Apron

Description

The Dunnell Manufacturing Company, located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, printed this commemorative cotton apron in 1890. It was made for the Pawtucket Cotton Centenary, a week-long fair celebrating the 100th anniversary of Slater Mill and the Rhode Island cotton industry. Slater Mill, built in 1793, was the first textile mill in the United States. The company moved to Webster, Massachusetts fairly early in its existence, but the original site in Pawtucket, “Old Slater Mill,” remains a national landmark. The design printed on this apron depicts the Old Slater Mill building and a portrait of the company’s founder, Samuel Slater. Its patriotic background features red, white, and blue stars and stripes along with tiny American flags. This object is one of a large group transferred to Winterthur from the American Textile History Museum when it closed in 2017.