Exhibition Spotlight: A rare extant blue and white striped homespun linen dress, c. 1800, with a New Hampshire provenance

By Kimberly Alexander

Understated and refined describes the time-worn beauty of this hand-sewn, unlined homespun c. 1800 linen dress. The indigo blue and white stripes, loosely pleated back, and empire waist subtly elevate the style of this every day, at-home or work dress.

 

The numerous patches and repairs reveal its inherent value to the wearer/wearers and the reluctance to discard such a frequently overlooked garment. It is not known if the maker and the wearer are the same or related in some way – perhaps future research will uncover additional information. Employing blue and white stripes was indeed common in early America. There was an extensive network of flax growers, spinners and linen weavers working throughout New Hampshire and the Seacoast region in the 18^th and into the 19^thcenturies. 

The weft-woven stripes indicate that the fabric was turned and cut horizontally to obtain the vertical striping implying a definite style choice and economical use of the linen. As noted by Adjunct Curator for the Irma Bowen Collection, Astrida Schaeffer: "In all, the gown is assembled out of thirty-two pieces (aside from its patches) and its use of fabric is extremely frugal, in places suggesting that the fabric is recycled from a previous object." Donated by Mary Pepperrell Ffrost Sawyer, of Durham NH, the dress has a strong local New Hampshire connection.

 You can view the dress at the Woodman Museum in Dover in the exhibition “Combing History: Flax and Linen in New Hampshire” through 24 November 2024.

Courtesy of The Milne Special Collections and Archives at Dimond Library. University of New Hampshire, part of the Irma G. Bowen Textile Collection

 

For a detailed description and images, see: https://scholars.unh.edu/bowen_collection/597/

UNH Dimond Library, Archives and Special Collections 

 

3rd Annual Farm and Flax Day, Gilmanton, NH

From the Gilmantion Historical Society:

Experience Flax to Linen production as it was done in Colonial times at our historic flax retting pond. Discover the amazing qualities of linen and learn why this ancient fiber is making a comeback as a fabric of the future! 

Try your hand at processing flax or watch our wonderful team of presenters transform this ancient plant from stalk to thread to fabric. 

 

Flax Presenters are:
Peter Cook
Diane Howes
Cheryl Callahan
Lori Baldwin 
Michelle Parrish
Patty Williams
Marion Ceres & others

Stroll through the Howe Barn to view our exhibit of flax & linen artifacts that span 100's of years as well as our collection of antique farm implements. 

Blacksmithing presented by Norm Miner 
In addition, lacemaking demos will be presented by the New England Lace Group. To learn more: https://www.nelg.us/

Additional Participants:
The UNH Flax to Linen Project 
Marion Dillon & Members of the NNE Fibershed
Patty Williams Aker Fiber Farm

Like to hike? The Howe Conservation area includes a beautiful hike to Meetinghouse Pond on the Joe Urner Trail. 

Cost: Free but donations are encouraged for our ongoing restoration efforts.
Event Rain date is Sunday, July 28th.

Exhibition Spotlight: 18th Century Shoes on view at the Woodman Museum

By Kimberly Alexander

For Stratham, New Hampshire shoemakers such as Samuel Lane and Josiah Brown, tailors like Samuel Watson of Dover, and printers of newspapers, broadsides and books, linen played an important role. Often, in its ubiquity, it goes unmentioned and unnoticed in historical records. 

 

For example, the linen was used as the ground for embroidered shoe uppers and linings and embroidered samplers; it was employed also for interior lining material on waistcoats, jackets, and stays. Separately from clothing items, linen thread and cloth had scores of utilitarian purposes, used for grain sacks, thread for stitching, tape for binding; even linen rags for making paper were a sought-after commodity by newspaper publishers, printers and booksellers.

 

Join me for a look at three pairs of shoes featured in Combing History: Flax and Linen in New Hampshire.

