American lace & lace-makers

Description

"The pneumatics of Hero of Alexandria" by of Alexandria Hero is a scientific treatise written in the 1st century AD. It likely explains pneumatic and hydraulic principles through descriptions of ingenious devices—fountains, automata, siphons, and other air- and water-driven mechanisms—intended to instruct craftsmen and delight audiences. The opening of the work provided here presents an illustrated, historically grounded survey of American lace-making: a transcriber’s note, memorial funding page, dedication, and a long, carefully sourced list of plates crediting makers, owners, and museums. A grateful preface acknowledges lenders and highlights a notable Washington–Lafayette handkerchief used as the binding design. The introduction defines hand-made lace (needlepoint and bobbin), then uncovers indigenous and early American precedents—the Jamaican lace-bark tree, ancient Peruvian examples, and Central and North American Indian laces—before noting a later Native revival via the Sybil Carter Indian Lace Association. It then traces colonial and early national practice, emphasizing Ipswich pillow-lace traditions, the rise of machine-made net and Limerick-style darned work, and a parallel Medway, Massachusetts, effort centered on Dean Walker’s lace machinery. Fashion and education frame the craft’s spread: the vogue for large veils and vivid glimpses of girls’ schooling in needlework through advertisements, diaries, and Miss Sarah Pierce’s Litchfield Academy rules. The section closes by citing mid-19th-century manuals that blend technique with moral purpose and asserts the artistic excellence of American lace as the plates begin. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Subjects

• Embroidery -- United States
• Lace and lace making -- United States
• NK