02 Textile Design

02.2 Historic Influences

Warnick, K. & Nilsson, S. (1988). Legacy of Lace: Identifying, collecting, and preserving American lace. New York: Crown. ISBN O-517-56899-3, 186 pages,
$24.95.

Reviewed by Elaine L. Pedersen, Oregon State University

Legacy of Lace appears to be written primarily for the individual who has a limited knowledge of lace, but also may be useful to professionals working in the area of historic costumes and textiles. Though many types of laces and lace-like fabrics are mentioned, the authors discuss only the most common varieties of each type. The authors' broad definition of lace includes sprang; openwork weaving, crochet, and knitting; waffle work; and other lace or lace-like fabrics.
The individual wishing to identify a lace can wither read the chapters on different thread manipulation techniques, i.e., looping, knotting, etc. or turn to the "Identification Key" in the back which very briefly describes lace construction methods and has photographs of 33 types of lace including machine-made laces. There are also many very clear photographs of the different laces throughout the book. If the reader understands different construction techniques, the division of the book into chapters organized by construction technique is a useful lace classification system for purposes if identification. Although this book is labeled as discussing American lace, how a piece of lace can be identified, as American is never made clear. There is also no information on the dating of laces. Most sections of the book include a clearly labeled illustration showing distinctive features for a particular lace type, although this was not available for all types of lace discussed. For individuals needing further information a large bibliography is included.
There is a brief but well written history of lace in the beginning of the book, which would be useful to those teaching historic costume. In this chapter the authors discuss the influence of the economic, political, and religious systems on the use and manufacture of lace.
At the close of the book there is a chapter on the preservation and use of lace. This chapter, which contains basic information on the preservation of lace, is written more for the consumer than for the professional. The authors do point out that there are various ideas and theories on the cleaning of lace and comment when discussing stain removal that the consumer must decide "whether you would rather have your article whole with stains, or whiter but damaged." They do not emphasize that the entire process of preservation can, if handled poorly, damage the lace. Correct methods of lace storage are discussed but in several sections the authors mention ways of displaying and "using" lace. Their suggestions for use of lace go against the beliefs of professional costume and textile historians who believe that use will lead to more rapid deterioration and the loss of these historic items for future generations to study and enjoy.
This book is a good beginning source for lace identification as the description of lace construction for those laces included in the book is clear as are the accompanying photographs. Additional references will be needed for those individuals who also wish to identify whether the lace is American and to date the piece.

Horton, L. (Ed). (1990). Uncoverings 1989. San Francisco: American Quilt Study Group. ISBN 1-877859-00-1, 167 pages, $18.00.

