The firms in Brazil write to an unknown person or firm in England reporting on what textiles sell and at what price, and they enclose samples of the English printed cotton fabrics which are most desired for the Brazilian market. They also report which textiles do not sell, whether because of price or color, or because of downturns in the local economy. Sometimes textiles were mildewed when they arrived in Brazil, and thus could not be sold. The firms in Brazil are Townley & Jackson in Bahia, James Cockshott & Co. in Pernambuco, Stewart Brothers in Pernambuco and Bahia, Bradshaw Wanklyn & Sons in Rio de Janiero, and Harrison Latham Co. in Bahia.

Several Potters were involved in the textile trade in Manchester, and the letters may have been sent to them.

Color photocopy is available, but the images do not capture the entire page. Nevertheless, researchers are requested to look at the copy first.

Information from a researcher:

In the letterbook, measurements for calculating duty are in covados [Cov^s]. G. D. Urquhart, in his 1872 book Dues and Charges on Shipping in Foreign Ports: a manual of reference for shipowners, shipbrokers & shipmasters (2^nd edition, p.711) gives length measurements of Brazil as the covado and the vara. One covado = 26.24 inches; 4 covados = 3 yards. The discrepancy between 26.24 inches and ¾ yard is not explained. William Gordon in his 1765 book The Universal Account and Complete Merchant ( 2^nd edition, p.63) explains Surat measures have a greater and lesser covid. Most piece goods are sold by the lesser covid of 27 inches. Indeed, the figure of 27 inches matches the quantities found in the letterbook: a piece of printed calico of 28 yards would equal 37¹/₃ covados; 50 pieces would contain 1866²/₃ covados (rounded down as 1866 in the letterbook).

A researcher has identified the binding as being of a later date than the pages. “Catering collection” is a term used to refer to a collection of samples of competitor’s designs and was applied to this volume later in the 19^th century. Also written on the spine is the number 130 (this number is flaking off.) This number was apparently assigned to the volume when it was in the collection of the Levenshulme Engraving Works.

Related material: Parks, Sarah. Britain, Brazil, and the Trade in Printed Cottons, 1827-1841. (Thesis, University of Delaware, 2010)

08x150.2 (flat on shelf)

Box with embroidery designs inside.

Late 19^th century

A box with a lid which has been decorated with a Christmas card with a picture of fruit. Inside the box is a design for the letter B which could be worked in cross stitch or Berlin work. Also in the box are two pieces worked on perforated cardboard: a cross in two shades of blue, and a basket of flowers.

08x150.3a-g (in Miscellaneous box 1)

Windows with curtains.

Ca.1900-1925.

A collection of seven curtained windows made from calling cards, probably intended for use in a collage album or possibly a doll house. The curtains are made from machine-woven lace and ribbon and are mounted on the backs of invitations and at home cards. Two curtains have pink ribbon trim, four have turquoise green ribbon trim, and one has no ribbon trim. The cards are for addresses in the Philadelphia area, New York City, Baltimore, and Vermont. One card is from the Republican Women of Pennsylvania.

11x73

Harris, Clarissa Van Camp, 1900-1963.

Embroidery silks holder.

Ca. 1920

A narrow volume designed to hold embroidery thread. It has suede covers; the front cover is decorated with a pine cone (formed by cutting out part of the cover and attaching a piece of orange fabric underneath), pine needles (painted on), and the words Embroidery Silks (stamped, or perhaps burned, onto the suede), with front and back covers tied together. Stamped on the back cover: Del. Water Gap Pa. The individual pages, of different colored paper, are folded to make sections for holding different colored threads. Skeins of thread are laid into the volume and a few of the skeins still have labels attached.

Condition: many of the pages are starting to part along the fold lines. Great care must be used if attempting to open these pages. The volume is overstuffed and must be held gently to avoid stress on the spine.

12x23 – oversize, in map case 3, drawer 8

La Lena, Constance.

“A Sampler of Early American Fabrics”

Grand Junction, Colo.: Sunflower Studio, 1978.

One broadside with descriptions and 24 attached samples of a variety of different kinds of fabrics woven by Constance La Lena and available from the Sunflower Studio. Included are towcloth, linen, fustian, linsey-woolsey, kersey, ticking, frieze, drill, dimity, baize, serge, corded cotton, shalloon, janes, threaded druggett, calico, dowlas, and others. These fabrics were the type “imported or woven by Early Americans for their own use.” The separate price list is missing.

Constance La Lena was a weaver and dyer living in Colorado. She has written several books about weaving.

12x129.1 (in miscellaneous box 1)

Bookmark

Circa 1850-1900

Bookmark, made from white silk ribbon with green border. Attached to the ribbon is a piece of perforated paper on which the phrase “Remember Me” has been rendered in cross stitch.

12x129.2a-b (in miscellaneous box 1)

Fabric swatches.

Circa 1887

Two silk fabric swatches found in a Bardwell Anderson & Co. furniture trade catalog of 1887. One swatch, a black and grey pattern with stripes, is from N.H. Skinner & Co. of Taunton, Mass. The other swatch, a damask patterned with leaves, is from R.H. White & Co. of Boston. Both swatches include a tag giving the width and price per yard of the fabrics.

12x129.3 (in miscellaneous box 1)

United Steam Fire Engine Co., No. 3 (Frederick, Md.)

Ribbon.

Circa 1878-1900.

Ribbon, printed with the words United S.F.E. Co., No. 3, Frederick, Md. The ribbon is white silk with red printing, and has gold tassels and braid across the bottom.

The United Steam Fire Engine Company was formed in 1845, first called the Mechanics Hose Company, and shortly thereafter the United Hose Company. The fire company, mostly staffed by volunteers, is still in existence.

12x129.4a-b (in miscellaneous box 1)

Wheeler & Wilson Manufacturing Company.

Embroidered butterflies.

Circa 1870-1905.

Wheeler & Wilson was a sewing machine manufacturer.

Two embroidered butterflies, made from silver, copper, and gold metallic threads on blue fabric, with paper backing, evidently made as advertisements for the Wheeler and Wilson Company. Embroidered above one butterfly are the names Wheeler and Wilson; an inscription is stamped on the other; it is difficult to read, but the following has been discerned: “This has been done on the new [name of model, difficult to read, perhaps High Aria] Wheeler and Wilson with Automatic Tension.”

12x129.5 (in miscellaneous box 1)

A.G.

Textile samples.

19^th century.

Four brown striped textile samples, numbers 463, 451, 454, 448, on 1 sheet of paper. “Asst A.G.” is written at the top.

14x11 (in miscellaneous box 4)

F.F. Perret Johannot & Comp.

Manuscripts about silk and satin trade in Lyon, France,

1775-1782

A group of manuscripts about the silk and satin trade, mostly from Lyon, France, 1775- 1782, and undated. Small fabric samples are attached to the documents, although a number of the samples are now detached. Many of the samples are solid colors, but there are also woven stripes and floral designs. Several letters mention the firms F.F. Perret Johannot & Comp. and Johannot & Vallard [or Pallard]. Most of the documents are in French, with one or two in German.

14x23

Wilkinson Upholstery Shop (York, Pa.)

Upholstery fabrics.

1650-1940, bulk 1890-1940.

A collection of old upholstery fabrics and leather collected by Ralph E. Dermota at the Wilkinson Upholstery Shop. These were removed from seating furniture which had been brought to the shop for repairs or re-upholstering. Some of the pieces are dated, most from 1890-1940, but one piece is dated 1650, a couple are dated from the 18^th century, and others are from the 19^th century. One group of fabrics which was stitched together was noted as being “150 years of fabric choice,” taken from the arm of one piece of furniture. Another group of fabrics was noted as having been removed from an Empire sofa. A third group of fabrics was noted as being for the Governor’s Mansion, but these are not dated. As well as the fabric, there are a few pieces of leather, trim, and upholstery tacks and nails still attached to fabric.

The pieces were stapled onto paper and placed in three-ring binders. The binders were arbitrarily assigned volume numbers (1, 2, 3), the pages given numbers, and then the fabrics were removed and placed into folders. The little identifying information which was given, such as date, was transferred to the new folders. One of the binders originally held “Decorative Vinyls” distributed by John K. Burch Company, and another binder had originally held Naugahyde samples from J.J. Peiger Co.

The Wilkinson Upholstery Shop is in York, Pennsylvania. Nothing is known about its history. It did work for the antiques dealer Joe Kindig III.

Please use caution when handling as most fabrics are brittle.

15x56 (in miscellaneous Box 4)

Sample sheet of black and white laces.

19^th century.

Sample sheet no. [1?]7395 containing 4 samples of black and white lace, probably from a French factory. Although 4 samples, in fact there are only 2 patterns, with variations in color. The predominate color in all samples is black. The laces are mounted on a stiff piece of cloth. Attached at the top is a printed form with the sample sheet number written in, and also Nouv. [printed] 21, 16910. Because of the heavy weight of the lace, these might have been intended for upholstery use.

16x19 (in miscellaneous Box 1)

Knights Templar (Masonic Order). Morton Commandery, No. 4 (New York, N.Y.)

Ribbon, 1874, September 1.

White ribbon printed with an emblem of the Knights Templar and the words Morton Commandery, No. 4, K.T., September 1st, 1874. No information was found to explain this ribbon. The Morton Commandery participated in a Grand Templar Field Day at Prospect Park in Brooklyn on Sept. 28, 1874, but nothing was found to explain the significance of Sept. 1.

The Morton Commandery of the Knights Templar was established by warrant in August 1823. It was named after Jacob Morton, a Grand Master of the Knights Templar in the 18^th century. The first officers were William F. Piatt (Grand Commander), Richard Pennell (Generalissimo), and Jared L. Moore (Captain General).

Jacob Morton was involved in New York City government and was a major general in the New York militia during the War of 1812. He graduated from Princeton and trained as a lawyer but served in municipal offices. He was married to Catherine Ludlow.

16x56.1 (in miscellaneous box 3)

Differentes phases de la fabrication du “point d’Alençon”

France?, first half of 20^th century?

Six steps in the production of Alençon lace, or point d’Alençon. On a green sheet of stiff paper, the steps shown begin with a pin pricking of the design, the design outlined with thread, and then various stages in filling in the design with several kinds of needle work. The green paper lies on top of a length of linen, to which the lace designs are adhered with thread, and both these are tacked to a piece of cardboard.

Lace and lace making.

Needlepoint lace.

16x56.2-.3

Embroidery silks holders.

New York, circa 1891-circa 1905.

Two paperback volumes repurposed for use as holders for silk embroidery threads. The books are an issue of Harper’s New Monthly Magazine from March 1901 (.3) and a copy of 330 Exercises for Sight-Singing Classes, by W. W. Gilchrist and published in 1891 (.2). Nothing indicates who collected these threads, although the monogram RHK (with K being a larger letter in the middle) is penciled on the front cover of the magazine. The threads were packaged for sale by various companies, including M. Heminway & Sons, the Brainerd & Armstrong Co., the New London Wash Silk Co., and Belding Bros. & Co. One hank of thread has a price tag from B. Altman & Co.

Also laid into the 330 Exercises were the words to two lullabies by Eugene Field written on a sheet of paper and a length of cross stitch embroidery, using waste cloth on top of silk or rayon fabric. Also laid into Harper’s Magazine was a round embroidered patch.

2017x85.1

Dye recipes book, circa 1840-1891.

(ATHM 0022.18)

Notebook from an unidentified compiler. Includes recipes for dyes and yarn samples of dyed wool and cotton, with one cloth sample. The volume also includes some medicinal recipes and notes about the compiler moving from a village into someone's house in 1873; buying a house in 1884, and purchasing insurance. Some other odds and ends are notes are also found, including a list of C.F. Ovris' flies. This is probably a reference to Charles F. Orvis of Manchester, Vermont, who began selling fishing equipment in 1856.

2017x85.2

Collins, William H. (William Henry), 1857-1947.

Dye recipes book, 1880-1883.

(ATHM 0022.43)

Notebook of dyer's recipes, mostly for cottons; two cotton cloth samples.

2017x85.3

Dye recipes book, 1828.

(ATHM 0022.51)

Dye receipts from an unidentified dyer. Includes cloth samples (swatches) of printed cottons, especially floral prints, but also some stripes, checks, and spots. Also includes some medicinal and culinary recipes. The compiler made a note about receiving something for naturalization and about people boarding with him or her.

2017x85.4a-c

Whitaker, John, circa 1800-

Dye recipes book, 1843-1848.

(ATHM 0022.52)

A memorandum book, with very few dye recipes, but including a number of silk samples (swatches). Other notes record food purchases, information about the painter John Singleton Copley, and notes about Lord Ashburton. Laid into the volume were a printed quarterly ticket from the Methodist Episcopal Church, dated Oct. 5, 1845, Samuel Kelley, minister, naming John Whitaker as a member; and a receipt for a payment made by Whitaker, signed for D.C. Rollins in Great Falls, 1848.

2017x85.5

Slight, Walter (Walter Arnold), 1904-1970.

Dye recipes book, 1924.

(ATHM 0022.53.1)

A collection of dye recipes, with thread samples from vat dyeing processes.

2017x85.6a-c

Dye recipes, circa 1901?

(ATHM 0022.124)

Recipes for dyeing wool from an unidentified compiler. One recipe is headed: Process used for dyeing napthol [sic] A.S. The other item has no title. Presumably both these items were found in the envelope which accompanies them.

2017x85.7a-f

Hall, John, textile worker.

Dyer's and finisher's recipes, with weaver's pattern for sateen, circa 1897.

(ATHM 0022.125)

Three sheets have dye recipes for various colors. One sheet has a receipt for how to see if a cloth is clean and free from alkali; this sheet is signed John Hall. A fifth sheet has a drawing of what might be some sort of textile machine. The last sheet has drafts for sateen weaves. On the back of this sheet is written: removed from Possett's Technology of Textile Design, 1897, copy C. Presumably all these items were found in that book.

2017x85.8

Dye recipe, calling for Ballston water, 18—

(ATHM 0022.196.8)

Recipe from an unidentified person; at head: Ballston water, 25 oz[?] about 1/5 of a gal. It is not really clear what the recipe is for; ingredients include carbonic acid, some kind of soda, two kinds of lime, magnesia, and iron.

