Lunch and Learn: Darned, Patched, and Mended: Repairing Textiles in 18th Century America

All things will one day break. In early America, this rule also held true, as material items regularly and repeatedly broke, and required repair work for continued use and preservation. Textiles—perhaps the most ubiquitous, valuable, and fragile materials in early America—are no exception. But what can a darned stocking, a patched pair of breeches, or a mended foresail tell us about early America, and why are textile repair practices worthy of notice? In this presentation, New England Regional Fellowship Consortium (NERFC) Fellow Emily Whitted will utilize examples from her research in the museum and archival collections at the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History to investigate the history of textile repair in early America. *This is a virtual event.