The 2020 Textile History Forum, scheduled for July 31 – August 2 at Hyde Hall, Springfield NY, & Thistle Hill Weavers, Cherry Valley NY, seeks papers and presentations on all aspects of textile history, from the Pre-Columbian period through the twenty-first century, including textile technology, costume, quilts, weaving, dyeing, spinning, technological innovations and textile availability.

For this year’s Forum, we are looking to include additional aspects of material culture i.e. how textiles fit into their cultural and social places, how textiles are valued, ceremonial use of textiles and the individuals who made and used them.

An important aspect of this year’s Forum will be a discussion of where and how private textile collections should be housed over the next several decades.

The Textile History Forum encourages the submission of scholarly work from historians, anthropologists and economists as well as independent researchers, individuals working in the field, crafts people and collectors. Current and unpublished research is especially encouraged.

Those interested in presenting a paper at the Forum should submit a one-page proposal. Authors retain copyright on all printed publications and are free to publish their work in other venues.

The Textile History Forum brings together textile historians, students, researchers, museum curators, independent scholars, artisans, dealers and collectors from around the country for three days of intense exchange. Participants will have the opportunity to take a behind the scenes tour of the Hyde Hall textile collection. This collection is unparalleled in its surviving early damasks, trims, tassels and ornamental drapery hardware.

Forum participants will also have the opportunity to examine the hand textile tools located in the storage facility of the Farmer’s Museum in Cooperstown, NY.

Please encourage others to share their research with us.

This year’s Forum was a hands-on, up close and personal look at textile technology in transition. The group followed the changes in hand and powered technology as it brought factory spinning and weaving in competition with hand process.

We took a closer look at the ingrain carpet patent head and the hand jacquard head to begin the conversation about carpet and coverlet weavers of the 19th century. And from this we have forged ahead with plans for 2020.

When I began the Textile History Forum in 1998, I did it with the hope that we could present both academic papers and spend time in historic collections to examine textiles and textile tools. 2020 will give us that opportunity and more.

Hyde Hall, a Regency great house located inside Glimmerglass State Park, Springfield NY, will be our home base.

The vast collection of coverlets and textile tools including spinning wheels, looms, reeds, and small tools at the storage facility of the Farmers’ Museum in Cooperstown will be our laboratory.

Pre-Forum visits may include Thistle Hill Weavers production mill, a workshop on dating and identifying textiles and a visit to the New York State Museum storage facility in Rotterdam, NY.

Panel discussions are being planned for the Forum: what should we do with our private collections? Primary research methods for non-academics, and cataloguing personal collections will be among the sessions.

We are now seeking papers for publication in the 2020 Proceedings on all topics of research relating to textiles, dyes, tools, and process.

Mark your calendars, get your thinking caps on, submit your proposals and join us for a Textile History Forum 2020, to be held on July 31 – August 2, 2020. Contact us for more information and registration.

Marshfield School of Weaving and Kate Smith’s Eaton Hill Textile Works

Saturday, July 27 – Sunday, July 28

The Mechanization and Powering of Textile Production 1700 to 1860.

This July, explore transitional textile technology with us.

How did innovation create tools, and machines that allowed for the powered production of textiles that ultimately changed the way we wear and use cloth? The forum will be both discussion and hands-on demonstration of some of those processes and equipment that changed fiber preparation, weaving and cloth finishing.

Unlike other forums, this will be an intensive two days in which participants will learn and discuss some of the technology that allowed the development of ingrain carpet production, coverlet production, the production of napped and sheared cloth, the cheap production of cotton fabrics for the poorer classes and the interplay in rural America between the fancy weaver, the clothier and the local production of fiber. Some equipment will be set up for hands-on opportunities for participants.

The registration fee of $225 includes all sessions and lunch on both days, as well as the optional visit to the Vermont Historical Society on Friday afternoon. If you have already registered but want to join the Friday Tour, please Contact us to confirm.

Saturday morning session

• A textile technology timeline
• Understanding how bottlenecks in technology lead to innovation
• Changes from hand to mechanical and water power in fiber processing and spinning create an opening for powered weaving technology

Saturday afternoon session one:

• Carding technology
• Multiple spinning devices: the vertical spinner
• The slubbing billy, the jenny, the jack and the mule
• Patented spinning wheels, the pendulum wheel and other late innovations

Saturday afternoon session two:

• Looking at cloth, what can we tell?
• How do we tell hand spun yarns in common cloths?
• Machine spinning or home plying – can we tell?
• Powered spinning technology and early spinning mills

Sunday morning session

• The mechanical draw loom and hand loom patterning devices
• Kleenex and tissue: the ingrain carpet head and the jacquard head
• Patented hand patterning devices

Sunday afternoon session one:

• The relationship between the fancy rural weaver and the home weaver
• Reading and understanding fancy weavers advertisements as related to home spinning production

Sunday afternoon session two:

• Can we tell, by looking at how something was woven, what mechanical device was used?
• Ingrain carpet and coverlets – the ultimate connection