OLDEST COTTON MACHINERY—LEWTON 511 
had under the direction of Samuel Slater made the original patterns 
for the old machine. 
Within Centenary Hall was erected a pavilion called the Slater 
Pavilion, within which were displayed a large number of articles 
formerly belonging to Slater and his family. In one room, over the 
entrance to which was a sign reading “ Almy, Slater & Brown,” 
there was arranged a tableau, showing at opposite sides of a table, 
impersonations of “ Uncle Sam ” and Samuel Slater, the latter seated 
in a chair with different kinds of yarn before him. Uncle Sam 
was congratulating Slater on his success, and there were shown in 
this room the finest cotton goods made, produced in mills which had. 
been started by Samuel Slater. Two objects, however, were the 
source of constant attention; these were the old card and the spin- 
ning frame built by Slater and loaned by the National Museum, 
the card by the side of a modern card, and the spinning frame by 
the side of the most recent machine built to do the same kind of 
work. The old spinning frame was put into operation and produced 
as good yarn as could be made by the most modern machines. As 
evidence of the intense interest taken by visitors to the Cotton Cente- 
nary in this achievement, the local papers recorded the sale of the 
first skein of 5 ounces of yarn spun by the revived old spinning 
frame at the price of $5. It is greatly to be regretted that interest 
of another kind by souvenir hunters robbed the machine of many of 
its parts so that by the time the Slater frame was returned to its 
home in the National Museum it had been robbed of nearly half its 
spindles and bobbins. 
Owing to various circumstances, the extensive textile collections 
in the United States National Museum were put in storage in 1890, 
the old spinning frame being stored away in the crate as it was 
returned from the Pawtucket Cotton Centenary. 
Soon after the reestablishment of the Division of Textiles of the 
National Museum in 1912, the writer discovered the precious relic 
and restored it to its deserved place in the Textile Hall. Doctor 
Tobey’s original certificate of authenticity had been filed away when 
the Slater machines were sent to Pawtucket, and this precious docu- 
ment was not found until 35 years later. 