Reviewed by Catherine A. Cerny, University of Rhode Island

Uncoverings 1989 is the tenth volume of research papers published from the annual seminar of the American Quilt Study Group. AQSG is unique among national quilt organization in its goal to encourage, support, and share historic research of quilts and quiltmaking. What sets Uncoverings apart from the multitude of popular quilt journals, books, and catalogs is emphasis on accurate research and sound scholarship that furthers the knowledge of the quilt enthusiast.
Until the later part of the 1980's, much of the literature on quiltmaking taught technique and design strategies. Without written records to detail women's social life, author/educators tended to romanticize the historical context of the craft; knowledge about quilt tradition drew broad generalizations from scant documentation. They equated extant quilts as documents about women's experience, but made little effort to substantiate, let alone challenge, the veracity of such sentiments.
The nine articles in Uncoverings 1989 suggest the potential for scholarship in this emerging field. The authors, who include both the self-taught and the academic, look beyond popular sentiment and document particular phenomena, contexts, and individuals as relevant to understanding the broader social issues of quiltmaking. For example, Virginia Gunn shows how women during the early twentieth century updated tradition "colonial" quilts in the decoration of their Art Deco "boudoirs" as a strategy for embracing cultural change. At the same time, authors challenge assumptions about the relative value of quilts. Suellen Meyer has us reconsider the emphasis today given to hand-stitched quilts by documenting the acceptance of the sewing machine as a labor-saving alternative in piecing and quilting quilts. Similarly, Eleanor Hamilton Sienkiewicz examines the tendency to attribute authorship to historic quilts as a means to increase their monetary worth questions whether this effects their cultural significance.
The diversity in research strategies suggests an increasing desire for depth in understanding quilt phenomena and traditions. Barbara Brackman traces trends in nineteenth century signature quilts by applying the diffusion of innovations model used in material culture study. Elizabeth Weyhruach Shea and Patricia Cox Crews use oral history interviews as the basis of their demographic profile of the Nebraska quiltmaker. Nancilu B. Burdick traces the live history of quilt enthusiast through the development of her quilt collection.
Particularly interesting among these articles in Jane Przybysz' feminist critique of a quilted garment fashion show. Among the authors, she is most direct in questioning how social institutions and culturally defined gender categories shape women's quiltmaking. In particular she examines how Concord Fabrics sponsorship of the event has "muted" authentic expression. Her case study challenges us to reconsider how quiltmaking, and correspondingly quilt research, has and continues to be comprised by the hegemony of a male dominated society.
Uncoverings 1989 exemplifies AQSG's priority in building knowledge about quilts and quiltmaking through sound, systematic, and focused study. Yet, as it assumes a leadership position in the field, it needs to be vigilant of the romanticism of quilt tradition and the social issues it conceals.

Uncoverings 1989 can be ordered from the American Quilt Study Group, 660 Mission St., Suite 400, San Francisco, CA 94105-4007 for $18.00 plus $2.00 postage and handling.

Bennett, A.G. (1992). Five Centuries of Tapestry (2nd ed.). San Francisco: The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. ISBN 0-8118-0213-2 (hardbound), 0-8118-0206-X (paperbound), 330 pages, $49.95 (hardbound), $29.95 (paperbound).

Reviewed by Rachel Pannabecker, Kauffman Museum, North Newton, KS

There are two ways to review a book. The first method is to judge the book according to how well the author's intentions were met. Five Centuries of Tapestry was originally published in 1976 as the catalogue for a special exhibition of the same name. Both the 1976 and 1992 editions feature the collection of tapestries from The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. While the collection is not as well known as that of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (which has been exhaustively catalogued by two volumes by Standen, 1985), the San Francisco tapestries are important for their range and quality.
Anna Gray Bennett, Curator Emerita of Textiles of The Fine Arts Museums, competently catalogues 100 examples from the collection giving iconographic explanations, technical details, and bibliographic references, as well as measurements and recognition of donors. Valuable to lay readers are the many color photographs and Bennett's cogent explanations of weaving techniques, looms, and the structural aspects of color. Mark Adam's introductory essay helpfully explains tapestry's reputation as dull in a discussion of the unfortunate marriage of non-fast dyes and "painterly" designs. Bennett's intention of producing a thorough and informative catalogue of her institution's collection has been well met.
The second way to review a book is to judge it according to what the author could have done with the topic. This approach inevitable results in a negative review. Five Centuries of Tapestry is clearly limited by cataloguing one collection. In a catalogue format, the larger context of tapestry is often treated superficially. For example, Bennett briefly refers to tapestry production in Arras by noting the absence of historical records. This same lack of documentation is developed into a lively and scholarly debate on stylistic evidence of Textile Art (Thomas, Mainguy, & Pommier, 1985). Freed from the boundaries of a single collection, the authors of Textile Art are able to explore nonwestern tapestries and the revival of tapestry in the twentieth century. Given the contributions of this approach, it is difficult to justify the re-publication of a catalogue simply because it adds a few more pieces, a few more color photographs, and an updated text. There are more ground-breaking historical themes to explore, as suggested in Textile Art, on the production, use, and meaning of this significant form of the textile arts.
But Textile Art also has its weakness. Its Paris-based writers feature tapestries found in many museums across Europe, but include tapestries from only one museum in North America - the Metropolitan. Clearly, fine examples of tapestries in museums such as The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco have been understudied.
So, what is appropriate scholarship for a tapestry book of the 1990's? Are North American based researchers limited to artifact-centered studies of these European-produced tapestries? As the vibrant colors of historic tapestries have faded, so too has their relevancy to many contemporary textile artists and casual museum visitors. Questions of method in writing about tapestry are critical if the value of these works of are to be reclaimed.

