Keywords: Sewing machines
Item 33667
Shaw & Clark Sewing Machine advertisement, Biddeford, 1866
Contributed by: McArthur Public Library Date: 1866 Location: Biddeford Media: Ink on paper
Item 16979
Hand Cranked Sewing Machine, ca. 1870
Contributed by: Aroostook County Historical and Art Museum Date: circa 1870 Location: Houlton Media: Steel
Exhibit
Art of the People: Folk Art in Maine
For many different reasons people saved and carefully preserved the objects in this exhibit. Eventually, along with the memories they hold, the objects were passed to the Maine Historical Society. Object and memory, serve as a powerful way to explore history and to connect to the lives of people in the past.
Exhibit
Silk Manufacturing in Westbrook
Cultivation of silkworms and manufacture of silk thread was touted as a new agricultural boon for Maine in the early 19th century. However, only small-scale silk production followed. In 1874, the Haskell Silk Co. of Westbrook changed that, importing raw silk, and producing silk machine twist threat, then fabrics, until its demise in 1930.
Site Page
Historic Clothing Collection - 1870-1890 - Page 1 of 4
"… Memorial Library After the Civil War, sewing machines reached the professional dressmaking and home sewing market. They were expensive."
Site Page
Historic Clothing Collection - Mid to Late Nineteenth Century
"… also of Massachusetts, developed wire to make sewing machine needles, and spring steel wire for hoop skirts and bustle supports."
Story
From Chinese Laundress to Mother of the Year
by Dr. Andrea Louie
Toy Len Goon's granddaughter recounts her immigration to the US and becoming Mother of the Year.
Story
A Maine Family's story of being Prisoners of War in Manila
by Nicki Griffin
As a child, born after the war, I would hear these stories - glad they were finally written down