 

Wool Shoes

 

These late 18th-century brown-black woolen shoes were likely made in New England, possibly in New Hampshire. The wearer and the maker are currently unknown. The wool upper retains a bit of a sheen, associated with popular calamanco uppers, and they are lined with locally produced linen. A "transition" style of shoe, the pointed toes and lower heels give a nod to fashion circa the 1780s-1790s. On the other hand, the straps or lachets, requiring buckles to affix them to the foot, carry on an earlier tradition. They are amply sized, well-finished, and may have been the "best shoes" of a "middling” sort, or perhaps they belonged to a woman who wanted a more traditional shoe. 

 

Loan courtesy of the Irma Bowen Textile Collection, University of New Hampshire, Archives and Special Collections, Museum #438. For more: https://scholars.unh.edu/bowen_collection/975/

  

Photo, Astrida Schaeffer; Courtesy UNH Irma Bowen Clothing Collection

Embroidered Cream Silk Shoes

 

Made in Boston, Massachusetts, this pair of elegant silk shoes with embroidered toes are lined with linen and feature diminutive string ties rather than the straps for buckles as seen in the adjacent woolen shoes. They are also a transitional shoe from the late 18th century. In both pairs of women’s shoes, as well as in the red silk shoes (adjacent), linen is used for lining and backing, and linen thread is used for sewing and for ties.

 

Loan courtesy of the author.

 

Red Silk Shoes

 

Although the maker and wearer are unknown, these vibrant and stylish red silk satin, linen-lined buckle shoes, c1780s, were possibly made in England and likely worn by a woman of means in New Hampshire. The architectonic, balanced color scheme and smooth satin surface is indicative of the transition away from the heavy embroidery and richly decorated silk brocades from earlier in the 18th century associated with the Rococo style, shifting to the burgeoning, Neoclassical influence of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

 

Loan courtesy of the Moffatt-Ladd House and Garden, Portsmouth, NH. 

**************

For more on Georgian Shoes in America:

 

The shoes on view here, in addition to dozens of others, are discussed in Treasures Afoot: Shoe Stories from the Georgian Era [Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018. Honor Book Award 2019, Historic New England.]

https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/11565/treasures-afoot

 

For more in the UNH Flax-to-Linen Project

http://www.theflaxprojectunh.com

June 2024 Events: Combing History: Flax and Linen in New Hampshire

 Join us in June at the Woodman Museum, Dover, NH! 

All programs planned in conjunction with "Combing History..." are free, thanks to generous support from the NH Humanities.

For Your 2024 Planner: Events for 'Combing History: Flax and Linen in New Hampshire'

For additional details, follow this blog or
woodman museum.org

 

Exhibition Spotlight: 18th Century Stays from the Kensington Historical Society

 On View in 'Combing History: Flax and Linen in New Hampshire' 

at the Woodman Museum, Dover, NH. 

By Kimberly Alexander

 

What were stays? 

 

Stays were essentially a stiffened ‘foundation’ undergarment which supported the bust, aligned posture, trimmed the waist, and supported the dress or gown worn above it.  Women (as well as children and some men) of all socio-economic backgrounds wore stays – the design, materials, stitching and mending could reflect this. Generally, stays were not intended for the tight lacing associated with producing a tiny waist (there are always exceptions) but rather to help keep the body comfortable and the appearance neat. Not surprisingly, the shape of stays would change with the prevalent fashion.  The stays on view exemplify one of the exhibitions primary themes of ‘linen seen and unseen’: linen was used as an outer layer, an interior lining (although frequently that has deteriorated and requires scrutiny to see the evidence) and for sewing. 

The identity of the stay maker or makers are currently unknown, but fortunately, the owner of the two pairs of stays have been identified through the Kensington Historical Society. It is likely that Sarah Green (1746-1804) wore both the indigo-dyed, twilled linen stays, and the wool and linen lined, brown-gold stays, c. 1770s-90s. The interiors (not visible in the display) reveal rough hand sewing and linen patching indicating an alteration. The stays were donated by a descendant of the wearer, Sarah A. Green and are on loan courtesy of the Kensington Historical Society, Kensington, NH. 

