Friday, August 1
Saturday, August 2
Sunday, August 3
Contact: Rabbit Goody, Thistle Hill Weavers, (518) 284-2729, rabbitgoodythw@gmail.com
Held bi-annually at The Weavers Croft in Marshfield, Vermont, the Textile History Forum is a unique space for those working on research–both academics and non-academics–to present in-person and receive feedback from fellow researchers.
Plus, there’s plenty of good food and good fun.
“I always think of it as a big lunch,” said Rabbit Goody of Thistle Hill Weavers in Cherry Valley, New York, the Forum’s founder. Kate Smith hosts the event at her farm. “There’s no other place where people can get together and talk about their research, ask questions, and maybe expand their knowledge,” Goody said.
“I love weaving, but what I enjoy most is getting people together to talk about their research. At the Textile History Forum, there are a lot of opportunities to connect one-on-one with all of the presenters over the three days, not just at their presentations.”
The 2025 Forum will run Friday, August 1-Sunday, August 3. You can register now at ThistleHillWeavers.com or by mail: Thistle Hill Weavers, 101 Chestnut Ridge Road, Cherry Valley, NY 13320, (518) 284-2729. For more information, email at rabbitgoodythw@gmail.com
This year’s keynote speaker will be Michael Nix, British historian and author of “Norwich Textiles: A Global Story 1750-1840,” which won the East Anglian Book Award for History and Tradition in 2023. Nix was also a contributing author to “The Exeter Cloth Dispatch Book 1763-1765” which won the Academic Award for the Best Book on Devon’s History in 2022.
Also this year, Norman Kennedy, who founded the Marshfield School of Weaving in 1975, will be honored at Saturday’s lunch.
In-person cost for the three days is $275 and includes lunch and dinner on Saturday, keynote address, and lunch on Sunday. Registration includes a copy of the proceedings.
There is an opportunity to Zoom some of the in-person presentations. Zoom registration is $75 and includes paper presentations and the keynote address. Copies of the Proceedings will be available to Zoom registrants for the cost of postage.
Presenting at the 2025 Forum will be:
Friday
Susan E. Picinich–1830s Corset Work.
Peggy Hart–Wool Quilts as a Record of Historic Fabric.
Liyuan Dai–The Effect of Iconoclasm on Textiles in the Byzantine Era.
Maggie D’Aversa–Tracing the Remnants of the Rhode Island Slave Trade.
Saturday
Anna Whitaker–Weaving and the Woolen Industry of Clearfield Co., Pennsylvania During the 19th Century.
Sandra Rux–Silas Burton: Weaver, Reed Maker, and Teacher in Stratford, Connecticut, Prospering in the New Republic.
Dr. Mathilde Frances Lind–Arrowcraft and the Appalachian Weaving Revival in Gatlinburg, TN, 1925-1962.
Frances Richardson–Betsy Morton’s Recipe Book, c. 1845.*
Patrick Malone & Gray Fitzsimons–Incremental Innovation on the Shop Floor: The Unexamined Role of Loom Fixers and Weavers.
Steve Dunwell–Photographs of Mill Workers.
Andrea Myklebust & Kristina Bielenberg–Warp Weighted Loom Use in Norway in History and Now.
Lori Triplett–Early Indigo Resist Textiles from Bermuda.
Michael Nix, keynote speaker, Author of “Norwich Textiles: A Global Story 1750-1850.”
Sunday
Cornelia Frisbee Houde–Importance of Clothing to the Historical Narrative.
Michele Phillips Carmel–Anu Raud: Estonian Weaver and Poet.
Mac Whatley–The Roots of the American Power-Loom.
Michelle Amos–Lou Tate and the Evolution of the Little Loomhouse.
Sergio Emilio Tapia–Experimental Weaving in Santa Maria del Tule, Oaxaca, Mexico.
* Work in Progress
What is the Textile History Forum?
The Textile History Forum is an academic meeting that brings together textile historians, students, researchers, museum curators, independent scholars, artisans, dealers, and collectors. Research papers are published in the Proceedings, available the day of the Forum. Authors retain copyright on all printed publications and are free to publish their work in other venues.