2017x85.9a-h

Dye recipes for cottons and woolens, circa 1830-1850.

(ATHM 0022.196.14)

Recipes from unidentified compilers. One sheet is endorsed "Berlin Crimson and Chrome Green"; another is headed Navy Blue; a third sheet has recipes for several colors, most of which are labeled as fast color on cotton. A sheet head page 2 and another headed page 9 may belong together; recipes for various colors are found. A sixth sheet has the recipe for "Peter Wright's fast black on cotton for 100 lbs." It is possible that the two cream-colored sheets also belong together. Various colors are found on these sheets.

2017x85.10

Schmidt, Charles, textile worker.

Dye recipes book, 1832-1864.

(ATHM 0022.226)

Contains dye recipes and wool samples (swatches). Also contains notes (including notes about places he worked), drafts of letters, and accounts in pencil and ink in front and back of book (English and German). References to Broadbrook, Globe Mill, etc.

In German and English.

Charles Schmidt was originally from Sommerfeld, Germany; he was active in dyeing and wool sorting in New England and New York, and possibly lived in Webster, Massachusetts for a time. Nothing else is known about him.

2017x85.11

Dye recipes book, circa 1880.

(ATHM 0022.240)

Notebook from an unidentified compiler. Includes recipes with cloth samples (swatches), a number of which are stripe patterns. Includes recipes for aniline red and aniline purple.

2017x85.12

Peel, Thomas, textile worker.

Dye recipes book, circa 1920.

(ATHM 0022.287)

Dye recipes, with some notes about manufacturers of textile machinery.

The donor of this volume indicated that it was kept by Thomas Peel, an employee of Pacific Mills, a cotton manufacturer in Lawrence, Massachusetts, but nothing else is known about him.

2017x85.13a-b

Taylor, Peter, textile worker.

Dye recipes books, 1837-1842.

(ATHM 0022.307.1-.2)

Taylor's books date from 1837 and 1842 and include dye recipes, notes, and cloth samples (swatches). In the back of the 1837 volume is the beginning of an attendance record for Coles School (one of the pupils was Edith Taylor).

2017x85.14a-z

Herrick, Rufus Frost, 1860-1929 or 1930.

Dye recipes books, tests of light fastness, and other papers, 1882-1889.

(ATHM 0022.307.3-.5)

Two notebooks with dye recipes and swatches of cotton textiles showing results of tests of light fastness. Included with the notebooks are a number of loose recipes (some in French), two bleached fabric samples, an advertisement for Sykes & Street (dealer in dyestuffs and chemicals), a letter introducing Rufus Herrick’s uncle the artist Henry Walker Herrick, and some pages folded together with more fabric samples.

Rufus Frost Herrick was a chemist at the Merrimack Manufacturing Company, a cotton manufacturer in Lowell, Massachusetts, when he kept these notebooks. Born in 1860, he was the son of Jane R. Hubbard and Moses August Herrick (1822-1891). He married Carrie B. Burley and they had one son. As mentioned in one of the letters, one of his father’s brothers was the watercolor artist Henry Walker Herrick (1824-1906).

2017x85.15

McLauthlin, George Vincent, approximately 1868-1892.

Dye recipes book, ca. 1890.

(ATHM 0022.356)

Includes dye recipes, notes on dyeing, and cloth samples (swatches).

George Vincent McLauthlin, 1868-1892, class of 1888, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, worked for two years for the Silver Springs Dyeing and Bleaching Co. in Providence, Rhode Island, then returned to MIT as assistant to William Sedgwick in the Department of Biology. In 1892 he was appointed instructor in biology. He was the son of Martin Parris McLauthlin.

Another dye notebook kept by McLauthlin is held by the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Library. His student notes are at MIT.

2017x85.16

Gerock, J. F.

Dye recipes book, circa 1820-1850.

(ATHM 0022.378.1)

Book contains 254 recipes for cotton, silk and wool, and also an index and songs and poetry by journeyman dyer Georg Michael Bierman of Adelsheim, Germany.

J. F. Gerock was a dyer in Heilbronn, Germany.

2017x85.17

Setzetter, G.

Dye recipes book, circa 1800-1840?

(ATHM 0022.378.2)

Book contains 99 recipes, primarily for silk, some for cotton. Also includes a glossary of German and equivalent English terms for dyes, index, and three textile swatches.

Nothing is known about G. Setzetter.

In German.

Index in back of volume.

Bookplate of Library of Jacob Ihle covers part of Setzetter’s inscription.

2017x85.18

Dye recipes book, circa 1820-1840?

(ATHM 0022.378.3)

Notebook contains 261 recipes for dyes for wool. It also has some yarn and cloth samples, an index, and a glossary.

The compiler is unknown.

In German.

Index in back of volume.

2017x85.19

Woolfenden, Samuel.

Dye notebooks, 1896-1897

(ATHM 0022.451.1-.2)

Includes dye recipes, cloth samples (swatches),, many of which are knitted cloth, and yarn samples. The earlier volume includes printed and hand-written dye recipes. Most, if not all, of the printed dye recipes (which accompanying samples) are from the Textile Colorist. The second volume contains only hand-written recipes. Woolfenden's name is not written in this volume.

Samuel Woolfenden was listed as a dyer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, city directories of the mid 1890's. Listed in the 1880 census was Samuel Woolfenden, age 17, a weaver, and it is possible this was the same person, but nothing definite connects these two people.

2017x85.20

Olin, Abram Baldwin, 1808-1879.

Letter with recipes, 1837.

(ATHM 0022.587)

Letter from A. B. Olin, Shaftesbury [i.e. Shaftsbury], Vermont to A.G. Whittemore, West Milton, Vermont, with dye recipes for scarlet and pink and instructions on how to dye yarn. The letter also gives a little family news.

A. B. Olin has not been definitely identified, but is believed to be Abram Baldwin Olin (1808-1879), the son of Gideon Olin. He studied law with Albert Gallatin Whittemore (1797-1852) of Milton, Vermont. (He was the son of Abigail Olin and John Whittemore.) Olin attended Williams College before studying law. He served in the U.S. Congress, 1857-1863, representing a district in New York, and was appointed a federal judge by Abraham Lincoln

2017x85.21

Dye recipes, circa 1840?

(ATHM 1987.187)

Lists various sources for natural dyes (kalmia, willow bark, red oak, white oak, beech) and the colors which result from their use; possibly from Wythe County, Virginia. The family name Huddle was associated with the manuscript, although nothing in files supports this attribution.

2017x85.22a-b

Ekstrand, Waldemar, 1879-1950.

Dye recipes books, circa 1933?

(ATHM 1991.175.2-.3)

Dye recipes and notes for dyeing all types of fabrics using both natural and chemical dyes. One volume contains notes on dyeing indigo blue to government specifications, especially for the U.S. Navy (this is on loose sheets placed into larger volume). The other contains a section labeled: Short summary of my 25 years experience as a dyer.

A wool dyer by the name of Waldemar Ekstrand was located in census records. He was born in 1879 in Halsinborg, Sweden, and emigrated to the United States in 1908. In the 1910 census, he was listed in Lawrence, Massachusetts; in the 1920 census, he was listed in Madison, Maine. In the 1940 census, he was listed in Stafford, Connecticut. His wife Emma Golimer was from Germany. He died in Connecticut in 1950.

2017x85.23

Dye recipe, circa 1840-1880?

(ATHM 1992.88.309.1)

Recipe from an unidentified compiler headed: To color browne. Recipe calls for cutch, blue vitriol, and bicromate of potash.

2017x85.24

Dye recipes book, circa 1840-1870.

(ATHM 1998.165.1)

A collection of recipes, many with printed cotton swatches in madder colors. Also includes a recipe for a large quantity of soap. One recipe attributed to Mr. Crompton.

2017x85.25

Parsons, Josephine Mary Sabonis, 1917-1999.

Dye sample book, circa 1940-1960.

(ATHM 2001.212.1)

Samples of dyed woolen cloth, with brief notes about what dyes were mixed to achieve each color.

Josephine Mary Sabonis Parsons was a president of the Handweavers' Guild of Connecticut and the Springfield, Massachusetts, Handweavers' Guild. Her husband was George Parsons.

2017x85.26

Engel, Fiesco P., 1860-1937.

Sample book, 1881.

(ATHM 2003.4)

Book contains wool yarn and cloth samples (swatches) with dye recipes. Three Boston companies which sold dyes are mentioned in the volume.

Fiesco P. Engel was born in November 1860 in New Hampshire, the son of Mary Harrington and John P. Engel. In 1891, he married Eva M. Kempton. In the 1900 census, he was listed as a wool dyer in Concord, New Hampshire. He died in 1937 in Merrimack County, New Hampshire. (His first name is sometimes mis-given as Frisco.)

2017x85.27

Dye recipes book, circa 1860-1900

(ATHM 2003.134.1)

Notebook from an unidentified compiler. Includes dye recipes with cloth samples (swatches) of red and purple cotton print cloth.

2017x85.28

Radcliffe Printing Company (Manchester, Eng.)

Dye recipes book, 1873-1875.

(ATHM 2005.262.41.1)

List of dyes, prices or quantities, people, and notes about quality, Sept. 1, 1873-Sept. 25, 1875. Two items laid in; one a list of dies and prices, and the other a memorandum from James Woodiwis, Manchester, [England], to Radcliffe Printing Co., June 2, 1874, about enclosing a sample of catechu extract.

The creator of this volume is unknown, although he or she may have been an employee of the Radcliffe Printing Company of Manchester, England. In the 1873 Manchester, England, city directory, James Woodiwis was listed as a tallow merchant, oil merchant, and drysalter at the address printed on the memorandum.

2017x85.29

Dye recipes book, 1873-1875.

(ATHM 2005.262.41.2)

A notebook with various dye recipes, most of which have a name associated with them. The recipes are also dated from June 13, 1873-June 1874, plus a few recipes copied from 1875 issues of Chemical News. Small snippets of pink colored cloth are found on one page.

The volume is probably English in origin. The name James Higgin is found in the volume, but there is no reason to think this was his. A cotton merchant named James Higgin was listed in the 1873 Manchester, England, city directory.

2017x85.30a-b

Tariff Manufacturing Company (Tariffville, Conn.)

Brussels colours dyed at Tariffville, Conn., circa 1840.

(ATHM 2009.33)

Two very similar notebooks, both with paste paper covers and leather spines; both with stationers label inside front cover of I. A. Whitcomb, Lawrence (the two labels differ in text).

Both volumes have recipes used to dye wool for Brussels carpets produced by the Tariff Manufacturing Company at its mills in Tariffville, Connecticut.

Tariffville, Connecticut, was founded in 1825, when the Tariff Manufacturing Company was founded to produce carpet. The company went through different owners and had some name changes; it was finally closed in 1867 after a disastrous fire.

2017x85.31

Weaver's draft book.

[approximately 1860?]

(ATHM 0022.16)

Book from an unidentified weaver containing 150 drafts for twills and corded cotton fabrics, Marseilles cloth, etc., along with some cloth samples (swatches). A date is written on one page; the year might be 1867.

Also on microfilm , Mic. 3189

2017x85.32-.33

Bachmann, Hermann Heinrich, 1874-1968.

Textile thesis : weaving draft books.

1888-1891.

(ATHM 0022.31)

v. 1 (acc. 2017x85.32). Fachwebschule zu Gera.

v. 2 (acc. 2017x85.33). Hohere Webe- & Fabrikanten-Schule, Werdau i. S.

Both volumes include weaving drafts and designs, specifications for setting up looms, and cloth samples (swatches). Laid into the Gera volume is a certificate given to Bachmann by the school. The Werdau volume has long been associated with the Bachmann-Gera volume, but in fact no name was found inside, the handwriting seems to be different, and it does post-date Bachmann's immigration.

Hermann H. Bachmann was born in Hohenleuben, Germany, on May 12, 1874. He studied at a textile school in Gera, Germany, before emigrating to the United States in 1890 (according to a later passport application). He lived in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, andin Fitchburg and Lowell, Massachusetts. In the latter place, he taught at the Lowell Textile School. He married Fannie Otto, had several children, and died in Lowell in 1968.

2017x85.34

Saunders, Louis P., 1892-1967.

Weaving drafts and notes, circa 1940-1960.

(ATHM 0022.45)

Includes loose sheets of weaving drafts and specifications, as well as samples (swatches) of wool cloth, one of which bears a label for Sutton's Mills. Also notes on designing, yarn counts, cloth analysis, etc., for wool, cotton, and silk.

Louis P. Saunders was employed in the dressing room of Sutton's Mills [textile mill], North Andover, Massachusetts. He was born in 1892, the son of Catherine Meehan and Palmer M. Saunders; he died in 1967.

2017x85.35 – number not used

2017x85.36

Marphe.

Premiers principes de fabrique.

circa 1850-circa 1860.

(ATHM 0022.55)

Thesis of an unidentified French student consisting of weaving drafts, textile designs, and samples of silk, taffeta, double face cloth, damasks, brocades, English gauze, velvet and satins. Also includes silk dye tables by weight.

2017x85.37

Pastori, Joachim.

Textile thesis.

1883

(ATHM 0022.56)

Includes textile lectures and samples with weaving drafts and designs for silk, cotton and wool. Has lithographs of fibers and winding and weaving equipment pasted in. There is also a section in French on the Jacquard loom with many designs made for that loom.

Joachim Pastori was a student at a weaving school in Mulheim am Rhein, Germany. It is not clear whether he kept both parts of the volume (one part in German, the other in French).

2017x85.38

Kustner, Cristof.

Weaver's draft book.

[approximately 1776]

(ATHM 0022.38)

Contains approximately 120 draw-downs and 8 threading and tie-up diagrams for weaving coverlets.

The volume has been attributed to Cristof Kustner. Nothing is known about him.

Also on microfilm , Mic. 3189

2017x85.39

Leuk, C. C.

Weaver's draft book.

1901-1904

(ATHM 0022.104)

Includes weaving patterns and samples (swatches) of jacquard black cotton, narrow fabric, fancy cotton dress goods, silk and cotton. Also includes dye recipes, a waterproofing recipe, notes, and a folder of clippings from American periodicals with printed drafts and articles about textiles.

