"First Drawing of Fibers--Cheney Brothers' Factory"; Photograph, 1915. Factory interior view of women workers tending drawing machines (process like carding or combing fibers, but for silk). One of 46 photographic reproductions of views illustrating sericulture in Japan and silk manufacture in the Cheney Brothers factory in South Manchester, Connecticut. Donated by Cheney Brothers in 1915 for use in the National Museum's Textile Hall. With caption, 12" x 10". Keystone View Co
"Rolls of Dressed Fiber--Cheney Brothers' Factory"; Photograph, 1915. Neat stack of shining silk fibers in rolls, as they come off the dressing machine. One of 46 photographic reproductions of views illustrating sericulture in Japan and silk manufacture in the Cheney Brothers factory in South Manchester, Connecticut. Donated by Cheney Brothers in 1915 for use in the National Museum's Textile Hall. With caption, 12" x 10". Keystone View Co
Silver gelatin, black and white, mounted. Close up of plant fibers, central pod with individual seeds all around. Signed and dated, pencil (recto: bottom center right). Verso: Imogen Cunningham label, date handwritten, pencil.
Description
The Imogen Cunningham collection consists of thirty gelatin silver photographs, mounted, with label, signed and dated by the photographer, and three platinum prints, mounted and labeled. The subjects in the thirty gelatin silver photographs range from plants to portraiture between 1925 and 1968. The three platinum prints were made in 1912 and are representative of Cunningham’s pictorialist style. They were acquired from the photographer in 1968.
The photographs were used in a Smithsonian exhibition titled, “Women, Cameras, and Images I,” November 30, 1968-May 30, 1969, in the Hall of Photography, Museum of History and Technology. The exhibition also included thirty additional photographs lent by Imogen Cunningham, and five lent from the Library of Congress. The “Women, Cameras, and Images” exhibition was a series of five exhibitions featuring the work of female photographers: Cunningham, Betty Hahn, Gayle Smalley, Barbara Morgan, and Janine Niepce.
"Drawing Machines--Cheney Brothers' Factory"; Photograph, 1915. Women workers tending room full of drawing machines, feeding lapped fiber batts into machine that draws the fibers into narrower rolls in preparation for spinning. One of 46 photographic reproductions of views illustrating sericulture in Japan and silk manufacture in the Cheney Brothers factory in South Manchester, Connecticut. Donated by Cheney Brothers in 1915 for use in the National Museum's Textile Hall. With caption, 12" x 10". Keystone View Co.
Photograph, black and white: Wool sorting; American Woolen Co., The National & Providence Woolen Mills, Providence, RI. 1912.
One of a series of 71 photographs documenting the workings of the American Woolen Company's National & Providence Worsted Mills, part of a large donation of fibers, yarns, and fabrics by American Woolen Mills in 1912.
Photograph, black and white: Wool sorting - Inspecting and Blending; American Woolen Co., The National & Providence Woolen Mills, Providence, RI. 1912.
One of a series of 71 photographs documenting the workings of the American Woolen Company's National & Providence Worsted Mills, part of a large donation of fibers, yarns, and fabrics by American Woolen Mills in 1912.
Photograph, black and white: Wool sorting - Grading Fleeces; American Woolen Co., The National & Providence Woolen Mills, Providence, RI. 1912.
One of a series of 71 photographs documenting the workings of the American Woolen Company's National & Providence Worsted Mills, part of a large donation of fibers, yarns, and fabrics by American Woolen Mills in 1912.
Photograph, black & white: Washington Mills, American Woolen Co., Lawrence, MA, 1912.
One of a series of 71 photographs documenting the workings of the American Woolen Company's Mills, part of a large donation of fibers, yarns, and fabrics by American Woolen Mills in 1912.
