Winter 2003
Smith College Museum of Art
To Feature Exhibition and
Symposium on Silk
Madelyn Shaw is the guest curator of the exhibition,
drawing on her expertise as a curator as Associate
Curator of Costume and Textiles at the Rhode Island
School of Design in Providence. Shaw is
incorporating costume, accessories, flat textiles,
paintings, photographs, advertising and other
ephemera into the exhibition, to tell the story of New
England’s love affair with the sumptuous fabric.
Through correspondence with Shaw, I was able to
interview her about her thoughts on the exhibition.
Why the dates of 1730 and 1930?
The starting date [of 1730] was chosen because 1730
seems to be a critical date in terms of museum
collections – there are many more extant objects
dating to 1730 and after than to before 1730. The
terminal date [1930] is when the actual silk textile
manufacturing industry in New England began to fall
apart.
Quilt, “Northampton Silk on Silk”, quilted by Janet Hale with
hand painting by Sally Dillon, 2002. This quilt, along with many
others, will be on view at the Smith College exhibition Silk in New
England Society, 1730-1930. Photography by Stan Sherer.
The newly renovated Smith College Museum of Art
will feature an exhibiton entitled Silk in New England
Society, 1730-1930. The exhibition, which examines
how New Englanders incorporated silk, both
domestic and imported, into their homes and personal
attire, will be open from March 28, 2003 to June 15,
2003. In addition to the exhibition, there will be a
symposium “Silk Unraveled!” March 28 through
March 30, 2003, sponsored by The Northampton Silk
Project.
What do you want the public to get out of the
exhibition?
I would like visitors to come away with a sense of
how important textiles have been in our daily lives,
and the meanings that have been attached to textile
objects in our collective past: how textiles and
clothing have communicated status and rank, and
how through our trade and industrial capacity some
of the perquisites of rank became democratized over
time in this country. I also want to introduce visitors
to a sense of their industrial past as being worth
remembering, and its artifacts and archives worth
preserving. So much documentary evidence is
already gone. I also want them to have fun, and to
learn something about viewing textiles and dress as
art objects.
What are some of the things you learned from
doing the exhibition?
How much I don’t know. I have a VERY STRONG
SENSE of that. For me, much of the fun of research
is the sense of discovery, and solving mysteries. (Do
(continued on page 3)
More Region I News Inside!
President’s Message
p.2
Textile Forum
p. 4
Symposium synopsis
p. 5
Costume Society of America
Region I Board Members
President
Jeffrey Butterworth
The newsletter editor is always seeking volunteers to
help with the Region I newsletter. If interested,
please contact me at lazaro@historic-deerfield.org
>>>>><<<<<
President’s Message
Dear Fellow Region I Members:
Vice President
Susan Jerome
Secretary
Jacqueline Field
Carrie Alyea
Joanna Cadorette
Rebecca Fifield
Karen Herbaugh
David Lazaro
Maryann Sadagopan
Past President: Claudia Iannuccilli
Appointed Officers & Committee Chairs
Treasurer
Pat Baker
Scholarship Chair
Carrie Alyea
Membership Chair
Karen Herbaugh
Newsletter Editor
David Lazaro
Fall 2002 Program Chair
Jackie Field
Publication Sales
Joan Walther
The Region I Newsletter is published three times a
year. The deadline for the next issue is April 15,
2003. Please send exhibit listings, new book notices,
professional news, etc., to:
David E. Lazaro
234 Florence Road
Florence, MA 01062
lazaro@historic-deerfield.org
Happy New Year! I heartily hope that this new year
proves a good one for all our members and their
people. When last I wrote, I was concerned about
pending war and my garden; as I write (mid- for a
production of The Heiress, I am very much looking
forward December) I still have some blooms from the
garden in my front room, the garden survived, I must
have faith that the other “situation” will work itself
out as well.
The symposium, “Show & Tell and ‘Mystery’
Objects” in Lowell was very interesting. Attendees
were treated to mystery and detective tales as well as
stories of passion concerning the artifacts of the
cultures we strive to preserve; treasures from
collections, both private and public were aired, and a
fine time was had by all, despite the first serious
snow. My thanks go out to Jacqueline Field and her
troop of volunteers and the American Textile History
Museum. ATHM’s exhibition, “Reflections:
Fashion, Dolls and the Art of Growing Up,” will be
up until March 23, 2003.
Having just completed a spate of time in the mid1850s associated with producing the costumes to the
Spring Symposium: “Understructures: Shaping the
Body, Fashioning the Person,” which will be on April
5, 2003 in Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, MA.
