Wool Trade Cloth in the Collection of
The National Museum of the American Indian
Glossary
Bath Coating
Coarse twill woven wool cloth produced in Bath, England and finished with a thick, napped surface. “In the Great Lakes fur trade, Bath coating was sold by the yard and also used for ready-made “great coats,” capotes (long, often hooded coats worn during the fur trade), jackets and robes.”1
Baize (or Bayes)
A coarse woolen cloth finished a long raised nap on one or both sides. In Europe, baize was used mainly for case, cabinet and closet linings, as well as furniture coverings. Clothing baize was used for monk and nun habits as well as soldier’s uniforms.2 In the North American Native market, the term baize frequently alludes to inexpensive coarse broadcloth.3
Blankets
Blankets were introduced to the Native North American market at leas as early as 1678 and were traded in large quantities by 1730. In the fur trade, blankets served as both garment and bed covering, but were used primarily for apparel.4 Blankets were usually white with two or three red or blue stripes bordering either end. In 1779, the Hudson Bay Company introduced the point system in which the size of the blankets was designated by a number of points ranging from 4 as the largest to 1 as the smallest.5 The points were woven into the blankets at one edge just above the row of stripes. Two-and-a-half point blankets were the most commonly sold. This may be because that size was the most common size for women, who wore the blankets as outerwear. Native men wore either blankets or capotes6 (long, often hooded coats worn during the fur trade). “On fur trade inventories, pointed blankets conventionally headed up the list, or were found immediately after the woolen textiles, and were enumerated in pairs. Blankets sold in the Great Lakes fur trade were manufactured in Whitney, Oxfordshire.”7 An average sized blanket sold from between 2 and 7 beavers, depending on fluctuations in the European market for furs.8
Broadcloth
A plain-woven cloth made of carded wool (as opposed to worsted or combed yarns) and finished by fulling and napping. Broadcloth was woven on a wide loom. The term originally specified fabric wider than 27 inches9, but it generally meant cloth measuring 54 – 63 inches in width. It was woven in different weights, widths and qualities, and des and finished in a variety of manners. It is known under a great variety of names as well. The process of making wool broadcloth was very lengthy and was divided by task. Broadcloth was made from English wool, which was then the best in the world. It required two pounds and six ounces of fleece to produce one yard of stout superfine broadcloth.10 The cloth was woven in cottage homes and fulled in the West Country mills before being sent to the expert finishers of Europe in the Low Countries and in Italy (Florence) to receive final dying and finishing. The unfinished cloth was one of the great staples traded in the late medieval and early modern times. The object of the cloth working was to develop a skin-like finish on the cloth.11 The excellence of broad cloth lied in the quality of the wool used, the uniformity of the nap and the perfection of the finish.12 The origin of broadcloth dates back to early times. The first historical mention of it being made was in the year 1614. During the first quarter of the seventeenth century the material was prominently displayed at “cloth fairs” annually held in different parts of England… Back then broadcloth was far from being the fine material it is now. Then it was merely a heavy, plain-woven, wide cloth that was dyed in solid colors.13
Before the cloth is finished, it is rough and dull colored and the weave structure is plainly visible. During the fulling process the cloth becomes very compact and the fibers of the warp and weft become so mutually entangled to such an extent that the cloth never unravels when cut. As a result, garments made of broad cloth do not require hemming.14 When the fulling process is complete, the cloth is lightly napped and sheared down close, in order to produce a smooth even surface. Then it is alternatively wet, steamed, calendared and hot pressed to bring out the luster, which was often referred to as a “beaver” finish.15
In the fur trade context the term “broadcloth” conventionally referred to medium quality cloth with a slightly napped surface.16 This cloth has been referred to both as “Stroud” or “list” cloth. Most fur trade companies also sold small quantities of fine broadcloth.17 During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, broadcloth was such a popular item that the term was conventionally shortened to “cloth”.18
Callimanco
A plain-woven fabric made from worsted yarns and finished with a high luster. This cloth was produced in Yorkshire and measured between 16” and 25” wide. It was available in a variety of patterns and colors, some cloths being multi-colored. The cloth most likely used in the Native North American market was plain and dark colored. “Striped callimanco” appears on sub-depot inventories, but it is not clear weather the stripes were achieved with different colors or by varying the weave of the same color yarn.19
Combed Broadcloth
A broadcloth that was similar to the carded broadcloth mentioned above, but made with combed fiber as opposed to carded fiber. The cloth had a softer hand. The finest combed broadcloth had double plied yarns in both the warp and weft. Yarns of combed fibers were sometimes woven into these cloths as well.20
Cloth
A term used for any plain-woven woolen fabrics that had been fulled, napped and sheared (see definition for broadcloth above.) In the fur trade, this term was used most frequently as a conventional abbreviation for “list cloths” and “Stroud cloths” (see definitions below.)21
Duffle
A heavy napped woolen cloth originally made in Duffel near Antwerp. This fabric was also called “trucking cloth” by the early fur traders and is found on fur trade inventories as a product trade to American Indians.22 Although this fabric was generally as wide as broadcloth, it was of inferior quality. The following passage is a description of the duffels found in Robert Plott’s 1677 account of Whitney, a town in Oxforshire where duffels were made.
