Textile fragment

Description

The Naumkeag Steam Cotton Company, located in Salem, Massachusetts, manufactured this bolt of cotton sheeting in the early 20th century. The sheeting was woven at the company’s Pequot Mill and finished by the Danvers Bleachery & Dye Works, which the Naumkeag Company purchased in 1909. The bolt end has information stamped in blue, and two original labels still attached. Textile manufacturers used labels like these to identify their products, as well as proclaim their quality, to both retailers and consumers. The large “Pequot Wide Cottons” label, with an ornate filigree design, was perhaps intended to help this plain sheeting 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.