Standen, E.A. (1985). European post-medieval tapestries and related hangings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Thomas, M., Mainguy, C., & Pommier, S. (1985). Textiles Art. Geneva: Skira.

Bosker, F. et al (1992). Fabulous fabrics of the 50s (And other terrific textiles of the 20s, 30s, and 40s). San Francisco: Chronicle Books. ISBN 0-87701-811-1, 102 pages, $16.95.

Reviewed by JoAnn C. Stabb, U. of California, Davis

From the title alone, one senses the enthusiasm the authors hold for their subject. Overflowing with superlatives and lively adjectives, this survey of industrially produced interiors fabrics offers visual documentation of textiles that have been largely ignored by textiles historians to date.
Perhaps this is a typical case of "just old enough to look new again". An entire generation has grown up without being surrounded by the florid patterns of the 1940s and 50s draperies. What were "quietly discarded on the trash heap of history", as Bosker writes, have been out of view long enough to now be revived as "fresh" and "interesting". He validates the popularity of this renaissance by dropping the names of show business clients of "vintage" decorators currently using these fabrics in their living rooms and on their furniture as well as movie studios who utilize them as props for recreating period ambiance.
A concise introduction both describes and justifies the cultural significance represented by these textiles. The motifs and design themes of the 20s reflect the dominant European traditions that were later transformed by the discoveries and concerns of the mid-century atomic age. Modernist icons of atoms, cell structures and the famous boomerang shapes replaced the richly curved florals of the earlier decades. Organized by pattern type rather than chronologically, the book presents large, clear color plates accompanied by brief descriptions. This format reflects the continuity of many design motifs that were used during the period between the two world wars. Although the examples come primarily from the collection of co-authors Mancini and Gramstad and may reflect their personal preferences, the scope of the patterns appears to be inclusive and documents the major stylistic trends.
One of the major attributes of the book is the visual quality of the photographs, presenting the texture as well as the color patterning of barcloth, bengaline and pebblecloth with rare clarity. In addition to over 130 different textiles photographed in color, the book includes a useful glossary of textile terminology including some period terms that are no longer commonly used. Textile mills, design houses, and designers are also listed and mentioned in the text when known. While the photographs and glossary are basically valuable tools for designers and historians, the highly subjective text tends to "hype" these textiles, almost as a sales pitch to increase their value. Going beyond scholarly or academic analysis, the author's enthusiasm unfortunately attempts to generate market value and demand.
Notwithstanding this flaw, the book represents a valuable visual record of textiles that were taken for granted by a generation of Americans who lived with them and grew beyond them. It is time to revisit these objects of our material mass-culture of the mid-20th century. As stated by the author, "In one graceful sweep they mock nostalgia and celebrate it."

Clark, R., Knepper, G.W., & Ronsheim, E. (1991).
Quilts in community: Ohio's traditions. Nashville, TN: Rutledge Hill Press.
ISBN 1-55853-101-7, 176 pages, $29.95.