The duffields… otherwise known as Shags, and by the merchants, Trucking-cloth [barter cloth]; they make in pieces about 30 yards long and one yard wide, and dye them Red or Blue, which are the colors that best please the Indians of Virginia and New England, with whom the merchants truck them for beaver, and other furs of several beasts, &c; the use they have for them is to apparel themselves with, their manner to tear them into gowns about two yards long, thrusting their arms through two holes made for that purpose, and so wrapping the rest about them as we our loose coats.23
This fabric was a standard item on the Hudson Bay Company inventories and in the early trade in Colonial America. It remained a standard material in their outlets in northern regions up until the present time.24 Corey Silverstein mentions that she encountered the use of “duffle” among the Algonquians and Ojibwas of the Ottawa River region, the Cree of the James Bay area and Innu of the Atlantic coast of the Labrador Peninsula.25
Etoffe Iroquoise
Only one mention to “Iroquois cloth” was found during the research for this project. It was described as a woolen cloth often dyed purple.26
Escarlatine
This cloth is defined as a “strong woolen cloth of good quality particularly appreciated in the Americas by the Indians.”27 It was red or blue in color and measured one ell (45 inches.)28
Flannel
A woolen cloth made from yarns that are lightly twisted and of open texture.29 The term is derived from the Welsh word for wool. Flannel was on of Wales’ main industries, but the flannel sold in the fur trade was produced in Yorkshire.30 It is a light or medium weight plain or twill woven woolen cloth with a slightly napped surface. The flannel used in the fur trade was generally of a coarse quality and came in a variety of colors including white, red, blue, yellow and green.31 America started producing “flannels” during the nineteenth century and we tend to use this term for these more recent types of fabric.32
Frieze
A coarse woolen cloth that commonly had a napped surface on one side only.33
Fustian
A generic term for a variety of course, thick twill woven cotton and worsted wool fabrics. They are commonly dyed dark colors such as olive, “Leaden” and brown and include corduroy, jean and velveteen.34 In England, fustians were typically worn by the working class and used for furniture coverings. Low status company employees typically wore fustians in the Great Lakes fur trade.35
Kersey
A heavy and compact twill woven fabric made from short-stapled wool and finished with a short, fine nap. It was lighter weight and less fulled than traditional broadcloth.36 The term “kersey” was also used to describe a coarse twill woven cloth with cotton warps and woolen wefts.37 This cloth was formerly known as carsey or Karsaye, and is believed to be named after the village of Kersey in Suffolk County, England, which as a flourishing wool trade from the eleventh to the fifteenth century.38 In earlier centuries, the cloth was typically woven in pieces that measured sixteen to eighteen yards in length and less than a yard in width.39 This cheap wool cloth was commonly used for men’s overcoats and women’s jackets. In the fifteenth to sixteenth centuries Kersey was exported to France, Holland, and the Colonies.40
Lindsey-Woolsey
A coarse wool cloth made of linen warps and woolen wefts, which was manufactured first in the parish of Lindsey in Suffolk.41 This cloth was made as early as 1567.42 It was also one of the few textile produced by the early American pioneers.43 When mechanization contributed to the expansion of the cotton industry in the nineteenth century, the term “Lindsey-Woolsey” was applied to a variety of low quality fabrics made with a cotton warp and woolen weft.44 This cloth was considered an inferior dress fabric, which was also used for slave clothing. In her testimonial, Harriet Jacobs described her Lindsey-Woolsey as “one of the badges of slaver.”45
Lists
This term refers to the selvedge (selvage) or the finished edges that bind the cloths width on either side. The list of a cloth is meant to result in a regular even edge. The warp threads of the a list must be of sufficient strength to bear the tension imposed during finishing.46 Different yarns may be used to achieve a balanced structure at the edge of the cloth and the list is usually a different color ant the ground of the cloth. The type of list is an important factor, and is specific to the intended character of the finish. An attractive selvedge enhances the appearance of the fabric and can contribute to its saleable qualities.47 Lists were also used by to signify different qualities of cloth in the textile industry.48 Among fur trade textiles, one finds divers list that were treated in various ways to produce stripes and other distinctive characteristics.49 The list cloths fond in collections of American Indian objects are commonly blue or red and have an un-dyed edge with multiple dark blue or black stripes (see definition for “saved list.”) Red list cloth was frequently referred to as “scarlet,” or less often as “scarlet cloth.” There were also various kinds of list cloths, such as “yard list cloth,” “striped list cloth,” and “gray list cloth”.50 Europeans typically cut off the lists of cloth during tailoring. The lists were sometimes recycled and woven into stout carpeting.51 The presence and prominence of list edges on American Indian Clothing indicates that the list was highly sought after and uniquely worked into the design of the garment or object.
