The Copp Family Textiles

The Copp Family Textiles SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY. AN EXTENSIVE COLLECTION of household textiles, costume items, furniture and related family pieces used by the Copp family of Stonington, Connecticut, from 1750 to 1850, were presented to the United States National Museum in the 1890s by John Brenton Copp. Although it is not uncommon for families to save some treasured items from their beloved ancestors, it is far less common to save so much of the more utilitarian types of fabrics-ticking by the bolt, handwoven sheets by the dozens, yards and yards of fringes-items that many other, more frugal, New Englanders might have continued to use throughout the nineteenth century. In addition to the general background information, this catalog includes considerable technical information about each textile. These included thirty sheets, twenty-four of which were marked with embroidered initials. . . Many of the earliest books on weaving, textiles and needlework, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.