570 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. [14] 



PAPER AND PAPER STOCK. 



Some specimens illustrating the manufacture of paper from wood 

 have been promised by a leading manufacturer, but have not yet been 

 received. Apart from these, the paper manufacture of this country is 

 not represented in the collections. 



Fdreign manufactures are better represented. There are many kinds 

 of paper from Spain, Egypt, China, and Japan, which are of great in- 

 terest. 



Papers of American manufacture accompanied by specimens of the 

 materials from which they are made, showing the materials in process 

 of manufacture, are desired. 



SPINNING AND WEAVING MACHINERY. 



While it is not the policy of the National Museum to become a de- 

 pository of mechanical appliances generally, there are certain kinds of 

 machinery that it is desirable to show in connection with the textile in- 

 dustries. Whatever relates to the old methods of spinning and weav- 

 ing by hand, when homespun garments were the staple articles of cloth- 

 ing, becomes of interest, whether it be the goods themselves, or the 

 machinery with which they were produced. 



There are now in the Museum various old appliances for spinning 

 yarn; some primitive devices used by the Indians, others more familiar, 

 which were in use in civilized countries scarcely a generation ago. 



Among the machinery for weaving there is an old loom from Maine, 

 which was used for the manufacture of linen cloth, presented by Mr. 

 S. A. Kilbourne, of Morrisania, N. Y., and another from Pennsylvania, 

 collected by Dr. T. H. Bean, probably constructed about the year 1819, 

 which was used until quite recently in the manufacture of rag-carpets. 

 A Siamese loom of primitive construction is also shown, and some models 

 of hand looms. There is also a miniature representation of the process 

 of weaving in China, the work of native artists. 



A very primitive method of weaving is shown in one of the cases in 

 which there is an Indian blanket partly woven, the warp hanging ver- 

 tically, stretched between two poles. 



The collection of spinning and weaving machinery is not complete, 

 and additions of perfect apparatus are desired. Persons having such 

 apparatus which they desire to have preserved in the Museum, are re- 

 quested to forward brief descriptions of what they have. In this way 

 the preservation of many articles of historic interest, which are being 

 rai)idly lost and destroyed, will be insured. 



This hastily-prepared account of the textile collection in the National 

 Museum gives but a very inadequate idea of the rich store of material 

 which has been accumulating for years, more rapidly than it could be 

 properly cared for and installed by the staff of officers and assistants 



