Cheney Brothers design for furnishing fabric, 1 of 6 sheets, 1913. Painted design on six sheets of square paper for fabric sample, T-1058, a floral design furnishing fabric in green and old rose on tan. Mfrs. #s: Com 4488; Style 3098. Manufacturer termed the design a 'tapestry design'.
Two pantograph plates, Cheney Brothers, 1913. A design for a printed satin (Bulgarian design No 542, TE.T01038.000), engraved on two zinc plates prepared for use on the pantograph machine for transferring this design to the copper printing rollers used to print this pattern.
Length of Cheney Brothers wash silk. Lightweight plain weave with warp stripes. Yarn dyed. Narrow blue stripes (in warp only) on white ground; white weft. (W. 32 in., L. 1-1/2 yd.) A page from a Cheney Silks sales sample book, in the DOT study sample files, shows four additional colorways.
Eight spools of Cheney Brothers Silk yarn, 1913. Colored. 8 spools, 1-1/4 in. Dia., L. 3-1/2 in. Part of gift illustrating all the steps in making silk textiles at the Cheney Brothers mill in South Manchester, CT. Sales offices: 4th Ave. and 18th St., New York City
Sample of Lombardy Frisons Silk, Cheney Brothers, 1913 Frisons. Lombardy. Yellow. Part of gift illustrating all the steps in making silk textiles at the Cheney Brothers mill in South Manchester, CT. Sales offices: 4th Ave. and 18th St., New York City
A length of a Cheney Brothers figured silk furnishing fabric, 1913. Heavy tapestry-like compound weave, jacquard-woven; meant for use in upholstery and furnishing. The pattern is a floral design in green and rose on a tan ground. (W. 50 in., L. 2.5 yds.) Mfrs. #s: Com 4488; No. 53761; Color 3098/1. The original painted design for this textile is T-1057.
Length of Cheney Brothers Showerproof Foulard. Silk. Lightweight 2-up, 2-down twill weave. Design of small pairs of double-ended fleur de lis in white on blue ground. Printed. (W. 23 in., L. 36 in.)
Doherty & Wadsworth Co Printed Mikado Silk Crepe fabric length; 1914. Silk Dress goods "Printed Mikado Crepe" with significant fading of color and print. Originally ground was pink, this has faded. "Pompadour design" of detached sprigs and sprays of flowers. Pinked edges.
Henry Doherty and Joseph Wadsworth came to Paterson, New Jersey from England and began working together in 1879. They rented small spaces in mills until 1882 when they were able to purchase a mill and began weaving grenadines. Paterson, NJ was the premier silk manufacturing location in the United States at the time. Doherty and Wadsworth was Paterson's largest silk manufacturers when they went to Allentown in 1910 to set up more mills. The president of the company, Henry Doherty, in 1913 automated his looms so that one worker could operate four looms at a time instead of just two. They also had silk mills in Wilkes-Barre. By 1938, the silk mills had closed down due to pressure from the Great Depression and changes in whoesaling textiles, and strikes by workers demanding higher wages.
Skein of Japan Tram Silk, Cheney Brothers, 1913 Tram. Thrown silk. Japan, white. 1 skein. Part of gift illustrating all the steps in making silk textiles at the Cheney Brothers mill in South Manchester, CT. Sales offices: 4th Ave. and 18th St., New York City
A "Martine" silk by the Duplan Silk Company of Hazleton, PA. This design titled "Pekin", on charmeuse, a lightweight satin weave silk. Printed design ofwide and narrow irregular stripes in yellow, chartreuse green, blue, brown, and black. This example was cylinder printed. Duplan's publicity touts this series of silk dress fabrics as "Woven, printed, and finished in the US, sold and delivered in Paris and London. Designs by the Martine School of Decorative Art, Paris, France. Directed, owned, and personally supervised by Mr. Paul Poiret, who is universally acknowledged as the greatest creator of women's fashions of the present century." In the press these were called "Futurist Flowers", and there were supposedly 8 designs in total that Duplan licensed from Poiret. The NMAH Textiles collection holds six samples, four designs, two designs in two colorways on two different ground cloths.
Skein of Raw Silk, Manchuria, Cheney Brothers, 1913. 1 skein. Part of gift illustrating all the steps in making silk textiles at the Cheney Brothers mill in South Manchester, CT. Sales offices: 4th Ave. and 18th St., New York City
Sample cut of of Cheney Brothers bi-color silk furnishing damask. Reversible damask with red and gold woven floral design, 2 selvedges present. Design is a large-scale reproduction of Renaissance floral ogee pattern. Woven with gold and red dual wefts and red warp. Red figures on gold ground. Cheney Brothers CB logo is woven into the cut edge. (W. 49 in., L. 48 3/4 in.)
A H Straus 'Luxor Taffeta" dress silk plum ground fabric length; 1917. Luxor taffeta. A lustrous reversible fabric with a discharge printed design copied from a woven fabric of ancient Peru. Original cataloging also says "Character of design resembling Etruscan ornaments" meaning a running fret design, but this design uses the two color running fretwork in vertical bands resembling Ancient Peruvian tunics. Colors are yellow and black on a plum ground. Yellow and black stripes each 0.875 inches wide create a pattern of alternating single and triple stripes parallel to the selvedge edge. Some uneven blotches of faded dye throughout.
A. H. Straus and Co. was active in the 1910s and 1920s. The company was based in New York City and was a premier importer and manufacturer of printed silks. Many fabric lengths in this collection have prints copied from ancient textiles.
Length of Pussy Willow (trade name) silk-- a fine, soft, radium-like, plain weave fabric (mfr #1900). Allover printed pattern (mfr #2762), "Gardens of Old Salem," one of the H.R. Mallinson & Co. 1929 Early American series. This design depicts the House of Seven Gables, old Darby Wharf, the Witch House, Home of Judge Corwim and Roger Williams, town pump, courtship of Nathaniel Hawthorne--done in 8 colors - shades of yellow, peach, and orange with white and black, on a light green ground. Judging from drawings by free-lance textile designer Walter Mitschke in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts - Boston, Mitschke designed this print and several others in the Early American series.
Mallinson's 1929 "Early American" series of printed dress silks was based on historical events and figures that were perceived at the time to consitute a shared American story. It was the last of the company's line of designs based on American themes in which each design was printed in at least seven colors, in several colorways, on three or four different ground cloths. The stock market crash and economic depression that followed made the investment in this kind of design unprofitable.
Skein of dyed Tussah or wild silk. "Emerald" green. Mfrs' tag reads: "Tussah or Wild silk." Wild silk is from cocoons that the silk moth has emerged from - the silk filament is no longer unbroken; it is therefore processed differently than cultivated, unbroken silk filament. One of 66 examples of silk yarns of various types, dyed in the skein.. Original sample # 45. From a group of 145 samples of silk fabrics and yarns of various types, weaves, uses, and origins donated in 1913 by the National Silk Dyeing Co., of Paterson, New Jersey (America's "Silk City"), which was one of the largest and most comprehensive silk dyeing and printing firms in the U.S.,
Skein of "Emerald" green silk tram. A type of thrown silk usually used for weft yarns. Mfrs' tag reads: "Tram: Used for filling in ribbons and broad silks." [Filling is a synonym for weft.] One of 66 examples of silk yarns of various types, dyed in the skein.. Original sample # 22. From a group of 145 samples of silk fabrics and yarns of various types, weaves, uses, and origins donated in 1913 by the National Silk Dyeing Co., of Paterson, New Jersey (America's "Silk City"), which was one of the largest and most comprehensive silk dyeing and printing firms in the U.S.