Silk dress exhibit at Northampton Museum -
part of one of the two concurrent silk exhibits in March 2003

Exciting Exhibit at Smith College Museum of Art

The first symposium in a series of meetings about silk, sponsored by the Smith College Museum of Art, was held from March 28-30, 2003. An exhibit, available until June 15, 2003 included both plain and fancy silk dresses and a Log Cabin wall hanging was displayed, in which the silk “logs,” that appear to be less than ¼” wide. Also shown was a “contained” crazy quilt, with the center block dated 1888, silk, quilted petticoats, a silk kimono, and a silk and wool on linen framed embroidery. In addition, oil paintings depict various individuals wearing silk garments, and there is a display of silk-related ephemera. The exhibit is the result of the hard work and dedication of students and faculty alike, and the generous loans of items from a number of museums.

Opening Day Events

Madelyn Shaw was the curator of this exhibit, “Silk in New England Society, 1730-1930.”  A number of knowledgeable artisans were on hand to provide demonstrations of silk weaving, using both a small table loom and a much larger Jacquard loom built by students. As people milled about the demonstrations, taking notes and asking questions, the art of dyeing silk was explained, as well as how silk is extracted from the cocoon. At one table, large poster board displayed catalogued the life cycle of the caterpillar that produces the most luxuriant natural fiber known to man.

On their lunch break, symposium attendees perused the many items in the main exhibit area. There was no charge to visit the exhibit, and an exhibition catalog is available at nominal cost ($5.00), in the museum gift shop.

Hand painted/hand quilted silk quilt, showing the Northampton Silk Route

At the nearby Northampton Museum, a concurrent exhibit called “From Mulberry to Manufacturing: Northampton Builds an Industry” took up almost the entire floor space of the historic museum. Alena Shumway was the curator of this exhibit that was available until September 14, 2003. The exhibit was free to the general public, but donations were happily accepted.

A result of the Northampton Silk Project, the displays are the culmination of six years’ work by students, teachers, artists, historians, museum personnel, scientists, and former silk industry workers. The many silk related items are a testimonial to the history of the silk mills that made Northampton a prime and thriving industrial center for domestic silk production for one hundred years. Silk dresses, including a wedding gown, were featured, as well as examples of locally- produced silk ribbons. One of the ribbons, dated 1882, is an example of a fondu ribbon, in various gradations of the color pink. We sometimes see this kind of ribbon in Crazy Quilts. This style of  printing, sometimes called "ombre," also occurred on cloth.

Metallic Additives Cause Silk to Shatter

One of the garments on display was severely frayed and was purposefully shown in its ragged condition to make the point that tin salt additives to silk were the cause of much silk disintegration from textiles of the period. The addition of metallic salts, at the same time that mordants were added (in the dyeing process), was the custom in Victorian times. The salts stiffened the cloth and made a dress rustle as a lady entered the room.

The prime reason for adding the salts was to make the cloth weigh more. Since silk was sold by the pound, this resulted in more profit to businessmen. Silk, in an unaltered state, is the strongest fiber known to man. A strand of silk has more tensile strength than a strand of steel of the same diameter. As witnessed by both the Smith College exhibit and the Northampton displays, much older (pre-Victorian) silks have borne the test of time without fraying or splitting.

Domestic Silk Production

Domestic silk production was an experiment dependent on the importation and planting of mulberry trees. Mulberry leaves are the only food eaten by the caterpillars that make silk. The first Northampton silk mill opened in 1834, and the last one saw its demise in the Great Depression. None were left by 1940.

Like other mills in the northeast in the nineteenth century, the silk mills were not immune to labor strikes. In addition, companies changed hands frequently. Nonotuck Silk Company produced one of the finest silk threads in the world, the “Corticelli” brand, and even won prizes at the Centennial Exposition of 1876.

Examples of silk hats, silk dress goods, silk stockings, and silk worsted yarn for knitting are just some of the other products shown in the exhibit. One of the factors that led to the demise of local silk production was the popularity of rayon, a fiber dubbed “artificial silk” that became a stiff competitor for silk in 1926.

A beautiful addition to the display is a silk quilt that was designed and hand painted by Sally Dillon, and hand quilted by Janet Hale in 2002.

More information about the Northampton Silk Project can be found at the website: http://www.smith.edu/hsc/silk

©Copyright 2004, Patricia L. Cummings and James Cummings, Quilter's Muse Publications, Concord, NH. webmaster@quiltersmuse.com