Reviewed by Kathy Jung, University of Maryland

Many states have completed quilt documentation projects and published books to communicate the findings. In this instance, the book, which resulted, is as rich, beautiful and complex as the quilts and communities of Ohio that it documents.
Material from the text is arranged as a collection of separate works by different authors. Each focuses on a distinct aspect of Ohio quilt traditions: Knepper writes about early settlement patterns in Ohio, Ronsheim on the economic, technological, and historical factors contributing to the Ohio quilt heritage, and Clark on the ways which communities fostered and nurtured quilt traditions.
Although editor/co-author Clark covers it in depth, community is one of the emergent themes of the Ohio quilt project which was explored throughout the book: quilts in and of the communities of rural versus urban dweller, ethnic, religious and reform societies, families and women. The faces and facets of these communities are vividly portrayed through the 200-plus photographs.
In contrast to most quilt books, quilt makers are encountered here as much as their handiwork through compelling portraits accompanied by lengthy captions. Besides photographs of makers and quilts, captions, and text, the authors have included primary material also. Quotes from contemporary magazines, diaries and other sources are set apart from and punctuate the text, but like many books written for a broad audience, references to material within the text are unfortunately scarce.
One of questions sorely missed in some regional studies is addressed here: "how and why are Ohio quilts different from those of other states?" To answer this, quilts are dissected from the inside out by Ronsheim, who examines the history of thread, batting, fabric, dyes, and other factors likely to have affected the end product. Ohio's quilt documentation project was apparently a successful collaboration between the Ohio State Historical Society, scholars, and grass-roots level participants. Ronsheim, textile curator at the Historical Society, made interesting use of costumes and textiles from the collection to support her analysis.
Though presented separately, the research of the three authors blends well, for at least two reasons. First, the use of photographs of quilts and makers with captions and bracketed primary material is used consistently and profusely throughout the book. This works nicely, except that references in the text to numbered photographs usually give the wrong page where they can be found. And in a sense it works too well-you must be careful and systematic to gather the many threads of thought as you read.
The second reason the research presented blends well, and one key to the significance of this publication is the community theme. Researchers and quilt aficionados alike may have experienced today's dynamic quilters' network. They can now compare their 20th century experience to quilt networks over a century old; the focus is on women and their communities, too long ignored or forgotten.

Kwon, Y-H. (1988). Symbolic and decorative motifs of Korean silk: 1875-1975. Seoul, Korea: I1 Ji Sa. ISBN 630-88-02, 228 pages, $25.00.

Reviewed by Jane Farrell-Beck, Iowa State University

If you are seeking enlightenment about Korean (and Chinese) silk motifs during the past 125 years, Yoon-Hee (Suk) Kwon's book on the subject belongs on your reading list. Western readers with negligible knowledge of Korean history will appreciate Kwon's succinct discussion of domestic and international relations from 2333 B.C. to the late 20th century. A chronological table presents key events at a glance. Brief discussions of textiles accompany descriptions of each period. Combining personal knowledge with an extensive review of literature, Kwon explains the meaning of traditional Korean motifs, some modified from Chinese prototypes, others unique to Korea. Generous use of line drawings gives the reader an enhanced understanding of the motifs. Indeed, Kwon provides a comprehensive explanation of symbolic motifs that have received desultory discussion in other texts.
In her most extensive chapter, Kwon analyzes oler symbolic motifs and recent decorative motifs of a large sample of Korean silks. She explores each motif's shape, pattern arrangement (based on Proctor's The principles of pattern, 1969), visual importance, and combination with other motifs. Numerous photographs, both black and white and color, as well as line drawings offer visible evidence of the beauty and variety of Korean silk motifs. Black and white images are remarkably clear, given the difficulty of photographing gauzes and damasks, most prominent among pattern weaves used in Korea since 1875. Color shots enliven the book but present a puzzling mismatch between the color name in the description and the visible color in the photo: A color designated "maroon" appears red-orange; "apricot" looks dark brownish red; "pastel aqua" resembles deep spruce green. Perhaps the use of a standard color system would have obviated discrepancies in use of color names and have overcome the vagaries of photography under diverse lighting conditions. Kwon concludes her book with a summation of changes in motifs as they evolved from symbolic importance to aesthetic significance only, after about 1950.
Symbolic and decorative motifs of Korean silk: 1875-1975 provides excellent reading for those who teach historic textiles, clothing and culture, and similar courses. Curators of collections will learn new things about Korean and Chinese textiles in their holdings. Kwon's extensive bibliography points the way to other useful reading, including a number of papers in the Korea Journal, with which few Western readers would be familiar.
Kwon is at her best in the central, narrative chapters of the book. Introductory and concluding sections would have harmonized more fully with the rest of the text had they been cut free of dissertation style, which may meet the structures of departmental format but jar the senses in a book intended for more than committee readership. Having the book printed in Korea ensured accurate presentation of matters of substance and provided elegant renderings of Korean and Chinese word characters that few Western publishers could have matched. Had one of the professional editors been a native speaker of English, some of the grammatical and spelling lapses would have been avoided.
Quibbles aside, I commend Yoon-Hee Kwon's book to our membership.

