General Information:
~ Concept
~ Background
Meeting Information:
~ October 2001
~ October 2002
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Textile |
Report on the Consortium's Second Meeting Held on the Campus of North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC during October 25-27, 2002
The second meeting of the Textile History Consortium provided opportunity for those assembled in Raleigh to review the work done at the Consortium's initial meeting in Lowell, Massachusetts during October 12-14, 2001, and to set out very specific goals and assignments to advance the work of the group.
Quick Review of the Raleigh Meeting:
The Raleigh meeting was graciously hosted by the Gallery of Art and Design at North Carolina State University. The meeting began on Friday afternoon, October 25 with a 3:00 PM tour of the College of Textile at the University. We were welcomed at the College of Textiles building by Assistant Librarian Karen Grigg who provided an overview of the college and its work. In the College's design laboratory, Dean Blanton K. Godfrey welcomed us and provided us with insights into the future of textiles -- research, uses, materials and manufacturing -- which was both inspiring and challenging to anyone with a traditional view of spinning, weaving, designing or marketing of these invaluable products. We followed that with tours of the College's teaching labs in pre-processing and spinning, weaving, knitting and in manufacturing and finishing non-woven products.
The tour was followed by a reception at the Gallery of Art and Design.
On Saturday morning, the group met in the Talley Student Center on the NCSU campus.
The following general goals for the meeting were laid out:
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- Confirm the concept and particulars for the THC based on the 2001 discussions. |
After refreshments and reports on some of the work in textile history that is taking place today, the group reviewed the report of the 2001 meeting and the proposal for the THC Report of the THC Meeting held in Raleigh during October 25-27, 2002 that came out of those discussions. Revisions to the proposal were suggested and discussed. The result is the updated THC document that is attached to this report.
Discussion followed over the remainder of Saturday and on Sunday morning generally in line with the pre-meeting agenda. The exchange of ideas and views was extraordinary with all in attendance largely agreed on the need to collect, preserve, and use the history of textiles in the United States.
Four specific initiatives came out of the discussions. They are (1) establishing a list serve and a web site; (2) developing an inventory and reporting methodology for textile manufacturing machinery being preserved in the US; (3) conceptualizing and laying out an initiative focusing on the stories of textile people in America, past and present; (4) determining possibilities and laying out approaches to developing partnerships among the institutions and organizations of the THC.
The following assignments were made:
(1a). List serve will be set up by the American Textile History Museum ASAP.
(1b). A THC web page with links to museums, libraries, etc. will be designed and set up as a Phase I. Jim Cross, Pam Dean and Lynn Ennis will comprise a committee to move this forward with the goal of having the site up by May 2003.
(1c). A second phase for the web page would be an expanded site to be up by May 2004. The committee was charged with laying out a plan for this work to include costs for a webmaster by December 2003. Links are seen as a key to the success of this website.
2. Inventory model. A committee consisting of Mac Whatley, Karen Herbaugh and Fritz Hamer was established with the goal of creating by May 31, 2003, a model for inventorying industrial age textile machinery in American collections. Issues include terminology and search methods for a web-based record of this machinery.
3. Expanding the number of people involved with the THC. Two primary thrusts were set forth in this important area. First, there is the need to focus on the stories of textile people including entrepreneurs, workers, consumers, leaders of trade associations, designers, inventors, and more. Second, there is the need to focus on a wide range of people who are collecting and researching the field of textiles including academics, archivists, librarians, curators, historians, and more.
Dividing the nation into six regions for the purpose of organizing this work was also discussed. Those six regions would be as follows: New England, the Middle Atlantic States, the Southeast and South, the Southwest, the Midwest / Plains, and the Far West and Northwest.
A committee consisting of Gray Fitzsimons, Charlotte Vestal Brown and Clare Sheridan was established to consider this entire question and bring a report back to the Consortium.
4. Partnerships were the fourth initiative developed in the meeting. The goal here is to develop specific partnerships in pursuit of textile history. At first, these partnerships would be within the THC participating organizations, although it is hoped that with activity and success the number of participating organizations and the partnerships would add more organizations into the THC list. As time goes on, the THC would seek to connect with important textile organizations such as ATMI, ATMA, NTA and other trade groups. Web site links are seen here as being especially important.
A key aspect of the partnerships is the establishment of the six regions as listed in the people section (3) above. Among the needs and opportunities set forth for partnerships are regional collecting initiatives, oral history programs, and ties with "fiber people" including academics and artists. There are also opportunities for associations with other national organizations with interests similar to those of the THC including the Society for the History of Technology, the Society of Industrial Archaeology or the American Institute of Conservation.
Initial activities in regard to this fourth initiative will await the establishment of the THC web site in 2004. [I have no record of a committee being established for this.]
Respectfully submitted,
Michael J. Smith
Photo: "Textile Enterprise" (N07-78_a), Tracy O'Neal Collection,
Special Collections Department, Pullen Library, Georgia State University
Web design: DeAnna L. Janecek, Special Collections, Georgia State
University, Dec. 2002