Sample length of a Cheney Brothers border printed satin-striped silk voile, 1913. Sheer plain weave with satin weave stripes in the warp direction, varying widths. Over-printed border design oreinted along one selvage, of wild roses (full-blown and buds); lighter colored and smaller band close to the center, the roses get larger and more deeply colored nearer to the selvage edge. White ground; floral pattern is in shades of pink to red, green, blue-gray, and yellow. (W. 50 in., L. 36 in.)
Photographs and title cards from a display board of Yarn Processing, originally put together by Arlington Mills. (NB: This object was taken apart and the fiber, yarn and fabric samples were disposed of, as was the case, in March 1998. The case was heavily infested with carpet beetles.)
Description of Original object from Collection Records: “Worsted Cloth Manufacture”, “Wooden panel upon which are mounted 42 process specimens, beginning with raw wool, through the successive stages required to prepare the yarns suitable for use as warp and weft, and the woven cloth in the raw, dyed, and finished; together with 24 photographs of the various machines used in these operations." It appears that all that now remains are the photographs and title cards. [NB: 11 samples of woolen fabrics with Arlington Mills labels attached were found in a 1980 inventory and thought to be from this display board. They were assigned Division of Textiles catalog numbers T.20209 through T.20219]
Arlington Mills, successor to Arlington Woolen Mills, was one of the premier woolen and worsted companies in the US for many decades. The mills were in and around Lawrence, MA, and company headquarters was in Boston. American manufacturers of woolen and worsted yarns and of woven and knitted textiles relied on both American-grown wool and on imports of raw wool and partially processed wool fiber, called "tops", American growers never produced more than about half the raw wool needed by the American manufacturing sector.
"Irish Castle" flax spinning wheel. The name of the spinning wheel is derived from its vertical shape. The position of the wheel inside the stout tripod framework gives the Castle wheel a rigidity very desirable in a spinning implement.
Sample of completed batik after wax removed; step fifrteen in the Javanese batik process, 1924. Approximately 10" x 12"; Design has a central butterfly motif surrounded by a plain field; with four concentric outer borders (floral, geometric, imitation fringe, solid). This sample illustrates the completed batik after both dye baths and the removal of the wax. The American Vice Consul in Charge in Surabaya, Java, Rollin R. Winslow, was given these samples in 1924 by Miss E.F. Kerston of a local curiousity shop/dealer in batik called Inlandsche Kunst. Winslow then sent the samples to the Dept. of State as part of his report on local commerce and dyes, expressing the wish that they be forwarded as a donation to the Smithsonian when the State Dept. no longer had a need for them.