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“We Have Raffeled For The Elephant & Won!”: The Wool Industry At South Union, Kentucky, Donna C. Parker, Jonathan J. Jeffrey
“We Have Raffeled For The Elephant & Won!”: The Wool Industry At South Union, Kentucky, Donna C. Parker, Jonathan J. Jeffrey
SCL Faculty and Staff Publications
Wool, next to cotton, is perhaps the most important of all textile fibers. Like most of their contemporaries, the Shakers of South Union, Kentucky, recognized the ease with which wool fibers were spun into yarn and the advantages of sturdy wool clothing. South Union’s textile industry grew from a simple carding mill to a full-fledged woolen factory with a 240-spindle spinning jack and 4 power looms. From its genesis in 1815 to its abrupt demised in 1868, the sect’s woolen industry provides a paradigm for the study of the United States’ textile industrialization.
A Thread Of Evidence: Shaker Textiles At South Union, Kentucky, Jonathan Jeffrey, Donna C. Parker
A Thread Of Evidence: Shaker Textiles At South Union, Kentucky, Jonathan Jeffrey, Donna C. Parker
SCL Faculty and Staff Publications
Textile production was one of the many routine tasks performed in the early American home. Those who joined communal groups, like the Shaker converts at South Union, Kentucky, brought to the colony knowledge of these activities. Shakers manufactured fabric – linen, silk, and woolens – in about the same manner as most of their contemporaries, only on a larger scale. Though few of their contemporaries left documentation regarding the tedious tasks involved in textile production, the South Union Shaker community, located in Logan County, kept intimate accounts of daily activities through journals, diaries, day books, and correspondence which included records …
Sericulture, Silk And South Union Shakers, Donna C. Parker, Jonathan J. Jeffrey
Sericulture, Silk And South Union Shakers, Donna C. Parker, Jonathan J. Jeffrey
SCL Faculty and Staff Publications
Kentucky Shakers were particularly adept at the process of producing silk. Kentucky's temperate climate was conducive to mulberry tree cultivation and sericulture, the raising of silkworms. South Union Sisters hatched and grew silkworms to harvest the delicate silk fibers they used in the manufacture of kerchiefs, neckwear, hat bands, bonnets, and sewing silk. Occasionally entire garments such as dresses were made from the luxurious silk.