Thank you to the Kensington Historical Society board and to University of New Hampshire History major and Kensington Historical Society Intern, Mikayla Tilden for making this loan possible.

 

 

 

 

Exhibition: How Do We Know? A Behind the Scenes Look at "Combing History: Flax and Linen in New Hampshire"

By Kimberly Alexander

 

How do we know about the textiles and the families whose stories are highlighted in the exhibition? Any exhibition, no matter the size or scale, is the result of hundreds of hours of work on the part of numerous of individuals. Over the last year, the project leads and the Museum Studies students involved in the UNH Flax-to-Linen Project conducted extensive research into a wide variety of New Hampshire collections and archives. 

Scouring day books, journals, shop accounts, receipts, newspapers, wills, and probate records, in combination with examination of historic textiles saved and passed along by family members, helped create a body of material to work with and cull through. In addition, the Flax Team worked with town, inventory, tax, poll, and census records.  

All of this – and much more-- goes into creating the background of, and connections to, the individuals and their possessions which you see in this installation.

Photo above: Beth Gallucci, Curator; John Cookson, Woodman Museum Curatorial Assistant and Jonathan Nicols, Director of the Woodman Museum read through Dover account and day books.

John Cookson, Woodman Museum and Astrida Schaeffer, Adjunct Curator, Irma Bowen Textile Collection. UNH Library, Special Collections,

Exhibit curator, Beth Gallucci, UNH Museum Studies and John Cookson prepare for exhbit opening.

Exhibition— Combing History: Flax and Linen in New Hampshire —Open Through 24 November 2024

 

Combing History: Flax and Linen in New Hampshire

is a milestone for the Museum Studies/History program at UNH: MA grad students curated, researched, installed, and fundraised for the exhibition and extensive public programing. 

The exhibition is a collaboration with the Woodman Museum in Dover, New Hampshire and is made possible through generous support from the New Hampshire Humanities, a James Hayes Fellowship from the UNH Center for the Humanities and the UNH History Department.

Exhibition: Combing History: Flax and Linen in New Hampshire

Posted by Kimberly Alexander

The exhibition has been in the works for several months but it is now official! SAVE the DATE for Combing History: Flax and Linen in New Hampshire

This is a highlight for me as the Director of the Museum Studies program at UNH: MA grad students and Team Flax are curating, installing and fundraising for the exhibition and extensive public programing at the Woodman Museum in Dover, New Hampshire.

Hope to see you on 6 April 10:00-5:00 or at one of our public programs! Watch this space for details as they develop.

Curator:

Beth Gallucci, UNH Museum Studies MA candidate

 

Curatorial Assistants:

Sophie MacDonald, UNH Museum Studies, MA candidate

John Cookson, Woodman Museum & UNH BA candidate 

 

Community Fundraiser:

Katherine Morgan, Independent Community Liaison

 

Project Directors:

Dr. Kimberly Alexander, Director of Museum Studies, UNH

Jonathan Nichols, Director, Woodman Museum & UNH MA candidate

Graphic Design:

Grace Gallucci

Research: Old Berwick Historical Society, Counting House Museum

 By Kimberly Alexander, Director of Museum Studies

At the end of the fall 2023 semester, I organized a special tour for UNH Museum Studies class and the Flax Team to the Counting House Museum at the Old Berwick Historical Society. The tour was led by the OBHS curator, Ruth Greene-McNally, and guest curators, renowned material culture and historic textile specialists, Peter and Nancy Cook. The OBHS staff and exhibition team were extremely generous with their time and knowledge. We hope to return during the spring 2024 semester. 