It was quite an exercise for the young actors to
experience first hand: the tights and the shifts, the
corsets and the petticoats, the dresses and the
engageantes, not to mentions shoes, gloves, bonnets
and outerwear. The questions: “How did they move
with all this weight?” and “They really wore all of
these clothes everyday?” and “Who helped them get
dressed?” were often heard. An understanding of
understructures is invaluable to many of us in the
field of costume and textiles. Due to budget and time
constraints, my production substituted a suspended
and heavily tulled “bum roll” for the 1850s hoopskirt
and I was grateful that this substitution agreed with
the requisite silhouette.
As I write, Rebecca Fifield is putting the finishing
touches on the slate for the upcoming Region I Board
of Directors election. Please vote, it is an easy was to
participate in CSA and the next time that you
(continued on page 3)
President’s message cont’d…
read about the need for volunteers or are asked to
participate: do. The strength of this organization is in
its people. I am always impressed with the dedication
CSA inspires.
Have a wonderful New Year!
Respectfully yours,
Jeffrey A. Butterworth
--- jab59@earthlink.net
>>>>><<<<<
Smith College Silk Exhibition and
Symposium continued…
you think people who grew up to be curators read too
much Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys in their youth?)
Most of my previous research had been in mid-19th
through mid-20th century textiles and fashion.
Primary research in 18th century material_was all
new. I loved working with probate inventories_and
old court records, and wills, and learning about all the
materials compiled by genealogists that were of
inestimable value to me in trying to find out who
wore what. There are issues that still need much
more research , for instance textiles in the China
trade. (I received a research fellowship from the
John Nicholas Brown Center for American
Civilization, here in Providence, to do some more
research on Rhode Island and the China Trade, but I
think there is ample room for other scholars to
muscle in on this territory) I’m more interested in the
many different types of western style textiles made in
China and used here than in the garments made of
damasks with very Chinese patterns. I suspect
collections contain many more Chinese textiles made
up into garments than we have really acknowledged
before. There are many other areas that needs more
research, and I hope visitors can figure those out by
reading the labels end exhibition text. When you are
trying to survey 200 years of trade, agriculture,
industry, consumption and production patterns,
design and function in one exhibition, there are
necessarily gaps and weak spots.
In conjunction with Silk in New England Society,
1730-1930, Smith College will host a symposium
entitled Silk Unraveled! to culminate the six-year,
community-wide effort undertaken by the
Northampton Silk Project to uncover and convey the
story of silk in this area and its place in the history of
silk throughout the world. Silk Unraveled! gathers
international scholars and researchers from diverse
fields, with artisans and students to examine the
complexities of silk production and the range of its
social, technological, political and sensual power.
On Friday, March 28. 2003, from 11:30 to 4, in the
Smith College Museum Courtyard will be Part I of
the symposium, entitled “From Moth to Cloth: The
Processes of Silk Production” (hands on!). Local
artisans and students will demonstrate the various
processes of silk textile production. Later that
evening, Madelyn Shaw, Associate Curator,
Costumes and Textiles, Museum of Art at the Rhode
Island School of Design and guest curator of the
exhibit, Silk in New England Society, 1730-1930 will
present the keynote address, entitled "Reweaving
Threads of History." (7:30 to 8:30pm in Wright Hall
Auditorium.) A special viewing of the exhibition
will follow Shaw’s lecture.
On Saturday, March 29, 2003, Part II, entitled “Case
Studies: Why Does Silk Production Succeed or
Fail?,” will be held in Wright Hall Auditorium from
9:30am to 12:00pm and 2:30-5pm.
On Sunday, March 30, 2003, Part III looks at “What
is Silk Worth Today?” from 1 to 4 pm in the Wright
Hall Auditorium
All sessions are free and open to the public, with
advance registration. Please send your name and
contact information to silk@email.smith.edu or
Northampton Silk Project, Kahn Institute, Smith
College, Northampton, MA 01063. The symposium
is organized by Professor Kiki Smith, Theatre
Department, Smith College.
Waistcoat (L) and open gown and petticoat (R), worn by John
Worthington and Hannah Hopkins respectively for their 1759
wedding in Springfield, Massachusetts. These wedding garments,
on loan from Historic Deerfield, will be on view at the Smith
College exhibition Silk in New England Society, 1730-1930.
Photography by Penny Leveritt.
Textile History Forum
Announces August 8th and 9th
2003 Date, and Call for
Presentations
The fourth annual Textile History Forum will return
to Cooperstown, New York and be co-sponsored by
the New York State Historical Association and The
Farmers’ Museum. As in previous years, the Forum
will include juried papers, works in progress, preconference tours of collections, and an auction of
antique textiles and tools. New this year will be
hands-on workshops covering many aspects of textile
production in the 18th and 19th centuries – spinning,
weaving, and dyeing. There will be a textile
identification session and a workshop on a
technology timeline.