Nothing is known about the man who wrote his name on the front cover of the volume; the name is difficult to read but has been interpreted as C. C. Leuk. "New England Cotton Co." is written on the back of one item.

2017x85.40

Weaver's draft book.

19--?

(ATHM 0022.110)

Book from an unidentified weaver containing drafts and one swatch (wool). Probably first half of 20th century.

2017x85.41

Becker, E. J.

Weaving drafts.

circa 1890-1900.

(ATHM 0022.159)

Notebook containing 105 weaving drafts, each titled, "Disposition." Drafts are for silk, satin, brocade, serge, pongee, taffeta, and crepe. Also contains some cloth samples (swatches), mainly silk; and one page of stationery with letterhead: Cardinal & Becker, Silk Manufacturers, 29 to 41 Fulton St., Paterson, N.J., laid in.

E. J. Becker was a partner in the firm Cardinal & Becker, a silk manufacturing firm in Paterson, New Jersey. The other partner was Alphonse Cardinal; Mr. Cardinal's obituary (from 1919) mentioned that Becker lived in New York and that the firm was started in 1890. Regretfully, E. J. Becker has not been further identified.

2017x85.42 – in map case B, drawer 5

Hoffman, Henry A. (Henry Allen), 1893-1985.

Weaving drafts

1960-1962.
(ATHM 0022.323.1-.3)

Three weaving drafts delineated by Henry A. Hoffman of Shawnee, Kansas. Two are based on a coverlet which was woven by Susan Crane Prentiss. These drafts are also labeled “draft by Helen D. Young, treadled ‘as drawn in.’” A copy of the treadling sequences, based on the draft by Mrs. Young, are filed with these drafts. The third draft is labeled “La Belle Creole (ancient French), series I, no. 10, recipe book – Atwater.”

Henry Allen Hoffman lived in Shawnee, Kansas, and later in Waynesboro, Virginia. In the 1930 census, he was listed in Shawnee as being office manager for a lumber company. His wife was named Leona; they had several children. He was born in Missouri, the son of Julia Ann Spaniol and Henry Hoffman. It is not known how he became interested in drawing weaving drafts.

Susan Crane Prentiss was the great-great-grandmother of Donnell Brooks Young (1888-1989), the husband of Helen Daniels Young (1894-1983). In the 1970s, Mrs. Young lived in North Andover, Massachusetts, and died in November 1983. Mrs. Young collected coverlets and linens, and also taught and wrote about hand-weaving. Atwater undoubtedly refers to Mary Meigs Atwater (1878-1956), who was instrumental in reviving hand-weaving in the United State. In a letter, Mr. Hoffman referred to the Mary Atwater Museum in Los Angeles, but nothing was found about this.

2017x85.43

Fielding, Jeremiah.

A draught book.

1775-1778.

(ATHM 0022.335)

Volume includes more than fifty weaving drafts, labeled and identified; and cloth samples (swatches) of fustian and cords which indicate weaves, colors, printed effects, and finishing techniques such as napping, etc. Some of the swatches are round or heart-shaped, although most are rectangular. Also includes a table of yarns. Pattern names include everlasting ribs, hearing bone [i.e. herringbone], gean back velveteens, rodney cord, wild worm, etc. The drafts also include additional instructions, such as "note the 2 thick shafts must be next you." Both the names Jeremiah Fielding and Jeremy Fielding appear in the volume in manuscript; it is assumed that Jeremy is a variation on Jeremiah.

Of additional interest are the several little drawings, mostly profiles or faces, scattered throughout the volume. On one page, a hand points to a man smoking a pipe. Decorative borders are drawn around some of the textile swatches. Also includes instructions for "how to make fish to come into your hands," a riddle, and a charm for the bite of a mad dog.

Jeremiah Fielding, almost undoubtedly the same person as Jeremy Fielding, is believed to have lived in Lancashire, England. It has been suggested that this Jeremiah Fielding had a connection with the family of Joseph Fielding (1728-1802), a weaver in Hipings, Oswaldtwistle, near Manchester, England. Joseph’s son Jeremiah Fielding lived 1774-1840, which makes him too young to have written his name in this volume in 1775. (Joseph Fielding’s eldest son Henry had a calico print works in Catterall.)

Also on microfilm , Mic. 3189

2017x85.44

Noska, Charles.

Draft book.

1860-1890.

(ATHM 0022.423)

Includes weaving drafts and wool cloth samples (swatches). Pattern names include blue niger, eight leaf check, Manayunk cord, Kentucky jean, leaf checkerboard, etc. One page has note: "made in A. Canobles Mill." Another pattern has note: "this trade will weave a bag for grain." One draft is attributed to Harry Cunningham.

Charles Noska was a resident of the Manayunk section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was born in Austria around 1840, and died in Philadelphia in 1898. Census records and city directories listed various jobs for him: working in cotton mill, loom boss, fixer. In the 1887 directory, he was listed as a partner in Leech & Noska, a company dealing in or making cotton goods in Manayunk. (The other partner was Elliott Leech.) The record of Noska's internment listed his nearest kin as Louisa Noska.

Also on microfilm , Mic. 3189

2017x85.45

Lawton, H.

Weaving draft book.

circa 1900?

(ATHM 0022.435)

Includes weaving drafts and notes (no swatches). The notes for the first page of drafts mention colors.

H. Lawton was a resident of Gleasondale, a locality in Stow, Massachusetts. Nothing else is known about him or her.

2017x85.46 – flat on shelf

Hinkel, Fr.

Weaver's draft book.

1873.

(ATHM 0022.562)

Book with over 500 drafts, many in color. Most of the drafts are numbered, but there is no other text or information associated with them. A printed weaving job form headed Lancaster Mills is laid into the volume, but it is not clear that it belongs with it. (The form is printed in English.)

Nothing is known about Fr. Hinkel. Esslingen, Germany, was a center for manufacturing textiles in the late 19th century.

2017x85.47-.48

Karrer, Pierre Edmond (1883-1971)

Notebook with weaving drafts.

[18--?]

(ATHM 1988.78.1-.2)

Notes and weaving drafts in color, for batavias, serves, satins, etc. For an unknown reason, Karrer's notebook is accompanied by a copy of American Machinists' Handbook and Dictionary of Shop Terms by Fred H. Colvin and Frank A. Stanley, published in 1914 (2d edition), with sheets of notes laid in. The name E. Heckman is written inside the front cover is this volume.

Pierre Edmond Karrer was a weaver in the textile mills of Lawrence, Massachusetts. He was born in Rheims, France, in 1883, the son of Anne Wachter and Joseph Karrer. He emigrated in 1902, brought to the U.S. by his brother Albert (born circa 1873), also a weaver; according to the ship’s manifest, they planned to go to Providence, Rhode Island, to join another brother, perhaps the Leon (born circa 1874) who had come to the U.S. in 1898 with Albert.

In 1908, Pierre Edmond Karrer married Pauline Hortense Heckman. She, too, had been born in France, around 1888, the daughter of Hortense Cagnon and Irene Heckman. Presumably the E. Heckman who wrote his or her name in the printed volume was one of Pauline’s relatives. Pierre Karrer (who was also known as Edmond Karrer) died in Lawrence in 1971.

2017x85.49 – flat on shelf

Egert, Georg.

Weaving draft book,

circa 1850-1870.

(ATHM 2009.86.1)

A book of weaving drafts, including draw-downs and tie-ups. The first, third, and fourth parts include many textile swatches (wool, silk, cotton, and linen), including stripes, plaids, and velveteens. The second part has only a few swatches. Includes some information on jacquard looms.

Contents:

[part 1:] Erster theil fur glatte und [illegible]schaftige stoffe als rok, hosen, westen, kleiderzeuge und gemischle waaren = First part for smooth and heavier fabrics as for jackets, pants, vests, clothing and a variety of merchandise. – [part 2]: Zweiter theil: Damast. – [part 3.] Dritter theil: Pique. – [part 4.] Vierter theil. Doppeltuch, hohlweberei.

George Egert attended a textile school in Reutlingen, Germany. Nothing else is known about him.

2017x85.50

O., Karl P.

Book of draw-downs

1856.

(ATHM 2009.86.2)

Book of drawn-downs, possibly from village of Mauloff in Hesse (see draw-downs 6 and 7). An poem on the front flyleaf expresses the weaver’s devotion to God. (Translation available; it begins “I want to elevate my work with God and to be diligent and devoted to weaving and to do spooling early and late.”) This is surrounded by a decorative border. On the reverse of this is found a folk song about weavers. (Translation available; it begins “Early at daybreak/You can hear us singing a pretty song….”)

The creator of the volume is unknown but has been attributed to “K.P.O. in Mauloff, 1856,” which is written below designs no. 6-7. The name Karl is found on another page (29), and H. Nallau on yet another (not numbered, but in last third of volume).

2017x85.51

Capp, Joseph, 1805-1860.

Weaver’s draft book,

1827-1854.

(ATHM 2010.260.1)

A volume of weaver’s draft patterns, plus some loose sheets with additional patterns. The patterns are named, numbered, or lettered, and include some notes, but most of these are written in German.

Joseph Capp lived in Jonestown and East Hanover township, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. He is believed to be that man who was the son of Elizabeth and Jacob Capp and married to Elizabeth Mease. In the 1850 census, he was listed as an assessor, and in the 1860 census as a farmer. Christian Lentz (mentioned on one of the loose slips of paper) lived in Jonestown, Lebanon County.

2017x85.52 – flat on shelf

Kirby, Rebecca.

Weaving drafts hand drawn in ink on strips of paper.

1803-1811

(ATHM 2010.283)

Weaving drafts, some of which include names, such as Hearts Delight, Rose Diaper, Compass Work, Little Orang[e] Quarters, etc. Some of the strips are pinned or stitched together to form longer strips. Two such strips are written on the back of old writing exercises.

Nothing is known about Rebecca Kirby. Her name seems properly to be Rae (or Rie) Rebecca Kirby, although perhaps Rae is a shortened form of Rebecca. She probably lived in a town called Westport, of which there are several in the United States. However, a scrap of letter is dated from Taunton, and both Westport and Taunton, Massachusetts are in Bristol County.

2017x85.53

Weaving draft book,

circa 1820-1850.

(ATHM 2015.7)

A weaver’s draft book, possibly from upstate New York. Named patterns include Indian Chief, English Diamond, Diamond Diaper, Rilla[?] Diaper, Rose Diaper, Orange Peel, Rose Diaper, China Clas[?], Mason’s Apron, Novelty[?], Evening[?] Ruby[?], Double Compass, Snow Balls, Wheel Diaper, Sammerand Waiter, and Diamond Hucbuc[? i.e. huckaback?].

Nothing indicates who created this document.

2017x85.54

Snow, Edith Huntington (1875-1960)

Sewing diary, 1885-1900.

(ATHM 1967.24)

Swatches of fabrics from dresses of Edith Huntington Snow, 1885-1900, with pencil sketches of the dresses created from 1890-1896. Place names are recorded along with the swatches, but it is not known whether these indicate the places where fabrics were purchased or where the dresses were worn. Miss Snow spent time in Lawrence and Kansas City, Kansas; Nantucket; Isle of Shoals; Bailey, Colorado; Vermont (she mentions “school days” in Vermont); and a few other places. With the pink swatch on page 45 is the sketch of the original dress, together with a sketch of the bodice of the dress as it was made over three years later. Swatches towards the end of the volume are laid in but not mounted.

Edith Huntington Snow was born in Kansas in 1875, the daughter of Jane Appleton Aiken (1845-1920) and Francis Huntington Snow (1840-1908). Mr. Snow was originally from Massachusetts but became a professor at the University of Kansas in 1866. Miss Snow attended the University of Kansas and Stanford University. She moved to New York City and became a weaver, eventually establishing the Snow Abbott Looms, which later became the Snow Looms School of Weaving and Crafts. She died in Los Angeles in 1960. Originally with the volume, but no longer found, was a funeral program for Francis Huntington Snow.

2017x85.55

Cunningham, Ann Eliza (1835-1918)

Sewing diary, 1841-1890.

(ATHM 1971.18)

Swatches of fabrics used to make clothes for Ann Eliza Lane Cunningham and her children. She sometimes included notes about the fabrics, such as where and when acquired, or who cut out or made up the fabric. Several loose swatches are laid in the front of the volume, but the first piece stitched to a page is labeled “piece of curtains and spread Aunt Ann gave me when I married 1856 June 12^th.” The next two pieces are labeled Centennial Dress, 1876. Several swatches are noted as having been used to make frocks, dresses, or a blanket for her two sons. Rhoda Saville helped her make clothes, and was making a cloak when the news came of the suicide of Mrs. Cunningham’s Uncle Davis Lane. A particularly interesting story about one fabric is that her mother had a dress in the same fabric, which her mother wore when she crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1851. The fabrics are not in chronological order. Only occasionally is something said about the style of a garment.

A paper about the diary and additional genealogical information are shelved with it.

Ann Eliza Lane Cunningham was the wife of James Adams Cunningham and lived in Gloucester, Massachusetts. She was born in 1835, the daughter of Charlotte Phippen and Oliver Griffin Lane, who was a sea captain and kept a store. Her father’s sister Hannah was married to the Davis (sometimes listed as David) Lane whose suicide is mentioned in the volume. Ann Eliza Lane and James A. Cunningham married on June 12, 1856 (mentioned in the volume); they had three children: Charles Edward (born 1857), Frederic Lane (1858-1946), and Annie Grafton (1870-1962). Additional information about Mrs. Cunningham is filed with the volume.

Rhoda Saville is listed in the 1860 census of Gloucester, Massachusetts, as a dressmaker, age 60. She seems to be the woman of that name who was born in 1798 and died in 1888.

2017x85.56

Blount, Merle, (Florence Merle Blount Bristol, 1907-1979).

Dresses I wore when I was a little girl.

Sewing diary, 1912-1915.

(ATHM 1983.19.1)

Five swatches from dresses worn by Merle Blount when she was a little girl. Two are dated 1914 and 1915. She included notes about the dresses made from the swatches, but says nothing about the styles of her clothing. One dress was worn on a trip; she wore another when she visited Miss Mozrall’s school; a third after she was sick; and the last two when she was 5 years old.

