“MILLED FIT FOR TROWSERS”: TOWARD A FULLER[’S] UNDERSTANDING OF CLOTH FINISHING IN THE MID-ATLANTIC FROM 1790 TO 1830 by Eliza West A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the University of Delaware in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in American Material Culture. 2019 © 2019 Eliza West All Rights Reserved “MILLED FIT FOR TROWSERS”: TOWARD A FULLER[’S] UNDERSTANDING OF CLOTH FINISHING IN THE MID-ATLANTIC FROM 1790 TO 1830 by Eliza West Approved: __________________________________________________________ Linda Eaton, B.A. Hon,; D. T. C. Director of Collections & Senior Curator of Textiles, Winterthur Museum Approved: __________________________________________________________ J. Ritchie Garrison, Ph.D. Chair of the Department of Department Name Approved: __________________________________________________________ John A. Pelesko, Ph.D. Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Approved: __________________________________________________________ Douglas J. Doren, Ph.D. Interim Vice Provost for Graduate and Professional Education ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project began in January of 2018, with a call for papers for the Textile History Forum in Marshfield, Vermont. As yet unsure of my thesis topic, but dead set on the fact that it would have something to do with mills, I wrote a proposal for a study of fulling mills on the Brandywine River in Delaware. I quickly realized that this was the perfect thesis topic for me. I am grateful to the organizers—Rabbit Goody and Kate Smith—and attendees of the Forum, which took place in July of that year. They embraced my enthusiasm, and responded in kind, with suggestions, sources, and encouragement that have fueled me throughout the rest of this project. As I carried out my research that summer and fall, I benefitted from conversations with Tony Shahan about the mills of Delaware and south-eastern Pennsylvania, and with Mark Hutter and Mike McCarty of the Colonial Williamsburg tailor’s shop, who shared their perspective on woolen textiles and brainstormed with me. I also want to thank Tom Kelleher, for letting me spend a day at Old Sturbridge Village, learning what it was like to work inside a water-powered mill. Due to funding provided by the Winterthur Program’s Research and Development Fund, and the Coco Kim Scholarship, I was able to carry out research at a number of institutions. I am grateful to the staff of Chester County Historical Society and to curators Amanda Isaac of Mount Vernon, Neal Hurst of Colonial Williamsburg, and Matthew Keagle of Fort Ticonderoga for letting me get a feel for some of the woolens in their collections. And of course, Winterthur’s own curator of textiles, my wonderful advisor, Linda Eaton, who was forever enthusiastic and curious about my iii topic, and always had at her fingertips just the book or article I needed. In particular I am grateful to her for her encouragement of my adventures in fulling, and her insistence on their importance to the text of my thesis. My biggest thanks go to my friend Justin Squizzero, the wonderful weaver without whom this project would never have happened. Not only did Justin field hundreds of small, textile-related, queries over the past year, his beautiful historic reproduction textiles are also what inspired me to move beyond manuscripts and old coats and to use making as a way of knowing. His craft knowledge has contributed to this project in countless ways, not the least of which was the thirty beautiful yards of cloth which he wove for me. I also owe a debt of gratitude to the Center for Craft, Creativity, and Design, who so generously funded the creation of that textile by awarding me a grant through their Craft Research Fund. Likewise, I would like to thank the Society of Winterthur Fellows and the University of Delaware’s Center for Material Culture Studies, who further funded this project and in so doing helped to support both an artisan and an academic. From beginning to end, this thesis has been a tremendously enjoyable project, and I am truly grateful for the opportunities afforded me at Winterthur, where Catharine Dann Roeber, Tom Guiler, Emily Guthrie, Jeanne Solenski, and Ritchie Garrison were always willing to help with each new endeavor I undertook. I am glad also of my glorious and eccentric classmates—for their good humor and their tolerance of mine—and my friends and family who supported and kept up with me while I was far away. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................... vii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... x INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1 Background ......................................................................................................... 3 Historiography and Methodology: ..................................................................... 7 Overview of Chapters ....................................................................................... 15 Chapter 1 THE FULL PICTURE: MILLS IN CONTEXT ............................................... 17 Fulling Mills in the Landscape ......................................................................... 18 The Physical Structure of Fulling Mills ........................................................... 23 Owners, Craftspeople, and Laborers ................................................................ 30 Staffing the Pre-Industrial Fulling Mill ............................................................ 31 The Madison Factory and the Structure of Early Woolen Mills ...................... 38 Mill Customers ................................................................................................. 43 2 FROM FLEECE TO FABRIC: THE STAGES OF MAKING AND FINISHING WOOLEN CLOTH ..................................................................... 50 Making Woolen Cloth ...................................................................................... 55 Finishing Woolen Cloth ................................................................................... 66 Training and Skill of American Cloth Finishers .............................................. 99 3 THE CHANGING TECHNOLOGY OF WOOLEN FINISHING ................ 102 The Mechanization of Cloth Production ........................................................ 103 Machine Design .............................................................................................. 109 Machine Builders and Buyers ........................................................................ 118 Machine Users ................................................................................................ 120 4 THE CRAFT OF WOOLEN FINISHING ..................................................... 124 Recreating William Guthrie’s Fulling Order .................................................. 125 Defining Flannel ............................................................................................. 126 Designing the Reproduction Flannel .............................................................. 132 Making and Finishing the Cloth ..................................................................... 138 5 FINISHING REMARKS ................................................................................ 153 v REFERENCES ........................................................................................................... 157 Primary Sources .............................................................................................. 157 Secondary Sources .......................................................................................... 159 Appendices A GLOSSARY OF TEXTILE NAMES WITH ASSOCIATED FINISHES..... 163 B TEXTILE SAMPLES (Winterthur Copy Only) ............................................. 166 C IMAGE PERMISSIONS ................................................................................ 167 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 George Washington’s Coat ........................................................................ 5 Figure 2 Mill seats on the Brandywine River map, c. 1816 ................................... 21 Figure 3 The Madison Woolen Factory and Greenbank Mill ................................ 24 Figure 4 Brandywine Woolen Mill Billhead ......................................................... 27 Figure 5 Drawing of Louviers Mill, by Eluthera du Pont Smith ............................ 27 Figure 6 Tom Kelleher working on the Old Sturbridge Village carding mill ....... 28 Figure 7 Average number of jobs per month at the Broad Run fulling mill .......... 33 Figure 8 Page headings in Hannah Wilson’s day book ......................................... 35 Figure 9 Samples of bearskin cloth ........................................................................ 47 Figure 10 Woman Pressing and Folding Laundry, by John Lewis Krimmel .......... 51 Figure 11 Man Seated at a Table, by John Lewis Krimmel .................................... 52 Figure 12 Common textile weave structures.. ......................................................... 60 Figure 13 American Militia Light Infantry or Light Dragoon Coatee ..................... 62 Figure 14 Detail, American Militia Light Infantry or Light Dragoon Coatee ......... 63 Figure 15 British Officer's Coatee, 49th Regiment .................................................. 64 Figure 16 Detail, British Officer's