Proposals for papers to be presented at the 2003
Textile History Forum are now being sought.
Proposals on all aspects of textile history or textile
technology in America from the pre-Columbian
period into the twentieth century, including costume,
quilting, spinning, weaving, dyeing, and
technological innovations, may be submitted. Current
and unpublished research is especially encouraged.
Those interested in presenting a paper at the Forum
should submit a one-page proposal by February 15th,
2003. Proposals chosen for presentation will be
announced by March 1st, 2003. Presenters will be
given 30 minutes for their presentations, and final
papers should be no more than 16 pages long,
including footnotes, bibliography, and illustrations.
Final papers are due June 30, 2003, and will be
published in the Proceedings of the Textile History
Forum (authors will retain copyright), available to all
registrants at the time of the Forum.
In addition to formal paper presentations, the Textile
History Forum will include a Works-in-Progress
session that will allow those currently involved in
research but not yet ready to present a formal paper
to share information on their work. Those interested
in participating in the Works-in-Progress session
should submit a brief description of their project for
consideration. Works-in-Progress presentations
should be no more than fifteen minutes in length, and
visuals are encouraged. Workshops on aspects of
textile identification, and or textile technology are
also sought.
The Textile History Forum brings together textile
historians, students, researchers, museum curators,
and general enthusiasts from around the country for
several days of lively exchange in the form of a
scholarly open meeting, and small group workshops.
In addition, participants will have opportunities to get
a behind-the-scenes look at the textile, costume, and
technology collections of the museums and behind
the scenes tours of Glimmerglass Opera, and Thistle
Hill Weaving Mill.
Please send proposals and inquiries to S. Rabbit
Goody, The Textile History Forum, 101 Chestnut
Ridge Rd. Cherry Valley NY 13320.
518-284-2729 phone/fax. E-mail: rabbitg@albany.net
On the Web at www.rabbitgoody.com
>>>>><<<<<
Launch of new web page
We want our diverse Region 1 collectors to help us
launch a new web page on our CSA Region 1 web
site entitled, Object of the Month.
Have you recently purchased a new object for your
collection? Want to boast? It’s a chance to showcase
your new addition and connect with other similar
collectors. We plan to add this new page in
December 2002 and welcome your submission of
digital images or standard 35 mm photographic
prints. Send an image and description of your
fabulous new treasure to the web mistress at
msadagopan@mfa.org
magazine for an illustrated article on "Manuel, King
of the Cowboys Closet." He is described as a master
of western costume, who dressed the Beatles, Elvis,
The Grateful Dead and others and is listed as a
designer in 72 movies. Tips are provided on his
embroidery techniques and his "skinny welt pocket."
>>>>><<<<<
HatCenter is a meeting point on the web for
information about millinery as published on the
Publications, Glossary and Exchange pages, as well
as the Producers and Suppliers pages. HatCenter has
been on the Web since 1998 and reaches every corner
of the world, as you can see on the “Trade Fair” and
“Retail Around the World” pages. The Cover Page is
a space for fine images about hats.
Iinformation about pertinent events is published on
the HatCenter Exchange page
http://www.hatcenter.com/asp/exchange.asp with a
direct link to the referring site.
MOVIES
Based on the A.S. Byatt novel of the same name, the
movie Possession switches between the present time
and the mid-Victorian era. The nineteenth century
clothes, hairstyling and interiors are beautifully
evocative of time and place. There are scenes filmed
in Whitby, England, the town famous for its jet
jewelry.
BROWSER'S CORNER welcomes contributions. Email your input to jrobert4@maine.rr.com
>>>>><<<<<
>>>>><<<<<
BROWSER'S CORNER. Incidentals seen, heard,
discussed, read or read about . . . . . . . . . . .
miscellaneous books, TV, movies etc.
By Jacqueline Field
BOOKS
Irvin Penn Regards the Work of Issey Miyake.
Photographs 1975-1998. Introduction by Mark
Holborn. Little Brown & Co., A Bullfinch Press
Book. This glossy book is a collaboration between
photographer and designer featuring exotic body
coverings designed by Issey Miyake. With the
models virtually invisible the garments are shown
exotically posed--one to a page. Backgrounds are
deleted so that the clothing items appear like large
isolated abstract shapes spread over the space.
Oversize with 136 colored photographs.
Masked Men by Steven Cohan presents a study of
"masculinity and the movies" in the fifties. According
to one reviewer Cohan looks at the influence of
Hollywood films on the redefinition of masculinity
that occurred in America in the post WW II years. 48
photos. Indiana University Press.