Merle Blount was probably Florence Merle Blount, born in Littleton, New Hampshire, in 1907, the daughter of Florence E. Batchelder and Clare Blount. This woman studied French at Mount Holyoke College, taught school, married Herman Harvey Bristol in 1931, and died in Hartford, Conn., in 1979. A school teacher named Emma Mozrall is listed in the Littleton, N.H., census for 1910.

2017x85.57

Harrison, Estelle Potter, 1877-1945

Sewing diary, circa 1890-circa 1940 (bulk dates 1892-1904).

(ATHM 1990.139)

Swatches of dresses and jackets worn by Estelle Potter, with comments on styles, how much she liked (or disliked) the dress, how well the garments lasted, how the garments were trimmed, to what occasion something was worn, etc. One important occasion was when she “ushered President McKinley at ’99 commencement.” Swatches from bridesmaids’ dresses, gowns in her trousseau, a plain piece of her wedding gown, and wrappers and aprons sewn for setting up housekeeping after her marriage are also found. Only two swatches were added to the volume after Estelle’s marriage in 1904. These probably post-date World War I.

The volume also includes swatches from her mother’s wedding dress (1868), from baby clothes worn by various siblings, and from her grandmothers Wright [Frances Gilson Woods Wright] and Wood [actually, her mother’s grandmother, Catherine Gilson Wood or Woods]. Pages are sometimes dated or captioned: “Grammar School,” “Started college in these,” “Family Gowns,” etc. A very few sketches and pictures depict the styles she wore. A few cyanotypes and a photo are pasted into the volume.

Estelle Potter was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1877, the daughter of Fanny Elizabeth Wright and Burton W. Potter, a lawyer. She had several siblings, including Paul, Helen, and Ruth. She attended Mount Holyoke College. In 1904, she married Fosdick Beach Harrison. Several times she mentioned dressmaker Electa Fuller. Miss Fuller is listed in the 1880 Worcester census as having been born around 1843.

2017x85.58

Waldin, Florence Mae Baxter (1858-1962).

Sewing diary for Florence Louise Waldin, 1896-1906.

(ATHM 2008.263.1)

Mrs. Florence B. Waldin kept this scrapbook of fabric swatches used in making dresses for her daughter Louise Waldin. Each page represents one age (2 years, 3 years, etc.), and pictures of outfits appropriate for each age are included with the swatches. Presumably, these are pictures of the patterns which Mrs. Waldin used to create outfits for Louise. Mrs. Waldin did not write any comments about the fabrics, but sometimes included samples of the trims which she also used.

Florence Mae [or May] Baxter was born in Oswego, New York in 1858, the daughter of Eliza Cook Atkins and Richard Baxter. In 1893, she married Reinhold Waldin in Cook County, Illinois. Their only child Florence Louise (called Louise) was born in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1896. Reinhold Waldin, who had been a druggist, died in 1897, and by 1900, the widow and her child were living with her parents in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Louise attended Smith College. She married Lawrence Leslie Baumgartner, and they lived in Worcester County, Mass.

2017x85.59

Learned, Victorine U. (Victorine Upshur Wetmore Draper, 1842-1915)

Sewing class book, 1897-1899

(ATHM 2003.119.2)

A note book with several sewing and simple embroidery exercises, including seaming, mitering corners, making fringe, making plackets, matching notches in sewing patterns, gathering, making buttonholes and sewing on buttons, darning (and some weaving exercises to help with darning), mending, etc. Some of the exercises, such as mitering, use paper, but most use cotton fabrics.

A search of a genealogy web site found one Victorine U. Learned. She was born in 1842, the daughter of Adeline Geer and Robert Charles Wetmore. In 1862, Miss Wetmore married John Draper, with whom she had two children. After his death in 1890, she married Billings Peck Learned, a banker from Albany, N.Y. She died in Connecticut in 1915. Why a woman with grown children would have been taking a sewing class is a mystery; perhaps she was teaching a sewing class to underprivileged girls.

2017x85.60

Lowell Board of Trade.

Textile samples from China, 1905.

(ATHM 1974.2)

Samples of textiles, chiefly woven in England and the United States, but sold in China. The samples were gathered in Shanghai and Tientsin, China, in November and December 1905, apparently by someone surnamed Crist. Many of the swatches are mounted on card stock, while others are loose. Each piece is identified (shirtings, lawns, sheetings, Turkey red, tickings, Ningpa, drill, Italians, imitation satin, etc.), and notes are included about measurements, prices, uses (example: “American sheeting, largely used for underclothing and bed clothing by the people in the country”), finishes, colors, manufacturers or retailers, and other information. Includes three samples of cloth woven in China, one of which was woven from imported yarn.

The identity of Crist, who collected these samples for the Lowell Board of Trade in Massachusetts, is unknown.

2017x85.61

Scrapbook of cotton damask cloth specimens.

Circa 1880-1910?

(ATHM 1992.88.131)

A scrapbook in which are mounted eight large (21x29 cm or larger) samples of red and white cotton damask cloth, all of which include some flowers or leaves as part of the pattern. Nothing indicates who created this scrapbook, nor when nor where. The word California is written on the back on a blank page, and 64m Madder Stock is written at the top of another page. Letters and numbers within diamonds are written next to each sample.

2017x85.62

Tozier, Henry Harris (1874-1954)

Textile samples, Course V, Desk 9,

1895.

(ATHM 1997.5)

H. H. Tozier’s 1895 album of yarn and textile samples showing results of experiments with dyes. The heading on the first page reads “Effects of Milling on Various Dyes.” Most of the swatches have notes associated with them about chemicals and how long boiled. There are two and half pages of yarn samples, but most of the volume are samples of cotton fabrics dyed in a wide variety of shades and tones.

H. H. Tozier is believed to be Henry Harris Tozier, born in Haverhill, Massachusetts in 1874, the son of Edward and Margaret Tozier. He studied at MIT, and in 1895 was in Course V. He graduated with a degree in chemical engineering in 1896 and worked for the Kodak Company. He died in 1954.

2017x85.63

Perry, Oliver Hazard, (1851-1915).

Scrapbook, 1852-1905, bulk dates 1880-1882.

(ATHM 0022.597)

Scrapbook of clippings from textile trade publications about dyes, weaving patterns, care of machinery belts, information about different kinds of machines and their parts, and other information and statistics about the textile industry. A swatch of wool fabric is laid into the volume, and a page of dyed thread samples is also found. Glued inside the back cover is a broadside from the Middlesex Company of Lowell on “Precautions Against Fire,” dated 1852.

Laid into the volume is an envelope with newspaper clippings dated 1905 about Paul Butler (son of General Benjamin Butler) and his marriage to Anna Barstow.

Oliver Hazard Perry (1851-1915) was a textile manufacturer in Lowell, Massachusetts. He was the son of Oliver H. Perry (1815-1878) and Elizabeth Ann Randolph and a grandson of Commodore Oliver H. Perry. He married Sara Augusta Haggett, and they had several children.

Paul Butler (1852-1918) was born in Lowell, Mass., as well, and the two men may have been acquainted.

2017x85.64a-c

McGill, Charles Francis (1882-1973)

Scrapbooks and weaver’s draft book, 1900-1941

(ATHM 0022.53.2-.4)

Two scrapbooks filled with clippings about textile work, plus a volume (dated 1906-1907) with weaver’s drafts and swatches. Two of the scrapbooks have the name of Charles McGill; the volume of weaver’s drafts does not have his name but seems to belong with the others.

The album of weaving drafts includes woolen cloth samples (swatches) woven by various mills, including Assabet Mills (Maynard, Mass.), Pondicherry Co. (Bridgton, Maine), Worumbo Manufacturing Co. (Lisbon Falls, Maine), Madison Woolen Mill (Madison, Maine), Linn Woolen Co. (Harland, Maine), Worcester Woolen Co. (Worcester, Mass.), Riverside Mills (Waterville, Maine), Tillotson Manufacturing Co. (Pittsfield, Mass.), Newport Mills, Newport, Maine), Kennebec Mills (Fairfield, Maine), and Crawford Woolen Co. Some of the swatches are identified by their intended uses: smoking jackets, moleskin hunting costume cloth, worsted plaid back cloaking, worsted suiting, government cadet kersey, worsted trousering, etc.

The smaller scrapbook of clippings was originally used for production notes. Many of the articles in this volume are about finishing woolen textiles, although some articles are about cotton fabrics, while others are about soap. A swatch of wool fabric and a photograph of a finishing machine in a factory are found in this scrapbook as well.

The large scrapbook of clippings was first used as a finishing room ledger; most of the pages are now covered with articles, but some finishing records are still visible. The articles in this volume are more varied, including carding, combing, weaving drafts, spinning, and other processes in textile production, again primarily relating to woolen fabrics. Some weaving drafts and textile swatches are also found in this volume; some of the same mills mentioned in the volume of weaving drafts are also mentioned in connection with the drafts and swatches in this volume.

Charles Francis McGill (1882-1973) worked in various textile mills in several states during his career. He was born in Vermont, the son of Bridget Malloy and John Francis McGill, who was also a textile mill worker. He married twice and had three daughters.

2017x85.65

Manchester, H. F., Jr.

Notes for course in textile chemistry and dyeing, 1917.

(ATHM 0022.91)

Notes taken by H. F. Manchester, Jr., during a course in textile chemistry and dyeing, February-June 1917. An outline for the course is included. Chiefly, the notes concern dyeing, and samples of dyed yarn are included.

Nothing is known about H. F. Manchester, Jr. Nothing indicates where he went to school.

2017x85.66a-d

Damon, Robert Gibbs (1879-1959)

Textile school notes, 1898-1933, bulk dates 1898-1900.

(ATHM 0022.108 and 0022.539)

One portfolio and three notebooks kept by Robert G. Damon during his student days at the Philadelphia Textile School, with some additions from his professional career. In the portfolio are school notes which include water colors of textile designs; color exercises (theory, mixing, matching); exercises in design and geometry; diagrams of cams, strapping for roller looms, and gearing; and weaving drafts (44 sheets). Damon’s professional notes, also found in the portfolio, pertain to figuring out the costs of weaving fabrics, taking into account expenses for picking, carding, dressing, drawing in and reeding, marking, burling and sewing, and shearing. Two small pieces of textile samples were also found in the portfolio.

The notebooks are labeled: Weave Room: Yarn & Fabric Calculation; Mechanical Drawing: Fabric Structure & Design; and Analysis. The analysis volume includes a fabric swatch and thread or yarn samples, Damon’s diagram of the weaving draft, and an analysis which was to include notes on warp, filling, and dressing. The volume includes samples of cotton madras, worsted trousering, outing flannel, clay serge, double plain stripe, and kersey. The notebook about fabric structure and design is chiefly notes, with some weaving drafts. The notebook on weave room: yarn & fabric calculation is again chiefly notes, with some calculations and diagrams.

Robert Gibbs Damon attended the Philadelphia Textile School of the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. He was born in Concord, Mass., in 1879, the son of Anne Elizabeth Haggar and Edward Carver Damon. He died in 1959 in North Andover, Mass. He was listed in the 1905 state census for Seneca Falls, New York, with the occupation of superintendent in a woolen mill. In the 1910-1930 federal censuses, he held the same position and was living in Billerica, Massachusetts. (No occupation was listed for him in the 1940 census.)

Portfolio: textured paper covers, with leather spine (partly missing). Label on front bearing Damon’s name. The other three volumes also have textured paper covers. They were made by Frederick Jones & Co. of Philadelphia. Stamped in gilt on two of the covers: Philadelphia Textile School – Notes. Damon added labels to the front covers of these, writing his name and a title of the contents. The last volume has stamped in gilt on the cover: Philadelphia Textile School –Analysis. The volume includes pages printed for the recording of analyses of textiles.

2017x85.67a-b

Hering, Carl (1859-1930)

Textile weaving notes, 1882.

(ATHM 0022.109.1-.2)

Two volumes from Carl Hering’s studies at the textile school in Greiz, Germany. One volume opens with notes about double cloth. It includes weaving patterns, diagrams of construction, notes, and some textile samples. The other volume is similar, although it does not open with notes about double cloth, and has more textile samples. Part-way through this volume, one finds a printed page headed Webschule zu Greiz, dated 1882, including a list of students. Carl Hering (his name misspelled as Heering) is in this list.

Carl Hering (originally Karl Wilhelm Hering) was a weaver in a textile mill in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He was born in Germany in November 1859, apparently attended the textile school in Greiz, came to the United States in 1890, became a citizen in 1906, and died in 1930. He married Elise Augusta Maria Roessel (1860-1924). They had several children, including Paul C. Hering.

Two similar volumes, with dark covers and cloth spines and corners, all much worn. The label on the cover of one is too dark to be easily read and the label on the other is mostly worn off, but the word Buch remains. Written inside front cover of one volume: 1882, Carl Hering.

2017x85.68a-c

Hering, Paul Carl (1889-1974)

Textile school notes, 1907-1909.

(ATHM 0022.109.3-.5)

Three notebooks from the Lowell Textile School, two designated as Design Book, and one Lecture Record and Sketch Book. The earlier design book includes notes about different kinds of cloth (dress goods, worsted suiting and dress goods, etc.), different kinds of designs (twill, checks, stripes), etc., plus weaving draft patterns and a few fabric samples. The volume closes with rules in “mill arithmetic.”

The second design book opens with a woven design for the Lowell Textile School, designed by Vesper L. George. It was designed or woven in May 1901. The school opened in 1894, and the woven design includes the names of the instructors (Fenwich and Umpleby), and a design for the school which includes two women in vaguely classical dress, a loom shuttle, a cotton boll, and a sheep. On the next page is a woven picture of 18^th century men and a woman playing billiards. This volume includes notes and weaving drafts for backed cloth, double cloth, figured silk, crepon, etc. There are only two fabric swatches in this volume, in addition to the woven pictures.

The third volume, the lecture record and sketch book, was to include notes for cloth analysis and mill arithmetic. Lecture 1 was on designing; 2 on intersections, etc.; 3 on color effects; 4 on reed and sett; 5 on twills and diagonals; 6 on drafting and reduction; 7 on sateen weaves; 8, 9 and 10 on rib weaves; and 11 on basket weaves. Other notes are also found. The lecture notes include weaving drafts and some textile swatches. Despite what was written on the title page, this volume does not include mill arithmetic; those notes are in the first design volume.