Otto, W. (1991). How to make an American quilt. New York: Ballantine. ISBN 0-345-37080-5, 236 pages, $5.99, paperback.

Reviewed by Barbara A. Oliver, Colorado State University

A work of fiction is rarely reviewed in this newsletter but Whitney Otto's novel provides a unique perspective on the field of textiles and apparel that members of this association may appreciate. Set in Grasse, California, a fictional agricultural community outside Bakersfield, the book centers around the lives of nine women, all members of a quilting circle. The stories of these women, however, are almost secondary to the narrative Otto gives the quilt.
The book is divided into seven major sections, each of which begins with a chapter of "Instructions." On these pages, Otto shares with the reader a sense of significance of the quilt in the United States. She provides artistic and historic perspectives, preservation and display hints, as well as social-psychological impressions of the American quilt.
The historic perspective examines the importance of quilting in the U.S., from colonization through the present time. In one "Instruction" section the author discusses quilting during the years in which slavery was a part of life in some segments of the country. The occupation of many slave women was to create quilts that expressed the essence of their owners. Otto points out, however, that a quilt is a very personal thing and can communicate only the future of its creator, a metaphor related to the inequities and puzzlement of slavery.
Otto also brings out the importance of quilting as an expression of today's society. She discusses the AIDS quilt as a sad reminder that a disease has reached epidemic proportions. The quilt, which began as a 3x6-foot patch, now has over 9000 squares and weighs tons, yet represents only 20% of those who have died from the disease. Otto notes "This quilt is eclectic in its beauty…, staggering in its implication of waste" (p. 144). Her metaphor regarding the waste of lives a suggestion through her use of wasted fabric in the quilt is strong and moving.
After each "Instruction" section is a chapter that chronicles a separate member of the Grasse quilting group. The "Instruction" provides a background, in quilting terms, of the person whose story is about to be told.
How to make an American quilt did not intrigue me from its outset. It was only after a few chapters that I finally arrived at the rhythm of the book and could truly appreciate what Otto was attempting to do: provide a metaphor for life. It was obvious that Whitney Otto's love of history and writing were employed to put together this work of fiction. Her research was remarkable and she suggests a number of books that might be beneficial to those individuals who want to learn about the American quilt. Although fiction, this book could be incorporated into a classroom. A course in historic textiles, historic clothing, or social-psychology may be enriched through discussion of this book.

Affleck, D.L.F. and Hudon, P. (1990). Celebration and remembrance: Commemorative textiles in America, 1790-1990. North Andover, MA: Museum of American Textile History. ISBN 0-937474-13-4, 87 pages, $18.95.

