10 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1961 



because it demonstrates liow dress fabrics themselves and many otber 

 textiles are created. It also demonstrates how the techniques of 

 textile production have changed through the years. The visitor 

 begins by looking at spindles recovered by archeologists from the 

 sites of early human habitations. He then sees the development of 

 more and more effective machinery for the manufacture of textiles. 

 Some notable "firsts" are shown, for example, the actual model made 

 by Whitney himself of the cotton gin and the first American spinning 

 frame constructed by Slater in Khode Island in the 18th century. 

 Visitors may see a most rare and beautiful dress made years ago 

 entirely of silk from silkworms gi-own in America — the silk fibers 

 processed in America and then hand sewn in America. Modern 

 synthetic metallic and glass fibers and a wide variety of the textiles 

 and textile machines that have made possible the modern multiplicity 

 of industrial and decorative fabrics are included in the displays. 

 One of the notable exhibits of this hall is a Jacquard loom more than 

 a century and a half old which has been put in perfect working order 

 by Mr. Arthur WuUschleger, who gave it to the Institution. This 

 wonderful punch-card device weaves tapestries and patterned bro- 

 cades without requiring a laborious setting by human hands. The 

 student of the history of ideas looks at this machine with surprise 

 as he wonders why such a device which uses punch cards that are 

 very similar in size and shape to modern punch cards, was not applied 

 to other industrial programing tasks until many years after the 

 Jacquard loom had proved so well its practical usefulness. In this 

 textile hall are many typical forms of textiles arranged so that each 

 visitor may touch and feel them. In museums visitors expect to see 

 signs reading "Please Do Not Touch." Here the Smithsonian has 

 reversed the injunction to "Please Touch." Experts in textiles know 

 that only by feeling fabrics can the visitor actually gain a satis- 

 factory knowledge of different types of materials. 



16. TEXTILE PROCESSING 



Immediately above the textile hall just described is another new 

 hall devoted to the display of textiles used in human clothing, house- 

 hold decoration, and many industrial functions. This hall shows the 

 history of sewing machines and other devices used in processing the 

 textiles of civilization. Here one may also see illustrated the different 

 types of dyeing and printing that have been used through the years 

 for the embellishment of textiles and collections of great textile types 

 such as lace and embroidery. No one who thinks of our modern world 

 can fail to realize the role that the sewing machines of factory and 

 home have played in the emancipation of women from monotonous toil. 

 The collection of these interesting and effective machines at the 