 

About the exhibition: 

Material Culture: Domestic Cloth-Making in 18th Century New England

 

The Counting House Museum's 2022 exhibit explores the material culture of early domestic textile arts and the tools used to produce linen and woolen cloth in rural New England homesteads. Material goods provide a window into standards of living, self-sufficiency, economic diversification, and the transition from frontier life to settled communities. The specialized tools used to process flax and wool, and the spinning wheels and looms on display, reveal the necessary individual skills and the collaborative family roles in creating yarn and cloth. 

 

Loans from the collection of Guest Curators Peter and Nancy Cook and selections from the permanent collection of the Old Berwick Historical Society reflect the art of creating homespun textiles in common use throughout the 18th century. This exhibit will be on display for the 2023 season, with a possible extension into 2024.

 

Bartlett Bed Hangings, Five Valances, and Headcloth

 Unidentified maker, Londonderry, NH

18th century

Linen cloth and fringe

Courtesy of Peter and Nancy Cook 

​

Miniature Pencil Post Bed

Unidentified maker (bed)

c. 1770-1800

Maple, pine, and iron

Courtesy of Peter and Nancy Cook

Miniature Bed Curtains

Nancy Cook 

Linen, woolen, and cotton cloth fragments

Courtesy of Peter and Nancy Cook

The bedding and curtains for this miniature pencil post bed were made by Nancy Cook, c1985

 from fragments of materials pertaining to the period.

The OBHS Board of Directors gratefully acknowledges the support of several individuals for their contributions to the development of Material Culture: Domestic Cloth-Making in 18th-Century New England:

Hollis Brodrick, Lender 

Randi Ona, Lender

Paul and Pat Boisvert, Lenders 

Melody English, OBHS Archivist

Harrison English-Yonan, OBHS Archivist

Norma Keim, OBHS Archivist and Office Manager

Wendy Pirsig, OBHS Archivist and Board President, Emeritus 

Jane Orr, OBHS Board Treasurer, Proofreading 

Jane McDonnell, Gallery Renovation 

George McNally, Gallery Renovation 

Rich Cunningham, Gallery Renovation 

Dave Lurvey, Gallery Renovation

Philip C. Carling, MD, Custom Rare Book Boxes and Cradles 

Andy Ritzo, Trompe l'oeil faux finish 

Christina Nancarrow-Wilson, OBHS Archivist, Curatorial Assistance 

Jessica Elsmore, Photography

Rachel Zoll Schumacher, Graphic Design

Larry Hayden, Preparator

John Demos, OBHS Archivist, Gallery Renovation and Installation 

Ruth Greene-McNally, OBHS Curator

 

 

Research: Flax and the Daybook of Josiah Brown

The Day Book of Josiah Brown, 1790 - 1833

by Kay Morgan, University of New Hampshire

 

Josiah Brown’s Day Book (1790 - 1833) demonstrates the multi-faceted life of a rural New Hampshire man as he marries and builds a life for himself. [1]  In the beginning of the day book he resides in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, with his parents, but tends lands and livestock in Stratham.  He also makes and repairs shoes, slippers and “Mogisons,” and in 1791 “measures Land for two men.”  He continues these activities for most of his life, though in later years does not record making shoes any longer.

 

In 1792, he builds a house in Stratham at what is now 17 Jackrabbit Lane, and marries Sarah Clark in Greenland, New Hampshire. They move to their new home in June. Their lives revolve around the weather and the necessity to clothe and feed the family, as well as to have some marketable crops. Over the years, he grows and shells corn, cuts hay and salt marsh hay, makes gallons of apple cider, hauls logs, raises and slaughters cattle, oxen and hogs, and buys and sells horses.

 

While he still lives with his parents, he reports “I broke flax,” on January 20, 1791 and “dresses” flax on March 23rd. The next reference to flax occurs in 1794 when he notes “I sow’d flax where the worms ate it.” In 1799, he goes to Hampton Falls “after flax seed.” Even though he continues to note planting flax, usually when he plants oats and barley in late April and before he plants corn, there are no further notations regarding harvesting or working with the flax to produce thread for linen or seeds to sell.

