Sample

Description

The Berkeley Company, located in Cumberland, Rhode Island, manufactured this cotton cloth sometime in the early 20th century. This section of cloth has manufacturer information printed in blue ink, and an original label still attached. Textile manufacturers would put information on bolt ends to identify their products to both retailers and consumers. The shiny silver Berkeley Company label, depicting a beaver sitting on a tree branch, was perhaps intended to help this plain white fabric stand out among others on crowded store shelves. This object is one of a large group transferred to Winterthur from the American Textile History Museum when it closed in 2017.