Reviewed by Virginia Gunn, University of Akron

Exhibition catalogs often provide a rich source of well-researched scholarship in textile arts fields. They can, however, easily be over looked because of their limited distribution. This paperwork accompanied a 1990-1991 exhibition organized in honor of Samuel Slater's bicentennial.
The catalog opens with two excellent essays on commemorative textiles, which ITAA scholars should find of value. The first piece is Paul Hudon's thought-provoking and fairly lengthy essay, "Celebrating and Remembrance." Hudon refreshingly assumes a literate and somewhat sophisticated style. He suggests that textiles can function as narratives or "agent of myth,"(p. 16) jarring our memory network and helping us celebrate past events of individual and collective importance. He notes that while Americans have always formed a pluralistic segmented society, commemorative textiles vividly demonstrate that we significantly "celebrate in common from time to time" (p. 18). Examples such as "two point three million handkerchiefs produced for no other reasons than to wave them at a sports event" (p. 16) - instantly calling to the reviewer's mind the "Yankee Hankies" . Cleveland Indians' fans wave when the New York baseball team visits the North shore - challenges readers to contemplate the complex uses of textiles in mass culture.
The second and shorter essay, entitled simply "Introduction," is by Diane L. Fagan Affleck, the curator. She points out how commemorative textile artifacts serve as symbols which "carry messages from one person to another and from the past to the future," (p. 21) helping ordinary Americans mark important milestones and "build a national identity" (p. 22). This well-written discussion could be used as a teaching tool when covering topics such as symbolic interaction and identity negotiation.
Affleck's careful documentation and interpretation of the 65 commemorative textiles illustrated in the rest of the book serve as a good example of material culture artifact analysis. This publication is a valuable addition to the growing library of works focused on American commemorative and/or printed textiles. It will supplement Herbert/Ridgeway Collins's Threads of History: American Recorded on Cloth 1775-Present. (Smithsonian, 1979), Robert Bishop's and Carter Houck's All Flags Flying : American Patriotic Quilts as Expressions of Liberty (Dutton, 1986), Affleck's Just New From Mills: Printed Cottons in America, Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries (Museum of American Textile History, 1987), and Hillary Weiss's The American Bandanna: Culture on Cloth from George Washington to Elvis (Chronicle of books, 1990).
The two essays alone make Celebration and Remembrance a book worth tracking down. The publication demonstrates that exhibition catalogs are a worthy way to present high-quality research and scholarship in the textile arts.

Scranton, P. (1989). Figured tapestry: Production, markets, and power in Philadelphia textiles, 1885-1941. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-34287-2, 518 pages, $59.95.

Reviewed by Rachel K. Pannabecker, Kauffman Museum, Kansas

Figured tapestry is the second of two books by Philip Scranton that tells the story of proprietor-owned textile firms in Philadelphia that specialized in flexible batch production. Scranton's efforts are in significant contrast to industrial histories, which focus on textile corporations producing staple goods, and which exclude smaller capitalists manufacturing seasonal, fancy goods. As such, Figured Tapestry is a valuable corrective to an often simplistic and reductionist understanding of development and change within the woven and knit industries in the United States.
The Philadelphia textiles story does not stand in isolation and Scranton weaves in the stories of New England and the Carolinas as they run parallel or intersect. Scholars of textiles and apparel would do well to study Scranton's work as a model for investigating the histories of textile manufacturing in other regions.
The figures in the Philadelphia tapestry take form because of Scranton's access to extensive primary documentation. Alarmingly Scranton notes that some research libraries have deaccessioned trade and textile journals from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He rightly points out that these are "rich and irretrievable sources" (p. 146). ITAA members should be alert to the need to preserve these resources for the recovery of other sectors of textile history.
The densely detailed facts and figures about Philadelphia textiles may overwhelm some readers. But Scranton's story of full-fashioned hosiery from 1925-1933 (pp. 427-450) is a readable case study useful for textiles and apparel economics courses. The account chronicles the interrelationships of machines, fashion, and labor strikes and the intense pressures for style flexibility and price leadership that led to liquidation and unemployment in the Philadelphia knitting mills.
The demise of the Philadelphia textile manufacturers is not the end of the story. ITAA members can readily supply several obvious parallels from Philadelphia history to current trends in the US textile production: quick delivery to "Quick Response"; the tradition of skilled workmanship to "Crafted with Pride"; "scientific" budget management to computerized inventory control; and the problems of producing shoddy to the resurgence of interest in recycled fibers. While Scranton does not lift up these parallels, he devotes the final chapter to summarizing factors in the decline of Philadelphia textiles and to thinking aloud about attempts to revive flexible manufacturing.
Given the vulnerabilities of the textile industry, Scranton is pessimistic about the future of US textiles. Yet the rhetoric of the 1992 US elections indicates serious fears for the economy and a readiness for change that was not obvious when Figured Tapestry went to press in 1989. Like Scranton, I believe that we enlarge the scope of the possible change as we come to understand the varieties of past experience. As we monitor and participate in the construction of economic strategies for the future, let us remember that "To restore the integrity and complexity of the past is simultaneously to liberate our imagination in the present" (Scranton, 1983, p. 9).

