Two identical lengths of Jacquard-figured, silk pile furnishing fabric; having ground and pile warps of organzine silk, and cotton filling in the back. Style #23/901 Large conventional pattern (Pompeian) in wine color velvet pile on golden tan ground. Wholesale $18.00 a Yard. Piece B originally cut from Piece A. Mill: Cheney Brothers, South Manchester, Conn.
Voided velvet, silk pile and face and cotton back.
Selvage width sample length of novelty rayon seersucker in red, white, and blue; American Viscose Corporation; 1942. Yarn-dyed stiff medium weight fabric woven of viscose filament rayon yarn in plain and satin weave stripes (red and gray) which produce a seersucker effect. Blue wefts, red and white warps. Used for women's evening wear.
Rayon fabrics played a large part in both military and civilian products during World War II, as shortages of other fibers made it essential to replace cotton, silk, and wool with rayon (regenerated cellulose) whenever possible.
One of 17 fabric samples donated to the museum in 1942, along with a display illustrating the manufacture of rayon goods from wood to finished product. The display is held by the Division of Work & Industry, catalog # AG.A.7060
Calculator card, sleeve with cut-outs to expose numbers on moveable card. Printed "Allied / Chemical / FIBERS DIVISION... CONVERSION FACTORS FOR DYERS..." 1965. Allied Chemical Corporation. (NY, NY, Distributor); Perrygraf Corp. (Maywood, IL, Manufacturer). Card converts decimal to metric measurements.
ATHM Collection - # 1992.3.48; Gift of Curtis C. Allen
Textile production was a complicated business, involving hundreds of machines, and thousands of calculations, many of which had to be conducted by the weaver or loom-fixer in a few seconds of down-time to keep production moving and prevent losses from damaged goods. As the machinery grew more and more complex during the 20th century, and workers supervised more and more machines, these calculator cards provided assistance with complex calculations essential to efficient production – until the machinery was, by and large, replaced by computer-controlled equipment, in which adjustments were made in a central location. The NMAH array of calculator cards illustrates a sampling of the categories of computations that mill workers made daily, from fiber to finished cloth. They provide important context about the labor involved in running the machines they relate to.
Sample of "School Figures" fabric by Mariska Karasz for F. Schumacher fabrics, 1956. Cotton plain weave fabric screen printed with pattern of school-related motifs; Colorway - gray lined ground with wine, orange, taupe and reddish-brown patterning
