A length of printed pure dye silk crepe. Soft lustrous plain weave fabric "Thirteen stars", one of the H.R. Mallinson & Co. George Washington Bicentennial print series. An allover star pattern with two sizes of stars singly and in 13 star circles in white on a dark blue ground. According to company publicity at the time of its introduction, the design was adapted from a flag of the original 13 colonies. Probably a discharge-print.
A length of printed pure dye silk crepe--soft, lustrous, plain weave fabric #7102 (same construction as T-6943); pattern #3973 "Spinning Wheel," one of the H.R. Mallinson & Co. 1932 George Washington Bicentennial prints, showing a tiny detached motif in a spaced, tossed layout; white on a black ground, representing a Saxony wheel with flax covered distaff.
A sample length of H.R. Mallinson & Co.'s trade name Indestructible Chiffon Voile fabric--printed with an allover design of palm trees, and scenes of horse racing, beach-going, sailing, etc. Company pattern/quality numbers: 1800/2632. Colorway # 14. One of the "Playgrounds of the World" series, titled "Havana", in a cool-toned colorway of blues, with accents of tile red, gold, black and white. The company also donated a length of the same design on Vagabond Crepe in a warm-toned colorway on a white ground (T05741). An image from the publicity brochure for this series is atached to this record.
A length of block printed Mallinson trade name "Indestructible" voile. A sheer plain weave silk fabric ornamented with an allover conventionalized flower design (imitating batik work) in American Beauty (bright pink) outlined with white on a purple ground. Batik (a wax-resist dyeing technique, known by that name in Indonesia) was very popular in the US and Europe during the late 1910s and early 1920s. H.R. Mallinson was one of several textile manufacturers to create imitations of the hand-crafted batik characteristics through mechanical means. This textile has a very large repeat and according to the manufacturer was hand block-printed. There is a break in the design on one edge, which may indicate that the length was engineered for a particular use, with this unpatterned section meant for an opening of some kind.
A length of printed rayon pile, silk ground transparent velvet fabric: Mallinson's "Orchid Tissue Velvet": Sheer plain weave silk ground with double-woven rayon pile.. Discharge printed in an allover, dense floral effect, of aster heads in greens on a white ground. The mfr # for the fabric is #832; the mfr # for the design is #2689. Transparent velvet was introduced in the 1920s as a marketing name for solid cut pile on a sheer ground, usually a rayon pile and silk ground, giving the fabric a very soft hand.. The manufacturer's description of the process is: "The fabric is piece-dyed for discharge (meaning with a special dye) in a ground color, and the pile made to lie in one direction. The fabric is then run through the printing machine where the pattern is printed on the pile surface, which is afterward erected and finished. With the colors put on in the printing process is mixed a discharge chemical which removes or bleaches the ground color where it is not wanted in the pattern."
H.R. Mallinson & Co., Inc. was known in the silk industry for innovation in both design and technology.
Length of Pussy Willow (trade name) silk--fine soft radium-like plain weave fabric (mfr #1900) having an allover printed pattern (mfr #2761) titled "Showboat on the Mississippi." Scenes include a Mississippi steamboat, "Carnival at Old New Orleans," and African-Americans in the cotton fields and playing music. Colorway in tan, brown, yellow, gray, red, blue, green, and black on white ground #16b. One of the designs of the H.R. Mallinson & Co., Inc. 1929 Early American printed dress silks series. This design was inspired by the Jerome Kern/ Oscar Hammerstein musical "Showboat" which was in turn based on the novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. 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. [NB: "radium" was the term widely used in the early 20th century for a type of supple, lightweight, plain weave silk fabric. The original cataloger of this textile compared it to a familiar silk quality.]
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.
A length of printed "Indestructible Chiffon Voile" dress silk, from H.R. Mallinson & Co.'s "Playgrounds of the World" series of printed silks. This sample is an allover printed design, "Rose Gardens of the Bagatelle", a landscape design with an architectural feature within a framework of meandering or serpentine floral bands. Colors are greens, yellows, and other pastel shades.. Mallinson trade name "Indestructible Chiffon Voile" was an important fabric quality for the firm. It was a fine, sheer plain weave silk. Selvage inscription - Mallinson's Silks Deluxe Playgrounds of the World Rose Gardens of the Bagatelle. The series dates to 1928 and included both European and American "playgrounds". NMAH holds samples of each design in the series. Company numbers: 1800/2675. Colorway # 7.
A length of the "Arapaho" design dress silk; Mallinson's American Indian series, with small samples of 6 additional colorways of this design attached with a Mallinson tag at the upper right corner. The manufacturer's number for this fabric quality (Pussy Willow) is #5459. Pussy Willow was a long time Mallinson trade name for an unweighted, pure dye plain weave silk with a soft hand.. At the time it was popular it was considered similar to a generic fabric type called "radium". This is a large sample with small colorway samples attached. Large sample is Colorway #9. The design is the Arapaho tribe design from the American Indian series; an irregular, curving vertical stripe layout of beadwork strips and feathers. The large sample colorway has a light blue ground with patterning in dark blue, blue-green, orange, red-brown, yellow, black, and white.