Barber, E.J.W. (1991) Prehistoric textiles: The development of cloth in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, with special reference to the Aegean. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-03597-0, 471 pages, $69.50 text ed., $29.95 paperback.

Reviewed by Lucy R. Sibley, Ohio State University

Barber's thorough and painstaking analysis of data related to the early production of use and textiles is in some ways a labor of love. It is obvious that she has sifted through and examined much data concerning prehistoric textiles. It is also obvious that her efforts stem from the view that textiles are essential to people and their various societies and, as such, provide evidence about interaction among various groups. Barber's own academic preparation in linguistics and classical archaeology and her experience as a handweaver led her to this monumental endeavor. What she has done is to trace textile traditions which evolved over a long span of time (10,000 years) in an area of the world which is the traditional purview of classical archaeology - the Aegean and Mediterranean, Europe, Ancient Near East, and occasionally the Eurasian steppes.
The book has two major divisions. The first and longer section examines the archaeological textile evidence and is organized by the components of textiles (fiber, yarn, fabric) and the tools and technology of textile production (for example, looms, spinning implements). The second part explores in separate, discrete chapters inferences which can be drawn from the first section. In Part II the seemingly separate chapters are unified by certain commonalties as she searches for the implications to be derived from the evidence. She presents powerful arguments for the origin of weaving as well as the diffusion of fabric and technology across space and time. One intriguing chapter presents a linguistic analysis of the textile complex in Greece. Her meticulous review of Greek words having to do with textiles is strengthened by a corresponding knowledge of both language and textile. The chapter is impressive and demonstrates a source of information for those of us struggling with interpretation and meaning.
Less substantive is her handling of the question of division of labor and the implications for the textile complex. Although she builds a strong case for female dominance of tasks associated with the industry, she relies a bit too heavily on outdated explanations of that phenomenon. At the same time she argues rather eloquently that textile traditions, although probably far older that pottery, were often ignored by male archaeologists because textile production is associated with women.
In one sense the very magnitude of the task, i.e., to examine the evidence for textiles in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, forced her to disciplines outside her areas of strength. And that is the weakness of this book. It is well nigh impossible to keep abreast of the latest developments in such disparate areas of inquiry as chemistry, anthropology, art history, and textile history and science. To rely on scholarship published in 1972 when discussing techniques in dye analysis encourages misunderstanding. Major advances have been made in the last 20 years in a number of fields. Her discussion of fibers would have benefited from a knowledge of developments in the study of fiber degradation.
Barber has performed an incredible synthesis of site information from a wide geographic area. She has made a strong case for the importance of studying prehistoric textiles when reconstructing archaeological cultures and has proved a source book for that study. It would have been even better if she had included some of the latest research findings from disciplines other than the classics and archaeology, but that must be said within the context of admiration for the task she has accomplished. Since the ultimate goal of archaeological investigation is the reconstruction of past lifeways, her efforts at explanation are to be applauded.