Paul C. Hering (1889-1974) was the son of weaver Carl Herring and Elise Augusta Maria Roessel. He attended the Lowell Textile School. During his career, he was a loom fixer and a cutter in the textile industry and a member of and organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). He was born in Germany, but lived most of his life and died in Methuen, Mass.

The Lowell Textile School, founded in 1895 and opened in 1897, was housed in Southwick Hall and the Falmouth Street Building. The school evolved and expanded over time, and is now the Francis School of Engineering of the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Southwick Hall is still in use by the university.

Additional material pertaining to Paul C. Hering is located at Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Walter C. Reuther Library, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan.

Design book, Oct. 1907-March 1908: green cloth cover; stamped on front cover: Lowell Textile School, Design Book. Pasted inside front cover: picture of Southwick Hall and the Falmouth Street Building. Title page of volume includes names of faculty (Fenwick Umpleby and Charles H. Eames), and the school’s coat of arms. Design book, Oct. 1908-March 1909: identical to the other volume, except the initials P.H. have been drawn on the front cover and there is no picture glued inside the front cover. Third volume has stamped on front “Lecture Record and Sketch Book – Lowell Textile School.” This was kept from Oct. 1907-March 1909. The title page has a blank space for instructor, and the principal is identified as William W. Crosby.

2017x85.69

Lundelin, Otto (1889-1957)

Mönsteruttagning, circa 1910.

(ATHM 0022.121)

Notes on weaving, with weaving patterns and textile swatches.

Otto Lundelin is believed to be that man who is listed in Lawrence, Massachusetts, directories as a machinist. He was born in April 1889 in Abo, Finland and married Cecilia (Celia) Mackle, a native of Ireland, in 1922. (In the 1920 census, she was listed as a chambermaid in the boarding house where they both lived. He was listed as an auto repairer.) He immigrated in 1912 and became a U.S. citizen in 1918. He was a loom fixer for Plymouth Mills in 1917. He briefly served in the U.S. Army during World War I. He died June 14, 1957.

In Swedish? (Norwegian has also been suggested.)

2017x85.70a-e

White, Arthur (1883-1968)

Lecture notes, circa 1898-1899.

(ATHM 0022.282.1-.4 and 1972.82)

Five volumes of textile design and weaving notes taken by Arthur White at the Bradford Technical College. The first volume is identified on title page as Mounting Book as in Use in the Textile Department. White used it to take notes on weaving, and many weaving patterns, a number of textile designs, and a very few textile swatches are mounted in the volume. Arthur White identified the second volume as containing Figure Designs. He tipped a pencil sketch of a man wearing a hat onto the title page, and later added a label to indicate that he was at the Cleveland Worsted Mills in Ohio. The volume contains textile designs rendered in watercolor. Designs include florals, paisleys, lightening bolts, foliage, jagged lines, Art Nouveau swirls, and Japanesque-inspired patterns. A couple are reminiscent of designs by William Morris.

White labeled the third book as Textile lectures: 3^rd Year’s Course, and again added a label for Cleveland Worsted Mills. Like the first volume, it includes lecture notes, weaving patterns and drafts, textile designs, and a few textile swatches. White identified the fourth volume as his Colour Book. Although the textile designs in this book are in color, many of the designs seem to be more about tones than about actual colors. There are also weaving patterns, lecture notes, and one swatch of a gauze fabric.

The fifth notebook is labeled Pattern Analysis Record Portfolio as in Use in the Textile Department. The papers are printed with a section for “style of pattern” [here, White mounted a textile swatch], and with spaces to record warp and weft colors, information (such as counts and material) of warp and weft, order of coloring, the weave, draft, pegging plan, sketch, heald order, lists, boxing plan, and dyeing and finishing particulars, White only gave some of this information for each textile swatch.

Arthur White (1883-1968) attended the Bradford Technical College in Bradford, England. He listed his home address as 5 Manor Terrace, Manningham, which is a section of Bradford. He later worked at the Cleveland Worsted Mills in Ohio. Arthur White was listed in the 1920 and 1930 censuses as a designer in a woolen mill. He immigrated in 1904; his wife was named Alice, their daughter was Caroline M. His sister-in-law Mary J. Feather (born 1867?) also lived with the family. In the 1940 census, the family is listed in Uxbridge, Worcester County, Massachusetts. At that time, Caroline M. White (1911-1990) was a secretary in a cotton mill; later she married Forrest Andrews (1907-1989). In his 1908 marriage record, Arthur White gave his parents’ names as William E. White and Caroline Wilson. He and Alice Feather (1880-1953, also born in England) married in Ashtabula County, Ohio.

In the 1891 census for Manningham, England, William E. White (born circa 1857) was listed as an examiner of silk plush goods and his wife Caroline (also born circa 1857) as a silk plush weaver. They lived with her parents James and Susannah Wilson; James Wilson was a carter. In the 1901 census, Arthur was listed as a worsted designer, living with his parents and younger sister Lillian.

Alice Feather was the daughter of Joseph and Mary J. Feather. In the 1900 census, the family was in Jamestown, New York, where Joseph worked as a worsted weaver. The family came to the United States around 1886.

The first four volumes have texture cloth covers and leather spines, which are much worn. All were produced by Geo. Harrison & Sons of Bradford (see label in back of volumes) for the Bradford Technical College. Each of the first five volumes has a title page, with the printing dates of 1898 or 1899. The fifth volume has a cloth cover and is tied together with woven tape. Inside the front cover is a label for The Bradford Municipal Technical College. Arthur White wrote his name in all the volumes.

2017x85.71

Johnson, Albert C. (1905-1987)

Dye laboratory notebook, 1929-1933.

(ATHM 0022.361)

Lecture notes and records of dye experiments done as part of the curriculum at the Lowell Textile School. In Part I, the experiments related to use of sulphuric acid. In Part II, the experiments related to operations preliminary to dyeing, such as bleaching and wool scouring. Part 3 [sic] was preliminary dyeing and mordanting experiments. Part IV dealt with mordants, Part V with natural dyestuffs, Part VI with manufactured organic coloring matters, part VIII with diazotizing and developing on the fiber, and [part] 9 with dye testing: money value.

Albert C. Johnson (1905-1987) lived in North Andover, Massachusetts. He attended the Lowell Textile School. He was the son of John B. and Emma Johnson, both born in Sweden. In the 1940 census, he was listed as a dyer in a woolen factory. He was married to Ruth A. W. Johnson (born circa 1907). In 1940, he lived on Middlesex Street in North Andover. A family tree recoded that he died in 1987.

2017x85.72

Kurs, H.

Decomposition, 1893-1894.

(ATHM 1986.17)

Notebook includes information about how to do Jacquard silk weaving, draft patterns, and set up a loom. A larger section has silk Jacquard, damask, lampas, and matelasse patterns with cloth samples and weaving specifications. One of the damask patterns has the words Seidenwebschule Zurich woven into the design. Some gilt scrap borders are also laid into the volume. (These were glued around most of the silk samples.)

Nothing is known about H. Kurs, except that he (or she) attended the Zurich Silk Weaving School in 1893-1894. The book may have been acquired in or near Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Board covers, covered with cloth, but the cloth on the front cover is mostly gone, and the cloth on the spine is completely missing. The front cover was stamped, and although the stamped cloth is gone, the information remains legible: Zurcherische Seidenwebschule, Decomposition, H. Kurs, 1893/94.

2017x85.73a-d

Mills, George Leach (1902-1988)

School notebooks, 1923-1925.

(ATHM 1998.117.1-.2)

Two volumes and two notebooks. The first notebook holds notes, diagrams, and blueprints pertaining to Jacquard looms and weaving patterns. Includes damask, leno (gauze), and Turkish toweling. The second notebook has weaving patterns, some weaving drafts and peg plans, and the textile swatches from which the patterns were drawn. Many of the patterns are variations on twill. Laid into one of the notebooks are two letters of reference attesting to the quality of Mills’ student work.

The two volumes are design books, and is specifically noted as being for dobby patterns. It includes notes, textile swatches, weaving patterns and drafts, and a couple of textile designs rendered in watercolor. An interesting feature of the other design book are some swatches of fabrics, chiefly ginghams, designed by his fellow students. Otherwise, this volume also contains weaving patterns and drafts, peg plans, notes, and a couple of textile designs rendered in watercolor.

George L. Mills attended Pawtucket High School in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, before entering the Bradford Durfee Textile School, from which he graduated in 1925. His nicknames there were Goosey and Larry. He sang in the glee club and concentrated in cotton. He seems to be the George L. Mills who was the son of Lillian and William Leach Mills; in the 1920 census, this family lived in Norwich, Connecticut, and the father was an overseer in a cotton mill. In the 1925 census, the widowed mother was living with two sons in Central Falls, R.I. In 1940, this George L. Mills was in Auburn, Maine, working as a designer in a cotton mill. He had a wife Mary and a son Harold George.

The Bradford Durfee Textile School of Fall River, Massachusetts, was charted in 1895. It was named for an early Fall River industrialist. Over time, it underwent name changes and mergers, and is now University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

2017x85.74

Meister, Edna.

Advanced sewing notebook, 1915

(ATHM 2004.137)

School notebook with some sewing exercises, notes on textiles, and textile swatches. It opens with examples of different ways of joining lace or embroidered trim to a piece of fabric. Next are found examples of box plaits and mitered and square corners; paper was used for these exercises. Then come notes about the National Consumers League, reasons for studying textiles, spinning, weaving, picking and ginning, etc. Samples of different kinds of cotton, wool, silk, and linen fabrics are pinned or pasted to several pages, with widths and prices noted. The teacher L. C.[?] Sweet wrote a few comments in red, and gave Edna the grade of C minus for her efforts.

Although the name Edna is clearly written on the front cover, the surname is open to interpretation, although it most resembles Meister. Nothing is known about this girl. Her teacher was L. C.[?] Sweet, and nothing is known about her, either.

2017x85.75

Notes about women’s clothing designs and textiles, circa 1924.

(ATHM 2004.324)

Notes from a class in textiles and dress design, perhaps not in original order. The current order: notes about cotton; pattern for nightgown, with swatches for fabric and lace trim and estimate of cost of materials; list of materials suitable for slips and bloomers; cost estimate for a one piece dress; drafted pattern for a slip; printed notes on care of clothing (dated 1924); principles of dress design, with pictures of dresses illustrating different principles (repetition, opposition, radiation, etc.); notes on texture; and notes on silk, linen, more on cotton, and wool.

Nothing is known about who compiled these notes, but she may have been a student at the University of Maine.

2017x85.76

Salisbury Mills (Amesbury, Mass.)

Weaving patterns and drafts, circa 1880-1896.

(ATHM 0022.151)

A collection of weaving patterns and drafts, with notes about weaving the patterns (colors, yarns used, number of picks, weight, etc.), plus some printed patterns published in the Wool Reporter in 1896. The hand-written patterns are numbered 1-205; the first page is headed double cloth fancy twilling. At the end of the book are a few unnumbered patterns, one of which is called honeycomb, and another broken honey. Written on the reverse of the front fly leaf is a list headed “Salisbury Mills, price list for weaving on Crompton Narrow Looms,” and pasted on the same page is a listed headed “Salisbury Mills, price list for weaving on Broad Crompton Looms.” Also written on this page are directions on how “to make flannel shirtings” and “to find how many dents in a [sic] inch of bur[?] reeds.”

The volume was kept by an unknown weaver who presumably worked at the Salisbury Mills in Amesbury, Massachusetts.

Crompton Looms were high-speed looms invented by George Crompton in 1857. His factory in Worcester, Massachusetts, made looms for the textile industry.

2017x85.77

Snow, William Cory (1794-1872)

Dye book, 1844-1866.

(ATHM 0022.523)

Volume kept by William C. Snow with notes about work done by the Providence Dyeing, Bleaching and Calendaring Co. for its clients, 1844-1858. Different kinds of fabrics are mentioned, such as shirting, sheeting, Texas drills, Oxfords, sateen, etc. Colors for dyeing are sometimes given, but other work included bleaching and butting, finishing, stamping a company’s names on the edge, etc. On the last fly-leaf are found a few swatches in shades of brown. In the 1860s, someone, perhaps Snow, re-used the volume as a scrapbook for newspaper articles.

William Cory Snow (1794-1872) was an agent for the Providence Dyeing, Bleaching and Calendaring Co. He was born in Rhode Island in 1794, the son of Hannah G. Cory and John Snow (1769-1851). His first job was as a clerk in a grocery store; he then worked in the Providence Post Office. However, most of his life was spent as an agent for Providence Dyeing, Bleaching and Calendaring Co. He was also a deacon for his church, the Beneficent Congregational Society.

2017x85.78

Hawkes, Adam (1764-1831)

Dyer’s accounts and scrapbook with poems, 1814-circa 1882.

(ATHM 1996.78)

Dyers’s accounts covering 1814-1819 are found in the very front and the back of this volume, with the middle pages covered with newspaper clippings and poems. The dyer, who may have been Adam Hawkes (1764-1831), listed the customer’s name, the number of yards of fabric or the article being dyed, and the price. The dye color is usually not given. Mostly yardage was dyed, but other articles mentioned include carpet, blankets, yarn, pantaloons and trousers, shalls [shawls?], cloaks, weskits, etc. The dyer also recorded souring and pressing coats and blankets.

The scrapbook seems to have been kept by Sarah P. Hawkes, a daughter of Adam Hawkes. The newspaper and magazine clippings are from various publications and include many poems and moralistic stories. One printed poem was written in honor of Queen Victoria’s coronation. Another printed poem is titled “The Indian’s Lament on Removing Across the Mississippi.” A fashion plate from the 1830s is glued on one page. The hand-written poems include several by Velina Lychorida Ganong of Grenada, Miss., dated 1844 and 1845. Several of her poems and one by the Rev. Lewis H. Davis of Mount Seclusion, Grenada, are written to Sarah P. Hawkes. Miss Hawkes recorded the lines from the grave marker of Lt. Hemphill of the Royal Scots who fell at the Battle of Lundy’s Lane in 1814. She may have written the poem “The Wild Flower,” apparently written at Ash Mansion in South Reading, Massachusetts, and she did write a couple of the printed poems.