Mallinson's American Indian series followed the "National Parks" and "Wonder Caves of America" designs, and illustrates the company's continuing interest in using American themes, and in utilizing the collections of New York area museums for research and inspiration.
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.
A length of M. C. Migel & Co., Inc. Mexixe series. Taffeta silk: "Pussy Willow" quality. Pure dye printed taffeta, design "Rattlesnake symbol"; 1914. Bright red ground printed with pottery-inspired Rattlesnake symbol, in circular motifs in purple, blue, green, and black. Printed on Pussy Willow quality plain weave silk. The Mexixe series was publicized as the first time an American textile company had utilized American design inspiration without looking to Paris first. The line was inspired by the prominence of Mexico and the US southwest in the news because of the US war against Pancho Villa.
M.C. Migel & Co., which in 1915 became H.R. Mallinson & Co., Inc., was known for innovation in silk design and silk manufacturing technology.
The first H.R. Mallinson & Co. La Victoire series, designed just before the Armistice to end World War I in Fall, 1918, comprised 6 designs. The first series of La Victoire prints celebrated different aspects of the French military forces. The "Scouts" design is "a clever stripe design in which the French poilu is featured on a scouting expedition." (description taken from a Mallinson marketing booklet). Infantry scouts often operated alone, ahead of their units, trying to find out the size and placement of the opposing forces. In this striped design, the seated and standing figures of the scouts appear to melt into the trees. The design is machine-printed on a lightweight semi-sheer silk crepe that the Mallinson firm trademarked as "Indestructible Crepe."
A sample cut with colorways of printed 'Pussy Willow' silk. a fine soft plain weave fabric, Mallinson's longest-lasting trade-name. One of the 1929 "American State Flowers" series: scattered allover design of white carnation: Indiana; scarlet carnation: Ohio; apple blossom: Michigan. One large sample (18" x 40") of the design in various colors on a black ground; smaller samples (6" x 8") of 9 different colorways attached. Ground colors: black (#5, #25), white (#15), blue (#4), green (#7), gray (#9), dark blue (#10, #20), tan (#12). Selvage inscription gives company name, state names and associated flowers.
A length of Mallinson's pure dye silk crepe--soft lustrous plain weave fabric #7102 (same construction as T-6943) pattern #3967 "Martha Washington," one of the George Washington Bicentennial Prints, in multi-colors on a soft coral-pink ground. The bee and tiny flower garlands were inspired by hand-painted motifs on the original dress, worn by Martha Washington during the administration of George Washington, in the collection at NMAH.
Displayed at the top of a staircase in the Louvre Museum in Paris since 1884, the Greek statue called “The Winged Victory of Samothrace” depicts the goddess Nike, or Victory. The statue’s symbolism served as the basis for this design of stripes containing "Winged Victory" motifs, printed in 4 colors on a tan ground of the manufacturer’s popular "Pussy Willow" fabrication. It is one of the second series of La Victoire prints, produced by H.R. Mallinson & Co. in conjunction with the Peace Conference that followed the signing of the Armistice ending the fighting in World War I.
Length of "Pussy Willow" silk - (Mallinson trade name) A fine soft, radium-like plain weave fabric (Mfr #1900). Printed with allover pattern (mfr #2768), titled "Life of George Washington," part of the Mallinson 1929 Early American series. Design depicts historical events in Washington's life: such as Washington taking command of his army; at Valley Forge; at Mount Vernon; arriving in New York for his inauguration; the Inauguration at Wall Street; and with his mother--done in 7 colors on a black ground. Selvage width; selvage inscription.
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.
A length of Mallinson's trade name printed "Indestructible" Crepe. A very thin, semi-sheer silk crepe similar to "Georgette" for dresses; with design "Tiger Rose" printed in 5 colors on light green ground. The wax-resist dyeing technique known as batik (as the technique is known in Indonesia) was extremely popular in the late 1910s and early 1920s. Several textile manufacturers in the United Staes and Europe imitated with machine printing technology the characteristic 'crackle' effect of hand made wax-resist textiles. This is one of those designs, which were very popular for a few years on either side of 1920. "Tiger Rose" was named after a Broadway play starring Lenore Ulric that opened in 1917 and became a silent film in 1923.
In late 1926 American silk manufacturer H.R. Mallinson & Co. introduced a bold new line of printed silks, twelve landscape designs, each available in from eight to twelve colorways (color combinations) on three different ground fabrics. The designs celebrated America's National Parks - then only a decade old. The designs represented all the usual styles necesssary for making clothing: allover prints, horizontal stripes, checks, a border design. This long rectangular scarf is made from the overall design depicting Niagara Falls, on Mallinson's trademark Pussy Willow silk. The scarf is finished with a machine-stitched picot edging along the sides, and finished at the ends with an 8 1/2 inch wide border of plain orange Pussy Willow silk.
A length of printed pure dye silk crepe. Soft lustrous plain weave fabric. Pattern "Candlelight". One of the H.R. Mallinson & Co. George Washington Bicentennial print series. Scattered motifs of candlestick with lighted taper, liberty bell, star, flower blossoms, and bellows against of ground with an overall pattern of tiny dots