Just New from the Mills: Printed Cottons in America, Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries, from the Collection of the Museum of American Textile History by Diane L. F. Affleck

Abstract

TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 147 decade without significant modifications, then he abandoned the trac­ tor business. Nevertheless, Ford contributed much from the auto­ motive business to all tractor producers. All-out competition between Fordson and International Harvester’s tractor brought introduction of IHC’s Farmall in the mid-1920s, counted as a “watershed” between past and present. Most new tractor developments, such as the power take-off, were initiated many years before they came into widespread use. The au­ thor takes note of the contribution of professional organizations such as the American Society of Agricultural Engineers on getting agree­ ment on standardization and interchangeability. Technological ma­ turity camejust prior to World War II. This period emphasized down­ sizing the tractor to fit the needs of a majority of American farms. Afterward, when almost every tractor line moved to greater power, the small tractor field was abandoned. To stay in competition, John Deere shifted from its two-cylinder engines, with their distinctive ex­ haust noise. By 1983, more than half of the tractors sold to American farmers were of foreign manufacture. The final third of the volume examines the tractor’s effect on Amer­ ican society. Williams recognizes the tractor’s contributions, but he also sees the problems, admittedly intertwined with many other fac­ tors, brought on by bigger capital needs and overproduction, and social consequences involving suffering in hard times, displaced labor, and increased farm size. No solutions are suggested, however. Homer E. Socolofsky Prof. Socolofsky, of Kansas State University, is a past president of the Agricultural History Society, the author of Arthur Capper: Publisher, Politician, Philanthropist and Land­ lord William Scully, and coauthor of The Presidency of Benjamin Harrison. Just New from the Mills: Printed Cottons in America, Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries, from the Collection of the Museum ofAmerican Textile History. By Diane L. F. Affleck. North Andover, Mass.: Mu­ seum of American Textile History, 1987. Pp. 108; illustrations, bib­ liography. $15.00+ $1.50 handling (paper). Just Newfrom the Mills is the catalog of a truly outstanding collection of mass-produced textiles. This handsomely produced and wellillustrated work breaks new ground in the study of American textiles. Although textiles produced and/or used in America prior to 1850 have been the object of considerable scholarship, those produced over the next seventy-five years have been largely ignored, or considered pe­ ripherally as components of quilts and costumes. Only in recent years have historians ofdecorative arts begun to examine the material culture of the late 19th and 20th centuries, thus making “Victoriana” accept­ able. They have focused, however, primarily on nontextile decorative arts. It is appropriate that the Museum of American Textile History’s 148 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE rich collection be the subject of study, for during the late 19th and early 20th centuries these products of American technology were produced in such abundance that they came within the reach of virtually every wage earner. According to the Boston Journal of Commerce, by 1880, 800 million yards of textiles were being produced annually (p. 11). The publication of this unique collection of American material brings to the attention of historians of material culture, decorative arts, tech­ nology, and business an archive of 100,000 samples providing a com­ prehensive view of textiles produced by nine individual print works over a sustained period of time. The Museum of American Textile History should be commended for its role in preserving so many examples of the once commonplace dress and furniture fabrics, an extremely important aspect of our material mass culture that, because of their commonality, have been disregarded and lost. The collection includes fabric samples from mills in New England and Philadelphia which were supplying markets as far afield as Buenos Aires and Val­ paraiso. “ These samples, because they were kept as production rec­ ords and were not used, retain their original qualities of hand [feel] and finish as well as their vibrant colors” (p. 9). As a result, they present a more accurate document than those surviving in much-used and faded costumes and quilts. The samples are, therefore, extremely valuable documents to the academic historian and curator alike. The essays emphasize the special combination...