MAGAZINES
If the Dress 2001 article on Nudie, the top designer
of country western clothes, was of special interest to
you, see the November 2002 issue of Threads
“Show and Tell and ‘Mystery’
Objects”, CSA Region I's Fall
Symposium, a Success
by Rebecca L. Fifield
Braving the snowy forecast for Saturday, November
16, 46 people met together at the American Textile
History Museum (ATHM) in Lowell, Massachusetts
for CSA Region I’s Fall Symposium, “Show & Tell
and ‘Mystery’ Objects.” Participants delved into their
own collections for the mysterious, the remade, and
those objects begging for further research. During
breaks, participants flocked to tables surrounding the
room to examine each others’ treasures, hauled to
ATHM in boxes, bags, and suitcases.
Jay G. Ruckle, Curator and Founder of the Glove
Museum in New York City began the day with an
entertaining A-Z look at mysteries from the glove
world, from glove stretchers, to the forgotten quirk,
the three-lined stitched pattern on the back, and
Gloversville, NY.
Other presentations allowed the speakers to introduce
ongoing research, family heirloom mysteries, and
show items from personal collections. Susan Jerome
presented her ongoing research on a greatcoat from
the late 18th-early 19th century from URI’s study
collection. Susan Hannel, whose research usually
focuses on 20th century dress, brought in a family
heirloom: a the mid-19th century child’s dress made
of a striped novelty print with United States flags and
artillery soldiers. Her questions about this object
engaged the audience and generated research leads.
Lyra McMullen focused on the white graduation
dress of the turn of the century period. Margaret
Ordoñez showcased the 19th century printed fabrics
of the wrappers in the URI collection. A curious
piece of purple, tassel-trimmed silk from the
collection of the Armenian Library and Museum of
America, was identified by Susan Lind-Sinanian as
an Armenia Bride’s outfit of 1900. Her reproduction
of the garment showed how the piece was worn.
Symposium organizer, Jackie Field, displayed an
1870s Indian pieced "paisley" now in its third
incarnation; from its origins as a shawl, it was
transformed into a 1920s motoring coat, which was
later refashioned into a contemporary coat. Former
music educator and self-proclaimed Yankee pack rat
Darcy B. Davis displayed suitcases full of women’s
20th century
(continued on page 6)
Region I Fall Symposium con’t…
fashion belts and discussed the nature of his
collecting. Collector and illustrator, Julie Stackpole,
completed the presentations by demonstrating the
usefulness of drawing in the documentation of
costume collections (see accompanying illustration).
In this age of digital imaging, her presentation
reminded us of the reconstructive function of drawing
for garments in such poor condition that they cannot
be dressed for photography, or to show construction
details hidden by trim ).
The panel of experts at the CSA Region I Fall Symposium “Show
and Tell and “Mystery” Objects”. From left, Elizabeth Brown,
Lynne Bassett, Margaret Ordonez , and Linda Welters.
In the afternoon, experts Lynn Bassett, Elizabeth
Brown, Margaret Ordonez, and Linda Welters (see
photo, above) helped to date and identify objects
brought in by participants. From 19th century dresses
and silk dolmans to silk commemorative panels and
quilts, the panel and audience joined together in
swapping information in order to identify these
objects.
SYMPOSIUM VOLUNTEERS: AN
APPRECIATION
Thank you to all the volunteers for their contributions
to the smooth running of the Show & Tell and
"Mystery" Objects Symposium. Melanie Sanford,
Assistant Conservator at the American Textile
History Museum was our volunteer at the museum-the symposium site. She mailed the brochures,
prepared the registration packets, and--on the day-magically managed always to be in the right place
with exactly the help that was needed. Jill Plitnikas
and Rebecca Tinkham, both Fellows at the American
Textile History Museum this year, pitched in and
between them assisted at the Registration Desk and
with the projectors. University of Rhode Island
graduate student Karen Kaplan helped manage the
flow of participants with
items for the "Date and Identify" panel. Diane
Montenegro worked at the CSA publications table
where Margaret Ordoñez' book, Your Vintage
Keepsake: A CSA Guide to Costume Storage &
Display, and the CSA Calendar* were eagerly
purchased by participants. Last, but not least, Mike
Kaplan put in yeoman service helping rearrange the
room set-up and move AV equipment. Volunteers
make a difference. Thank you all.

CSA Calendars and Your Vintage Keepsake:
A CSA Guide to Costume Storage & Display
may be purchased through the CSA Website
Bookstore. You can support CSA and help
generate commission to help fund CSA
projects by buying all your books--not just
CSA--but everything from novels to
textbooks via the CSA Website Bookstore.