The dyer is not identified, nor is his or her place of residence, although it is possible that he was Adam Hawkes (1764-1831), who died in South Reading (Wakefield), Massachusetts. Adam Hawkes’ estate included a fulling mill and large quantities of madder, indigo, and dye woods. (Adam Hawkes was descended from an early settler of Massachusetts, another Adam Hawkes.) A search of a genealogy web site found some customers in the Danvers, Massachusetts, area in 1820, and others in Reading and South Reading (Wakefield), Mass.

Sarah Perkins Hawkes (1820-1887) was the daughter of Elizabeth Hall and the above Adam Hawkes. Why she was in Grenada, Mississippi, in 1845 is unknown. She returned to Massachusetts; married and divorced Patrick M. Dillon of Lynnfield; and died in Salem, New Hampshire. In the 1855 Massachusetts census, she was listed as living with her brother Harrison Gray Otis Hawkes (1817-1892), his wife Mary Ann Walton, and their children, including daughter Mary Ellen Hawkes. Miss Hawkes (born circa 1848) married Albert J. Merrill of Chester, New Hampshire; she signed her name inside the front cover of the book.

2017x85.79a-b

Baxter, William M. (William Murdoch), 1887-1961.

Fabric style books, circa 1900-1940.

(ATHM 0022.241.1-.2)

Two volumes which the compiler William M. Baxter has identified as fabric style books. Each fabric is numbered, named (kersey, thibet, melton, blanket, coating, Venetian, collar cloth, etc.), and includes notes about dressing the loom: ends, picks, reeds, weave (such as twill), blend of yarns for weft and filling, shrinkage, loom weight, etc. In addition, some of the fabric styles are accompanied by a diagram of the weave pattern. The factory which wove these textiles is not named. On page 47 of the second volume, Baxter recorded bets placed on races on July 23, 24, and 25, and what he won.

William M. Baxter is believed to have lived in Andover, Massachusetts. A man of that name is listed in the 1930 census as a yarn overseer in a woolen mill. William Murdoch Baxter was born in 1887 and was married to Flora I. Lawrence. Post-World War II Andover city directories list him as an overseer at D&F. He died in 1961.

Two identical volumes, both with deep red fabric covers and red leather spines. One volume has booksellers’ ticket: F.W. Barry, Beale & Co., Boston. William M. Baxter wrote his name on the front fly-leaf of each volume.

2017x85.80

Berkshire silk solution, 1927

(ATHM 0022.533)

A recipe for Berkshire silk solution, using olive oil soap and neatsfoot or Philadelphia silk oil, to be used for winding gum silk on universal winding machines. “Gum silk wound with this solution made clear work and comes from needles freely.” The recipe was dated 2/2/27 by an unknown person.

2017x85.81

Weaving [kindergarten work], circa 1900

(ATHM 0022.596)

The volume contains twenty-three accordion boards, each mounted with a different woven paper pattern. Vertical "threads" are uniform with the design created by the horizontal "threads." Many of the patterns are variations of plain or twill weaves, but several patterns resemble area rugs, and some of the patterns are pictures: a house, an eagle, and a deer. Presumably this volume was created as part of a kindergarten training course.

The volume was created by an unknown person.

2017x85.82 – in miscellaneous box 4

Guernsey, Samuel James, 1868-1936.

Red cloth and yarn samples, 1921.

(ATHM 1962.4.10)

Samples of cloth and yarn dyed using cochineal, which were collected by Samuel J. Guernsey. An envelope is labeled as containing samples from an old medicine bottle, from a spear decoration, from a Navajo woman’s dress, and “from cheif’s [sic] squaw dress collected in 1851.” The last three named samples are pinned to a sheet of paper dated Sept. 26, 1921.

Two yarn samples are pinned to a sheet of paper headed M.T. Stevens & Sons Co. and dated Sept. 28, 1921. The yarn samples are attached to a form with space for width, weight per yard, and other information about the cloth to be woven from the yarns, but nothing about the dye used. A large sample of red cloth is not pinned to any paper; this may be the sample from an old medicine bottle or a sample of the cloth woven from the M.T. Stevens & Sons Co. yarns.

Samuel James Guernsey was an anthropologist and curator at Harvard University’s Peabody Museum. He published books on the anthropological work he and others performed in Arizona and Utah in the 1910s and early 1920s, so he may have collected some of these samples there, or he may have removed them from holdings of the Peabody Museum.

2017x85.83 – in map case 3, drawer 8

M.T. Stevens and Sons Company (North Andover, Mass.)

Stevens dress goods poster, circa 1880-circa 1910.

(ATHM 1963.1)

A poster displaying swatches of dress goods available from the Stevens Company factories. Style numbers 55, 11, 115, 125, 22, 66, and 77, and Rob Roy’s, Kearsarge operas, Penzance, Rialto’s style 60, Margrave suitings, meltons, and Arabian suitings, all in various colors, are displayed. Names included on the poster are agents Faulkner, Page and Co. (in New York and Boston; became selling agents for Stevens Co. in 1871); Marland Mills (of Andover, Mass., purchased by Stevens Co. in 1879); Franklin Mills (in Franklin Falls, N.H., leased by Stevens Co. in 1870, purchased in 1886); William H. Jowett (superintendent of Marland Mills); J. J. Wrisley (superintendent of Franklin Mills); Nathaniel Stevens (superintendent of Stevens Co.), and Samuel D. Stevens (in the Stevens Mills). It is not known who created the poster; it was a part of the Stevens Company papers at the American Textile History Museum. (The bulk of the company papers may have gone to Cornell University.)

See acc. 2017x85.82 for yarn samples from M.T. Stevens & Sons.

2017x85.89 - – in miscellaneous box 4

S.H. Greene and Sons Corporation.

Indigo dyed cloth samples, circa 1900-1925

(ATHM 1980.8.5)

Salesman’s sample sheet with three samples of indigo dyed cloth attached to a printed form. The cloth is a fairly dark blue, with decorative patterns of lines, dots, or circles in light blue. The form is printed “Washington Original Full Dye Indigo, as made in 1864, S.H. Green & Sons, Corp, Mrfs, Converse & Company, Agts.” The style number, 1014, and the word Campus are stamped on the paper. The sheet is decorated with a picture of George Washington.

In 1828, Simon H. Greene and Edward Pike formed the Clyde Bleachery and Print Works in Clyde, a village in West Warwick, Rhode Island. In 1842, Greene bought out Pike’s shares in the company, and in 1865 formed S.H. Greene and Sons, which became S.H. Greene and Sons Corporation in 1899. The company remained in the Greene family until it closed in 1925. The Winterthur Museum collection has a bandana made by this company, accession 1977x0144.

Converse & Company, based in New York City but with offices elsewhere as well, was begun in 1907. It sold the products of various textile manufacturers. The founder was Everett H. Converse, who had been a partner in Coffin, Altemus & Co.

2017x85.90 – in miscellaneous box 3

Fall River Cotton Centennial Exposition.

Souvenir handkerchief, 1911, June.

(ATHM 1980.12)

Cream-colored handkerchief, with “Finished by Fall River Bleachery” stamped in blue ink along one edge. Attached to the handkerchief is a paper label printed with “Fall River Cotton Centennial Exposition, Seaconnet Mills, Fall River, Mass., June, 1911, souvenir.” Seaconnett Mills was begun in 1884, and presumably was the mill which wove the handkerchief.

In 1811, Colonel Joseph Durfee established the Globe Manufactory in Fall River, Massachusetts. This was the beginning of the textile industry in Fall River. Other mills were soon built, and the printing of cotton cloth became a major business. (The textile business began to decline after World War I.) In June 19-24, 1911, the city celebrated the centennial of the beginning of the textile business with the Cotton Centennial Carnival and the motto “Fall River Looms Up.” President William Howard Taft came to town and rode in the parade.

2017x85.91 – in miscellaneous box 4

Gemmell & Harter (Manchester, Eng.)

Fabric swatches, circa 1850-1900.

(ATHM 1992.88.91)

Five plain weave printed cotton fabric samples wrapped in a paper label printed with the name Gemmell & Harter. This is set no. 318, and the designs are registered. Two samples have dark brown background, two have a lighter brown background, and one has a dark purple background. Two have floral prints, one has dots on lines, one has bars in various patterns, and the purple one includes a turquoise oval surrounded by white dots.

Gemmell & Harter was a firm of calico printers based in Manchester, England, but nothing else is known about the firm.

2017x85.92 – in miscellaneous box 4

McNaughtan & Thom (Manchester, Eng.)

Fabric swatches, circa 1850-1900.

(ATHM 1992.88.92)

Four plain weave printed cotton fabric samples wrapped in a paper label printed with the name McNaughtan & Thom, Manchester. This set contained new patterns. One pattern is blue and white pansies on white background; the others are all branch patterns: green on white, brown on seafoam green, and brown on white.

McNaughtan & Thom was a firm of calico printers with their office in Manchester, England, and their works in Birkacre, near Chorley. At one point, the firm name was McNaughtan, Barton & Thom.

2017x85.93 – in miscellaneous box 4

Nashua Manufacturing Company.

Indian Head cloth swatches, circa 1920-1945.

(ATHM 1992.88.113)

Two cotton fabric samples and an envelope which held them. Both samples are stamped in blue “A sample of Indian Head,” with a bust of a Native American man, and the widths in which it was available. One sample is an example of the soft finish, and the other of the Belfast linen finish. Indian Head was the brand name of a linen-textured cotton fabric made by Nashua Manufacturing.

Nashua Manufacturing Company was a cotton textile manufacturing firm founded in Nashua, New Hampshire, in 1823. In 1945, the firm was taken over by Textron, Inc. Indian Head was the name of one of the company’s mills.

Papers of the Nashua Manufacturing Company are held at the Baker Library at Harvard University.

2017x85.94 – in miscellaneous box 4

A. & W. Sprague Manufacturing Company.

Cotton cloth swatch, circa 1850-1900.

(ATHM 1992.88.117)

A swatch of cotton cloth with a label reading “A. & W. Sprague, pattern worn by Martha Washington, when Gen. Washington was President of the United States,” decorated with a portrait of an elderly Martha Washington. The swatch is a plain weave printed cotton, with patterns of dark brown and red dots on a tan background.

A. & W. Sprague Manufacturing Company, a calico printing firm located in Cranston, Rhode Island, began in 1807. Its successor company Cranston Print Works is still in operation. Several members of the Sprague family were also involved in Rhode Island politics.

2017x85.96 – in map case 3, drawer 8

Conestoga Steam Mills (Lancaster, Pa.)

Conestogo madder prints, circa 1850-1870?

(ATHM 1999.39.3)

A large sheet with ten samples of cotton madder prints, each about 8x16 cm, all a variation of a small check pattern in shades of deep red and brown, produced by the Conestoga Steam Cotton Mills. The samples are within a foliate border, with the title at the top. The sheet was steam-lithographed by P.S. Duval & Co. of Philadelphia.

The Conestoga Steam Mills (sometimes spelled Conestogo) were located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The business began in 1844, and was still in operation in 1916. It wove cotton sheetings, shirtings, drillings, tickings, cotton flannels, chambrays, etc. In 1850, the officers of the company were Christopher Hagan and David Longnecker.

The Lancaster County Historical Society has financial records of the Conestoga Steam Mills.

2017x85.97 – in map case 3, drawer 8

Globe Printing Co.

Pure madder colors, circa 1850-circa 1875

(ATHM 1999.39.4)

A large sample sheet with eight samples of madder printed cotton cloth, each 15x23 cm, all in shades of deep red in various colorways for two different prints. The samples are within a gold border. Part of one sample has been cut off.

Nothing is known about the Globe Printing Co.

2017x85.98

Schoettle, Philip O., 1875-

Weaver’s design notebook, circa 1892.

1 volume.

(ATHM 0022.420)

Weaving design notebook compiled by Philip Schoettle at the Philadelphia Textile School, circa 1892. He included notes about and drawings of the patterns of the weaves and the draws for the warps. Patterns include satin, twill, rib, and basket weaves; broken, steep, curved, skip, and cork-screw twills; double satins; check matelassé; figured worsted coating; piqué weaves; fill pile fabrics; and others. Several loose drawings and notes are laid into the volume.

According to the 1900 census, Philip O. Schoettle of Norristown, Pennsylvania, was born in Massachusetts in 1875. He was the son of Florentina (1854-1913) and Georg Simon Schoettle (1852-1931, born in Germany). Father Georg was a finisher in a woolen factory. After attending the Philadelphia Textile School, Philip worked as a weaver in Norristown. Several sisters worked as shirtmakers. Christian Schoettle (unknown relationship) was a fuller. The last mention found of Philip was in a 1900-1902 Norristown city directory.

Cloth-covered volume, with Philadelphia Textile School stamped in gilt on the front cover. Bookseller’s label inside front cover: Frederick Jones & Co., Philadelphia. The book was made so that graph paper faces lined note paper. A couple of pages from the front of volume have been removed. Several loose sheets are laid into volume.

2017x85.99

Davis, Esther.

Scrapbook with fabric swatches, circa 1884-1900.

1 volume.

(ATHM 1969.34)

A slim scrapbook, with pages missing, containing four fabric swatches, one cotton and the others silk. The cotton fabric was identified by Abigail R. Bailey as having belonged to her grandfather’s great-grandmother (not named). It has a brown background with spots consisting of red rim around a spot of white, with black dot in the middle. A sample of silk printed with a floral design was identified as having been given to Mrs. Davis by Mrs. Mason, the mother of the actor J. B. Mason (who was grandson of hymn writer Lowell Mason). The fabric was originally in a dress worn by Mrs. Mason when she was presented at court in Vienna, and then the fabric was re-used to make a costume for her son the actor.

A silk ribbon and a silk swatch were given to Mrs. Davis by John Conness, a former U.S. senator from California, who later moved to the Boston area and was a friend of Mrs. Davis’ father. The scrapbook also includes a wing from a Canada robin, given to Abigail Bailey’s mother “when she was a girl.” Also in the scrapbook is a program from the Annual Prize Drill of the Latin School Battalion, 1887; this was Phil’s first drill. Some items, in addition to entire pages, have been removed from the scrapbook.