 

Given that he is quite specific regarding taking his corn, hay, cider, potatoes and animals to market, and often specifies the price he gets, it seems that flax did not factor into his cash flow or potential bartering for other goods. This may not be surprising, in that usually men were involved in planting and harvesting flax, but women typically “skutched, hackled, carded, combed, spun and wove the fiber.” [2] The linen thus produced may have been entirely used by the family or shared with their extended family.  

A contemporaneous diary (1785 - 1812) of Martha Ballard, a Maine midwife, illuminates the distaff side of a family economy, the comings and goings of young women and the work they do to help with the massive undertaking of processing flax into thread and woven cloth. In the Ballard household, the fabric produced might be sold, bartered for other goods, or used by the family. The Pulitzer prize winning author of A Midwife’s Tale, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, develops the idea that in that era, young women living outside their own family was a form of education as well as a way to earn money. [3]

 

Each year Josiah records the names of the young women who come to work in the Brown household. This practice begins in May 1793 when he writes, “Lidia Tarlton began to work here.” At that point, his wife, Sarah, is one month from delivering their first child, a son named Nathan. In August, Lidia goes home and Betsy Clark comes to work. These girls provide household help for Sarah, which could include working with flax. Betsy stays on into November of 1795, when she “was took sick of the Billious fever.” She goes  home and Eunice Bachelor takes her place later in the month. From Josiah’s day book, it appears that Josiah and Sarah had a daughter born in 1796, who did not survive more than a day, so until 1810 and 1812, when Sarah and Mary Ann were born and then old enough to participate in household linen production, hired girls would have been a necessity.  It is interesting that Josiah didn’t mention these births in his daybook, though he reports the birth of every one of his eight sons.

 

A 1995 donation to the Stratham Historical Society included several homespun items made by various members of the extended Brown family.  Women often identified their work by embroidering their initials on a corner of the completed piece. Two pillowcases made by Sarah Clark Brown bear the initials SB in cross-stitch, and a sheet initialed AB in pink embroidery floss, was made by Abigail Brown, who married Greenleaf Clark Brown, Sarah and Josiah’s fourth son, March 6, 1828. She is also the maker of two hand towels which are stamped in ink with her initials and two pillowcases stamped with her name. [4] At present, we speculate they wove the cloth for these items, as specific items were passed down by family members and given the longstanding family connection with flax and linen as seen in Brown's daybook and extended family network; however, it is possible that the textiles were purchased or bartered from someone else who was the weaver.

 

Josiah Brown continues to plant flax according to his daybook, with the last notation three years before his death at age 68. His last years appear similar to his early years:  He surveys land, plants his fields, cuts hay and cornstalks, tends his livestock and notes the coming and going of his sons, their marriages and the weather. On October 14th and 15th, 1833, he writes: “I was unwell.”  On December 12, 1833, someone else notes “Josiah Brown Died and this Journal discontinued.

 

* * * * * * * * *

 

[1] Josiah Brown Day Book is housed at the Stratham Historical Society, Stratham, New Hampshire, Accession #1989.3.11. More information may be found at  http://www.strathamnh.gov/historical-society .

 

Many thanks to Andra Copeland and the Stratham Historical Society for the use of their collections and their help with research.

 

[2] Sofi Thanhauser, Worn: A People’s History of Clothing (New York: Vintage Books, 2023), 12.

 

[3] Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, A Midwife’s Tale:  The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785 - 1812 (New York:  Vintage Books, 1991), 81.

 

[4] Stratham Historical Society, Stratham, NH, Sewall/Brown Box:  Item marked SB. Accession #1995.30.2; Items marked AB, Accession #1995.30.1; Items stamped Abigail Brown, Accession#1995.30.5.