Above, a drawing by Julie Stackpole. Stackpole used this drawing
as part of her talk, entitled “One Collector’s Sketchbook, or, The
Usefulness of Drawing to Study & Document Vintage Clothing”,
at the Region I Fall Symposium.
>>>>><<<<<
David E. Lazaro, Region I Editor
234 Florence Road
Florence, MA 01062
How was it? Find out about the Region I symposium “Show and Tell and “Mystery” Objects”, held at the
American Textile History Museum, on page 5!
Photograph by Maryann Sadagopan
Other Happenings in the Region…
CSA Region 1 is offering a scholarship to cover registration for the national symposium in Charleston, South
Carolina, June 11-14, 2003. This scholarship is available to an undergraduate or graduate student of costume or
related program, and who is currently a student member of CSA Region 1. Enrolled students should send an
application letter highlighting your involvement with costume, dress, or fashion, synopsis of course work, goals for
your future in the field, explanation of financial need, and a letter of recommendation from a professor or
professional affiliate to: Carrie Alyea, CSA Region 1 Education Committee Chair, 26 Bradford Street, #1, Boston,
MA 02118-2119. Deadline: March 15, 2003. Info: alyea@bellatlantic.net, 617-338-8635,
www.costumesocietyamerica.com/RegionI
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CSA Region I announces "Understructures: Shaping the Body, Fashioning the Person", Saturday, April 5, 2003,
Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, Massachusetts. Program will include lectures, interpretive program called
"Dressing Out," and a try-on session of reproduction stays, hoops, and kimono underpinnings. Contact Carrie
Alyea, alyea@bellatlantic.net, or visit www.costumesocietyamerica.com/RegionI/symposia.htm.
>>>>><<<<<
On March 21-23, 2003, the Connecticut Historical Society, in collaboration with the Association for Living
History, Farm and Agricultural Museums, will present a costume symposium entitled “History Next to the Skin:
Topics in American Costume, 1620-1865.” The symposium will feature a variety of lectures, workshops, and field
trips to local museums, and will certainly be of interest to living history interpreters, museum curators and
educators, academic historians, as well as members of the general public who have an interest in historic costume.
The keynote speaker, Dr. Marla Miller of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and author of the
forthcoming book, The Needle’s Eye: Women and Work in the Age of Revolution, will discuss the clothing trades in
the eighteenth-century Connecticut River Valley, placing seamstresses, tailoresses, and mantuamakers within the
ranks of other rural artisans. Drawing on letters, ledgers, and diaries, as well as gowns, tools, and buildings, she will
examine the social and economic relationships that surrounded works of the needle, illuminating issues of hierarchy
and power alongside collaboration and cooperation within and among rural families.
With funding provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Connecticut Historical Society
has catalogued a large portion of its extensive clothing collection, focusing on women’s, men’s, and children’s wear
dating prior to 1900. Several sessions of the symposium are devoted to highlighting the museum’s holdings of early
clothing. Independent historical tailor Henry Cooke will examine the highs and lows of men’s eighteenth-century
fashion, focusing on clothing from the CHS collection. Melanie Sanford of the Textile Conservation Center of the
American Textile History Museum will provide an overview of the conservation of a very rare Revolutionary War
Tory redcoat belonging to the CHS collection. CHS Costume specialist Lynne Bassett will discuss “The Romantic
Era in Connecticut Clothing, Art, and Literature,” and CHS Director of Museum Collections Susan Schoelwer will
examine the concept of “Looking One’s Best: A Comparative Perspective on Costume and Portraiture in the
1830s.” CHS museum and library staff will also present a two-hour workshop on organizing, cataloguing, and
documenting a costume collection.
There will be many more lectures given by other distinguished speakers, from Region I and elsewhere.
Participants will have a choice of workshops or field trips to local history museums, which will highlight their
costume and textile collections for the tours. Eighteenth-century sites that may be seen are the Webb-Deane-Stevens
Museum in Wethersfield (which is an optional field trip scheduled for Friday, March 21) and the Noah Webster
House in West Hartford. Nineteenth-century sites offered are the Isham-Terry House and Mark Twain House in
Hartford.
Registration is $220 for CHS and ALHFAM members and $250 for non-members; the cost includes all
meals, field trips, and workshops associated with the symposium on Saturday and Sunday. The optional field trip on
Friday is an additional $25. Pre-registration is required. To receive a symposium brochure, write or call the
Connecticut Historical Society, One Elizabeth Street, Hartford, Connecticut 06105, (860) 236-5621.