Despite some tantalizing clues, the identities of Esther Davis and Abigail R. Bailey remain unknown. It is not clear if Davis is Esther’s maiden name or married name. It is not clear if Abigail is her daughter, granddaughter, or other relation. (More information about actor J. B. Mason and Senator John Conness is filed with the scrapbook.)

An album designed to be used as a Scrap Book, as indicated by the title on the front cover. The cloth covers are gray, with a maroon and gilt design stamped on the front cover; another design is blind embossed on the back cover, as is the patent date of March 1876. The spine is split so the covers and all pages are detached.

2017x85.100a-b

Pease, Mary Morton, 1850-1911.

Letter to Mary Ann Paull, 1863.

2 items

(ATHM 1992.88.119a-b)

A letter from May to her aunt, Mary Ann Paull, in Boston, simply dated Sunday 1863. May gives news of the family, including Georgie, Charlie, and Zephy; news of visits from or to friends Lydian Sears and Mary Ann Lobdell (with her baby); and includes a swatch of cotton fabric from her new dress. The fabric has a brown background and peach colored lines forming squares.

Although identification of the letter writer is not completely certain, it seems to have been written by Mary Morton Pease of New Bedford, Massachusetts, to her aunt Mary Ann Pease Paull. In the 1865 state census, Mary Ann Paull and her machinist husband Charles F. Paull lived in Boston with their sons George (born 1857) and Charles (born 1858). Mary Morton Pease had a younger brother Zephaniah (1860-1933; he seems a little young to be picking up peaches in 1863). In the 1870 census of New Bedford, Mary Ann Lobdell had a seven year old daughter named Susan. Mary Morton Pease was the daughter of Joanne M. Thomas (1828-1918) and Peleg Pease (1822-1879). Peleg Pease and his sister Mary Ann Pease Paul were the children of Mary Clark Spooner (1801-1891) and Zephaniah Pease (1799-1874). In the 1870 census, Mr. and Mrs. Zephaniah Pease lived near Mr. and Mrs. Peleg Pease; and George Paull was listed in the household of his grandparents Mr. and Mrs. Z. Pease.

2017x85.101a-c

Alexander, Lucy A. (Lucy A. Alexander French), 1830-1886.

Letter to Mrs. Merritt French, 1850, July 7.

3 items

(ATHM 1992.88.1351-c)

Lucy A. Alexander in Boston wrote this letter to her friend Mrs. Merritt French of North West Bridgewater, Massachusetts, on July 7, 1850. Miss Alexander sent news of her grandmother and aunt, care of both of whom precluded Lucy from working as a dressmaker. She inquired about living with Mrs. French again should she return to Bridgewater. She also mentioned fireworks on Independence night. She enclosed a piece of her new dress fabric (cost 9 pence a yard; a dark gauze with green flowers) and bonnet ribbon (cost 20 cents; white or cream silk woven with pattern of shamrocks).

Lucy A. Alexander was born in Nova Scotia in 1830, the daughter of James Alexander. In 1851, she married Simeon Howard French (1815-1890), a boot and shoemaker, son of Hannah and Dependence French. In the 1850 census, she was listed as living in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, in the household of stonecutter Merritt French (age 50, son of Levi French and a cousin of Simeon Howard French) and his wife Mary French (age 44; born Mary Carr). Lucy Alexander French died in Easton, Mass., on Sept. 1, 1886.

2017x85.102a-b

Bell, Catherine.

Examination tests in needlework, 1901-1903.

2 volumes

(ATHM 2013.169.7, 2013.169.8)

Two notebooks of well-executed needlework, chiefly plain sewing and knitting, completed by Catherine Bell of England, one dated 1901, from the South Garrison School, Shorncliffe, and the other dated 1903, from York. Both volumes contain exercises labeled Infants’ lower division, Infants’ upper division, and Standards I-VII. These exercises demonstrated skills in hemming, joining, seaming, darning, gathering, patching, making buttonholes, and also included exercises in knitting. The 1903 volume also includes exercises in sections labeled Miscellaneous and Measurements, Diagrams, etc., for Cutting out Garments. The miscellaneous examples show additional buttonholes, fancy stitching, hemstitching and whipping, and preparing gussets. The measurements, etc., section includes doll-size examples of a child’s chemise, a boy’s shirt, a baby’s nightdress, child’s drawers, a yoked overall, a child’s frock bodice, an apron, a child’s petticoat (2 examples), a girl’s pinafore, and a child’s nightdress. Most sewing samples are made from cloth, but a few are made from paper. A calico sampler is missing, but the flannel sampler shows fancy stitches, darning, patching, gussets, scalloping, pleating, and other sewing skills. In cross-stitch, it is labeled C. Bell, 1903. Catherine’s teacher labeled her 1903 volume “Excellent.”

Laid into the 1901 volume are three sheets of perforated paper. One sheet is unused, but the other two have floral designs drawn on them; both designs are only partially executed in embroidery thread. One sheet also has the word Stationary [sic] written on it.

Nothing is known about Catherine Bell. There was an army camp called Shorncliffe in Kent, England, and perhaps the South Garrison School was for children in that area.

The 1901 volume has a textured paper cover. The volume is identified on the first leaf, and another label is inside the back cover. Several pages have been glued together and have windows cut out so the right and wrong sides of the samples can be viewed. Examples IV.D. (child’s chemise), V.A. (buttonhole and button), and VI.A. (yoked overall) are missing. One of the sheets of perforated paper is blind embossed Dobbs Kidd & Co., London.

The 1903 volume has a cloth cover; it is identified on the first two pages. Inside the back cover is the bookseller’s label: J. Sampson, 13 Coney St., York. As above, several pages have been glued together and have windows cut out. Some examples are detached from their pages. The calico sampler in miscellaneous section is missing. Missing from measurement section are circular band, infant’s shirt, and child’s stockings.

2017x85.103a-zz, a3-s4

Downs, M.

Fiber content cards, 1929-1930.

97 cards in one box

(ATHM 2013.213)

Ninety-seven printed cards headed “Fiber Content,” with fabric swatches attached. The cards are numbered 1-125, with the last card unnumbered, and several cards are missing. Each card includes space for name of fabric, character, width, price, variation in width and price, weave, warp, filling, place of purchase, date, and general uses. A sample entry: Name: dress linen; Character: coarse flax fabric; Width 36”; Price $.75, Variation in width: 36”-40”, Variation in price $.75-2.00; Weave: plain; Warp: flax; Filling: flax; Place of purchase: Beattie & McGuire Co.; Date 1930; General uses: dresses, smocks. The fabrics are cotton, wool, silk, linen, rayon, and blends. The uses were for mostly for clothing and draperies, with some upholstery fabrics. Most of the fabric swatches are about 2” x 3.5” in size.

The fabrics were purchased from Boston, Massachusetts, department stores: Beattie & McGuire Co., Thresher Bros., R.H. White Co., Jordan Marsh, R.H. Stearns Co., and Woolworths (Boston specified). The cards are numbered, but numbers 4, 14, 16, 27, 28, 35, 59, 63, 64, 69, 71, 72, 74, 88, 89, 101, 103, 105, 107, 110, 111, 116-122, and 124 are missing; the last card is not numbered. The cards give no clue as to why the collection was assembled.

The identity of M. Downs, whose name appears on the first card, is unknown.

2017x85.104

Grinnell, William F. (William Fowler), 1831-1912.

Wool, silk and cotton manufactures of Bradford, Yorkshire. Collected, classified and arranged by William F. Grinnell, United States Consul, 1886.

1 volume

(ATHM 1988.7.8)

A book of fabric swatches from Bradford, Yorkshire, England, collected by William F. Grinnell, the U.S. consul there. The volume is divided into sections, with each section headed by a unique title page drawn by Leonard Darbyshire. The sections are silk seals; silk plushes; worsted coating (including vestings and serges); woolen goods (including carriage cloths and machine blanketing); stuffs (including dress goods, lastings, lings, umbrella cloths, waterproof, and button cloths); cotton goods (including hopsacking, cords, linings, and dress goods); miscellaneous (hair & fibre cloth, tapestry, damasks, hemp bagging, wiping cloth, rubber sheets, and parchment); and goods for the Mexican market. Each sample is numbered and include width and price in dollars. A weight could also be noted. The manufacturers of the fabrics are not named.

For a similar volume, see Col. 50, acc. 2013x85.105.

The volume has board covers with red leather binding and corners; front cover is detached. Remnants of leather straps are attached to front and back covers. A card with the title and collection information is attached to the front cover. Samples are held in place with small brads. The pages are brittle.

William Fowler Grinnell (1831-1912) was engaged in mercantile pursuits in the U.S. before being appointed to be U.S. consul in various places in France and England. He was born in Massachusetts, the son of Eliza Seymour Perkins and George Grinnell. He married Mary Morton, the daughter of Lucretia Parsons and the Rev. Daniel Oliver Morton. Her brother Levi P. Morton was in a partnership with Grinnell for a time. (Morton became active in politics, serving as vice president of the U.S. under Benjamin Harrison and as governor of New York.) Grinnell died in Paris, France, in 1912.

In the 1881 census of England, Leonard Darbyshire (born circa 1868 in Leeds) was listed as a thirteen year old student living with his parents James (a tailor) and Mary and sister Florence in Horton in Bradford. In the 1891 census, he was listed as living in Manchester, working as the deputy United States consul.

2017x85.105

Samples of manufactures of dress goods, linings, etc., no. I, [collected by] United States Consulate, Bradford, 1892.

1 volume

(ATHM 1988.7.3)

A book of fabric swatches from Bradford, Yorkshire, England, collected by the U.S. consul there. The volume is divided into sections, with tabs marking most of the different sections. The first section does not have an identifying tab; the other sections are labeled dress goods; French dress goods; lining; and lastings. Each sample is numbered and include width, weight, and price in dollars. Some fabric samples are missing. The manufacturers of the fabrics are not named.

For a similar volume, see Col. 50, acc. 2017x85.104; for a volume from the consul in Belgium, see Col. 50, acc. 2017.85.106.

The volume is bound with cloth-covered boards, with red leather spine and corners. The title is stamped in gilt on the front cover. The two attached buckles could be used to hold the volume closed.

This cataloger does not know who was the U.S. consul in Bradford, England, in 1892. It is known that John Arnold Tibbits (1844-1893) of Connecticut was the consul there in 1891.

2017x85.106

Roosevelt, George Washington, 1843-1907.

Fabric samples from Belgian manufacturers, 1891.

1 volume

(ATHM 1988.7.4)

A volume with samples of fabrics manufactured in Belgium for both men’s and women’s wear, and also twilled flannels. The samples are numbered, and descriptions generally include width, weight, price, manufacturer, and sometimes the fiber used. Includes a letter written to Consul W. Roosevelt and a trade card for Belgian textile manufactory La Dinantaise. The swatches seemed to have been collected by Consul Roosevelt and then sent to the U.S., where they were assembled in an album.

George Washington Roosevelt was born in Chester, Pennsylvania, the son of Esther Vickery (1814-1880) and James Roosevelt (1813-1864). He served in the U.S. Army during the Civil War, had his leg amputated after being wounded at Gettysburg, and was awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor in 1887 for his services. He served as U.S. Consul in Brussels, Belgium, where he died on April 14, 1907 (but was buried in Washington, D.C.) He married Ida Mae Goldberg (1850-1926). No children are mentioned in his will. His tombstone gives his date of birth as February 14, 1843, although other sources give the year as 1844. In the 1860 census, he was listed as an apprentice cigar maker, living with his older brother Theodore, who was also a cigar maker. (Other brothers were Isaac and James Edward.)

For similar volumes from the consul in Bradford, England, see Col. 50, acc. 2017x85.104 and .105.

Volume has marbled board covers and leather corners; spine is missing; volume made by Samuel Hobbs & Co. of Boston. Pages are brittle. Label attached to front cover reads simply Belgium.

2017x85.107a-j

Harvie, Ruth E.

Letter to Simpson & Sons, with swatches, 1891, Oct. 2.

10 items

(ATHM 1981.11.1-.10)

A letter from Ruth E. Harvie, 144, Norman Avenue, Brooklyn ED, New York, October 2, 1891, to Simpson & Sons, Lowell, Massachusetts. Enclosed with the letter were the nine textile swatches still associated with it. Mrs. Harvie wrote “they [the swatches] were bought when the States were colonies and made in England and cost from 75 cts. To $10.00 per yard[;] my grandmother had them & they are over one hundred & sixty years old[;] the large piece is over two hundred years old.” Mrs. Harvie gives no reason for sending the swatches to this company.

All the textile swatches have floral or leaf patterns. Four have the same color blue background with variations in the red flowers in the design. Three others have blue backgrounds with white leaf patterns. Most of the swatches are small, 10x11 cm or smaller, but one is about 30x40 cm. The probable ages of the swatches have not been verified.

Nothing is known about Ruth E. Harvie. She may be the woman of that name who was born around 1823 and died in 1911. In the 1902 Brooklyn directory, a woman of that name was listed as the widow of George Harvie.

A company called William Simpson and Sons established the Eddystone Manufacturing Co. in Chester, Pennsylvania. This firm dissolved in 1892. It is not known if Simpson and Sons of Lowell, Mass., was related to the firm in Pennsylvania.

2017x85.108a-b -- oversize, in map case

P.A. & S.

Fast colours fabric samples, circa 1860-1885.

(ATHM 1968.57.2-.3)

Two large sample cards of fabric swatches. One sheet has ten printed cotton madder-style samples; there are two patterns printed in two colorways, so four distinct fabrics in all. Each has red or brown background, with patterns in red, brown, black and white. The other sheet has purple swatches, four patterns, each in two colorways, so eight distinct fabrics in all. The purples are medium to medium-dark, with patterns in white, brown, and black.

P.A. & S. has not been identified. It was possibly a cotton printing firm.

The fabric swatches are mounted on sheets printed with P.A. & S. Fast Colours at top, with an ornate gold border around all the swatches, and plain gold around each individual swatch. The sheets have fold lines, minor tears, and stains.

2017x85.109

Herrmann, George.

Suitcase with rare fiber samples and other papers, circa 1955-1989.

