Academic Major 1: Music Performance
Academic Major 2: History
Title: Torn Threads: The Socioeconomic Complexities of Small Scale Weaving/Spinning
The importance to a community of trades in small-scale or preindustrial societies has always been a respected and researched task. Yet what role in the community did textile production play, and how was this importance undermined by the gender gap assigned to this trade? What can I learn, by using past technologies, about the process of small scale cloth production? Lastly, what effect did the Industrial Revolution have on the gender divide in cloth production?
The inspiration of these questions traces back to a discovery made in my grandparent's barn. The house they live in was built in 1816, and my family has lived in it ever since. While moving furniture we discovered an antique spinning wheel. Considering the nature of the house, I think it is possible this small wooden wheel would have been used by my direct ancestors. I spoke to a spinner at the yearly Scottish Festival put on in Hammond to celebrate the town's history, and learned more about the type of wheel I had. A video I watched for fun on the community place of tailors/milliners in the 18th century made me wonder the same about weavers and spinners. After all, they are both trades, so it would make sense that one person in a community would make the fabric for the whole community, rather than their whole family.
I have always had an appreciation for the hands-on work done in history, specifically with the discipline of anthropology, and the sub-discipline of archaeology. I knew if I were to study the social complexities of weaving, I would want to learn the art myself. After all, how could I hope to understand the process academically if I have not used a spinning wheel and a loom?
I intend, with this project, to gain a deeper insight into the subject of textile production and its place in a community, as well as understand the role that gender plays in this division of trade labor, and why these pervade the art still today, as well as the change impacted on this art by the Industrial Revolution.