(ATHM 1988.167, 1989.119)

Of chief interest is Mr. Herrmann’s suitcase with its containers holding examples of rare fibers available from his business. These are not fur samples, but fibers removed from animals, including rabbit, angora [rabbit or goat not specified], muskrat, nutria, alpaca, otter, opossum, seal, deer, reindeer, mink, beaver, squirrel, wolf, and fox. Also found are samples of feathers, milkweed, flax, viscose, and pinna nobilis. The samples are mostly in labeled plastic boxes, with some in bags or cardboard boxes. Many of the fibers were used in the hat making industry, while others were used in weaving fabrics.

Also includes articles and notes, 1955-1958, about making fabrics from specialty fibers such as goat, chinchilla, rabbit, raccoon, etc.; and letterhead and office forms for G. Herrmann, Inc. Also includes a letter, June 16, 1976, to Herrmann from Phyllis A. Bowen of Leiter's Designer Fabrics, Merrimacport (Merrimac), Mass., thanking him for the opportunity to interview him for a class. Enclosed with the letter is a copy of Bowen's paper for a course in advanced textiles at Framingham State College, Framingham, Mass. The paper is entitled: Specialty Hair Fibres with Emphasis on the Fur Fibres--Angora Rabbit Hair and Common Rabbit Hair. Also a taped interview between Diane Fagan Affleck, Curator at ATHM, and Mr. Herrmann concerning his business as a dealer in rare and exotic fibers.

George Herrmann was president of G. Herrmann, Inc., a firm in Boston, Massachusetts dealing in rare fibers. His business was in various locations, including Summer Street, and he was still working in 1989. He and his wife Elsie lived on Pinckney Street in the 1960s. In 1948, he was hired by a firm based in Woonsocket, the specialty fibers division of which was based in Boston. In 1959, Herrmann began his own business. He may be the George Siegfried Herrmann who was born in Germany in 1922, and who died Boston 1993. This man came to the United States in 1947 with his parents Herbert and Elsa (all born in Germany) and his younger siblings Heinrich and Marianne (both born in Brussels). The family came to the U.S. from Israel, and the ship passenger manifest listed them as “stateless.”

RELATED MATERIALS IN THE DOWNS COLLECTION:

(Note: this is not an exhaustive list. Please search the on-line catalog for other documents and collections. Subject headings to search include Textile fabrics – Sample books; Textile fabrics – Specimens; Sewing – Amateur’s manuals; Sewing – Study and teaching.)

Col. 35

Wilson-Warner-Corbit family papers.

Included in these papers is a silk swatch, with a note that it had been removed from an old curtain hanging in the cathedral in which Christopher Columbus is buried.

Col. 54 (74 x 140)

Zindel, Auguste.

Records, 1825-1902.

The records consist of 90 notebooks, plus one published history of the 19th-century industry in Mulhouse. The notebooks are divided into a number of distinct series. There are 12 volumes of dye recipes, tests, and processes for the years 1825-1836; these are entitled "Journal." There are 22 volumes supplementing the "Journal" and covering the years 1829-1850. There are 32 volumes of textile samples with dye analyses and recipes for the years 1837-1852; these are entitled "Brouillon." There are also 16 volumes of an originally 17-volume run entitled "Notes et Observations," dated from 1826-1850. A one-volume price index dated 1836 is next; then one volume of dye recipes, 1838-1844; two volumes of extracts from professional journals; two volumes describing experiments and tests; and two volumes of notes on variously dated dye recipes, 1821-1831. Altogether are included an estimated 38,000 fabric swatches. Most are cotton, some are wool, and some are silk. Most of the textual material is in French. Scattered items are in German.

A more detailed description of the contents is available at the repository.

Col. 300 (62 x 14-15)

Maurepas, Jean-Frederic Phelypeaux, Comte de, 1701-1781.

Papers, 1731-1743.

The papers consist of two groups: reports on English cloth manufacture and the Levant trade (five items) and reports on the possibility of selling cloth from Rouen in Spain and the West Indies (six items). In the first set of reports (1731), the compiler gives details on four kinds of woolen cloth manufactured in England and how they were marketed in Turkey. A second set of reports from 1740 discusses French woolens competing successfully with British textiles. The report also reviews unethical practices in the trade, including underselling and using political connections to further trade. Sales figures are present. The fifth document is a letter to Maurepas describing a mission in Turkey by Caylus de Pardaillan. The second group of papers relates to French efforts to sell textiles in Spain and compete with the British in the textile trade. Included are 64 swatches of French textiles made in Rouen which closely parallel English goods. Many were made in imitation of imported Indian silk-and-cotton goods (striped, chevron, checked, and lozenge patterns; floral patterns which required a draw loom; linen and cotton stripes; tobines; and cottons brocaded with floral sprigs in brightly colored wools). Nine of the swatches are of West of England wools used for clothing by the Spanish.

Indexes: translation of the report with details of woolen cloth manufacture in the Florence Montgomery Papers, collection 107, at this repository.

References:

Montgomery, Florence. Textiles in America, 1650-1870. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1984.

Historical French documents of the eighteenth century, from the archive of Jean-Frederic Phelypeaux, Comte de Maurepas, Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc. (New York, 1962), entries 67 and 72.

Publications:

Lamontagnue, Roland. Textiles et documents Maurepas. Ottawa: Les editions Lemeac, 1970.

Montgomery, Florence. "Maurepas Papers." Typescript in English of the introductory essay to the Lamontagnue volume.

Col. 325 (61 x 088, 79 x 103)

Trotter, Nathan (1787-1853).

Papers, ca. 1805-1839.

The collection includes four sheets of samples (as well as other items, not relating to textiles), dating from 1805 to 1810. One page contains ten textile samples of bearskins and coatings, with numbers and yardages of each. The second contains 20 samples of fine colored leather, giving the number and name of each color. The third sheet contains five samples of fine colored leathers, two of which have tiny patterns printed on them. The fourth contains ten samples of variegated, colored silk with numbers.

Publications: Tooker, Elva. Nathan Trotter, Philadelphia Merchant. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1955.

Col. 637 (01x51)

Fabric swatches and documents.

A collection containing more than one thousand textile swatches, most dated 1863 or 1872, plus some other miscellaneous documents which relate to textiles, 1833-1874. Many of the swatches are associated with the Ancona Printing Co. of Gloucester City, New Jersey; the 1863 designs may have been from another textile mill owned by the same person. Other items in the collection document activities as follows: the Leeds, England, firm of Titley, Tathams & Walker shipped thread to Philadelphia in 1833 and 1874. Two shipping receipts show that table cloths and other linen fabrics were imported from Belfast, Ireland, by Philadelphia merchants. In 1843, Eckel, Spangler, & Raiguel of Philadelphia sold a large variety of textiles and clothing accessories to Fry & Rambo. In 1856, David S. Brown purchased goods from the American Print Works, the items being shipped from Fall River, Massachusetts. The American Print Works was still in business in 1875, as evidenced by an advertising postcard. A document filed by the Eddystone Manufacturing Co. of Chester, Pennsylvania, with its insurance company includes a drawing of the buildings, dated March 9, 1885.

Col. 971 (acc. 2017x120)

Tanenbaum, Stanley.

Drawings and weaving notes for upholstery fabrics.

Col. 972 (acc. 2017x121)

Pulliam, Deborah.

Articles on knitting and spinning.

Col. 973 (acc. 2017x122)

Wright, Alexander, John and Peter.

Notebooks of dyeing recipes and an account book.

Col. 974 (acc. 2017x123)

Bent, Robert, and Thomas Warburton.

Dye recipe books, finishing notes, and textile swatches.

Col. 975 (acc. 2017x124)

Walworth, Joseph Edward.

Dye and chemistry notes.

Col. 976 (acc. 2017x125)

Main, David Palmer.

Dye recipes and other papers.

Col. 977 (acc. 2017x126)

Verity, Kirk and Joseph K.

Student notebooks with weaving drafts and designs.

Col. 978 (acc. 2017x127)

Blumenthal, Isaac August.

Dye recipes and letter.

Col. 979 (acc. 2017x128)

Allen, Laura M.

Weaving drafts and other papers.

Col. 980 (acc. 2017x87)

Cobb, J. H. (Jonathan Holmes)

Papers [chiefly about silk culture]

Col. 981 (acc. 2017x85.85-.88)

William Simpson Sons and Company.

Dress fabric samples

Doc. 71 (acc. 82x272)

Swatch book, circa 1860

Consists of 61 swatches of white cloth, ca. 11 x 11 cm., 58 of which are mounted, and all of which contain a single image in reddish inks. Most of the images are animals or flowers, and are identified (dancing goat, snow drop, anchor) in pencil. Images may be brush drawings, or perhaps are printed or stamped onto the fabric. A sheet of paper laid into the volume reads Phila. May 11th 1860; one drawing includes the name Thomas N. Fraiser; there are no other clues as to the origin of this volume.

Doc. 75 (acc. 77 x 152)

Pearce, Muriel.

Sewing exercise book, ca. 1880-1910.

Muriel Pearce's signature appears in pencil at the top of the front cover; she is otherwise unidentified.

The book consists of a series of 19 different exercises in sewing and mending. Each includes a handwritten series of instructions, with corresponding finished work attached to the facing page. Three swatches are also laid in without accompanying instructions. Work done in muslin and other textiles.

Doc. 100 (acc. 77x254)

Lichtenberger, Estella M.

Sewing exercise book, ca. 1890-1910.

Estella ("Stella") M. Lichtenberger was born on 28 February 1881, and lived at least until February 1977. Her home was in the Decatur, Illinois, area. She was the daughter of John and Mary Rucker Lichtenberger.

The book consists of an index with "Definitions and Rules," followed by a series of twenty-five different exercises in sewing and mending. Each exercise includes a handwritten series of instructions and illustrative diagrams, with the corresponding finished work attached to the facing page. Work has been done on muslin as well as other textiles.

Doc. 1081 (acc. 74 x 19)

Foyer, Rachel Darling.

Sewing exercise book, ca. 1880-1910.

Rachel Darling Foyer lived, according to the inscription on the first page, at 1350 Giel Avenue, Lakewood, [Ohio]. She was married to Albert Foyer, who in 1910 was a salesman but in 1920 was a stockbroker. They had a son named Philip born around 1916. Her mother Chloe lived with them for awhile.

The book, written left-handed, consists of a series of 23 graded exercises in sewing and mending. Each includes a numbered sheet of typed instruction, with the corresponding finished work attached to the facing page. Some of the exercises are entitled "doll clothes." Foyer designates Exercise VI as the "End of First Grade;" Exercise XIII is "End of Second Grade;" Exercise XVI is "End of Third Grade;" and Exercise XXII is "End of Fourth Grade." It appears that the course was left incomplete because there is only one exercise in the Fifth Grade, and because the last 55 leaves in the volume are blank.

Doc. 1099 (acc. 99x111)

Wood, Dorothy A.

Sewing exercise book, [ca.1900?]

Nothing is known about Dorothy A. Wood.

Consists of 12 different exercises in sewing and mending. Each exercise includes a handwritten series of instructions with the corresponding finished sample attached to the facing page. The first three pages list some basic sewing supplies and give some general information about sewing (correct posture for sewing, needed light, how to thread needles, etc.) and fabric. The samples have been worked on different kinds of cloth.

Doc. 1337 (acc. 03x39)

Krieg, Dorothy (Dora).

Sewing exercise book, ca.1900.

Nothing is known about Dorothy Krieg. Ernst Steiger, the publisher of Steiger’s Elementary Sewing Designs, was born in Saxony, Germany in 1832. He emigrated to New York in 1855 and became a book publisher; he also imported items related to the kindergarten system. He died in 1917.

A school copy book was used for mounting the sewing samples. The volume is bound with marbled boards and a cloth spine. The back cover and part of the spine are loose. The samples are stitched to the pages. Many of the samples show a little discoloration. Dorothy wrote her name on the front cover and inside the back cover. Some other designs are also drawn inside the back cover.

Doc. 1366 (acc. 03x164)

Parrish, Roberta Christine Brinkley, 1924-2007.

Sewing exercise book, ca.1953.

An exercise book (on loose-leaf notebook paper) kept by Roberta Parrish during a sewing class. The class was probably at the Watkins Institute in Nashville, and was probably taken around 1953. The notebook contains sections on such subjects as “Contents of the Sewing Box,” “To Take Measurements,” “Block Pattern,” how to make six and eight gored skirts, “The Waist,” how to make various kinds of sleeves, collars, and buttonholes, how to make covered buttons, “Inserting the Zipper,” “Steps in Buying and Making a Dress,” “How to Place a Pattern on Stipped [sic] Material,” “How to Slip-Baste (Top Side)”, how to do various kinds of fagoting, “Use of Sewing Machine,” “Ric-Rak [sic] Daisy,” “How to Cut a Skirt with One Seam Center Front or Back,” “How to Make a Jabot,” “Lines,” “Gibson Pleats,” “Princess Pattern,” “The Slip,” and chapters on facings, hems, and bindings. The chapters are probably not in the original order (for example, not all the sections on fagoting are together).

Doc. 1474 (acc. 06x93)

Baskett, Florence.

Sewing exercise book, ca.1902-1920.

Sewing exercise book includes completed exercises in patching, darning, making plackets and gussets (including gussets for trousers or drawers), gathering, pleating, crafting buttonholes, etc. The work was done on textile fabrics and some pieces are almost miniature apparel, such as an apron and drawers or trousers. A paper pattern for a doll size shift or dress is laid into the volume.

Fol. 7 (acc. 89x39)

Weaver’s pattern book, [1825-1860?]

Written entirely in French, this manuscript gives detailed instructions for weaving a variety of textiles. Written as a book, with chapters and subheadings, it includes diagrams for setting up loom patterns, and well over 100 sample swatches of cloth woven according to the instructions. A large piece of wallpaper mounted on a piece of American newspaper from 1934 is laid in at the back.

Fol. 251

Textile designs, [ca.1800-1849]

Consists of pencil, pen and ink, and color designs (some done by hand, some printed on paper) for textiles, mounted in a scrapbook. The patterns appear to be from the late 18th and early 19th centuries, or bear a resemblance to designs of that period. Some may be cut or traced from other sources. Types of designs include cashmere patterns for edges of shawls, paisley patterns on tracing paper for loom-woven shawls, floral patterns for dress materials ranging from delicate to the more naturalistic, and geometric patterns in vivid purples and greens. Although there is no identification, some of the patterns bear a number and one is labeled linen finish.