Molton
A thick, smooth kind of flannel with a heavy nap on both sides. This coarse cloth was produced in Yorkshire. “This fabric was often used for ready-made capotes (long, often hooded coats), sold in the fur trade, but was also sold by the yard. It was commonly white, but also came in blue and green.”52
Plain weave
The simplest and most important of the three basic weaves. “The principal of the interlacing is unvarying alternation. Each weft passes alternately over and under successive warp units, and each reverses the procedure of the one before it…”53 The term balanced plain weave refers to equally spaced warp and weft elements and either are identical or approximately equal in size and flexibility.54
Saved List
This term refers to the resist-dyed lists or selvedges. They are considered “saved” because they are protected from the penetration of dye by means of a stitch resist technique. This was accomplished by either sewing a linen strip down the selvedge, by rolling and tightly binding two lists of one piece, or by binding a list from two different cloths together before dying.55 This technique produces as un-dyed white edge with scalloped or serrated edges. This type of cloth was made in England and exported to the colonies, including India. “A coarse woolen fabric, which was made in England for export to India. The selvedge was covered with a strip of fabric before dyeing, and the finished product was easily identifiable by the resulting white selvedge.”56
Say
A type of serge (see definition below). It is sometimes described as all wool or as partly silk in the sixteenth century. It has been referred to as both a fine quality wool and a cheap worsted. Green say was commonly used in Boston for bed curtains, cupboard cloths, and aprons.57
Serge
A wool cloth with a carded warp and a combed weft. This cloth was usually fulled in the finishing. During the seventeenth century it was commonly used for bed curtains, upholstery, and clothing. Most English serge made in the areas of Somerset and Devon.58
Stroud
Stroudwater is the name of a manufacturing district in Glouchester, England. The term “Stroud” became synonymous for the red dyed broadcloth produced in this town. The cloth was available in coarse, medium, and fine qualities, as well as in plain and “corded” varieties.59 Red stroud cloth became famous through its popularity in the fur trade, and because it was used to make the “redcoats” of the British army uniform.60 The water along the Stoudvalley was believed to be particularly conductive to dyeing wool a superior shade of red.61 “The water here is found by experience to be very proper for red or scarlet dyes, also black; in which both they derive a mighty trade. The water here is run through an iron mine which is the reason it dyes red the better.”62 For the most part, these woolen cloths were shipped from Bristol to the colonies twice a year. As early as 1705, Thomas Banister ordered “2 ps of red strouds and 2 of blew & 6ps of half thicks.”63 Evidence that strouds, duffels and blankets were traded to North American Indians for beaver skins is found among fur trade archives. In fact, documentation that describes stroud made to the exact specifications of American Indian clients was discovered in a letter book from James Logan in 1714.64 The term “stroud” is often inaccurately used to describe many varieties of red wool cloth from the fur trade era. Although some of the cloth traded to American Indians was probably produced in the Stroud valley, is it impossible to ascertain which those were.
Swanskin
A thick, coarsely woven woolen cloth that was napped in the finish and was similar to flannel and blanket woolens. It was termed “swanskin” because of its thickness and its extraordinary whiteness.65 While white was the most common color, it was also available in blue and “spotted”.66 This cloth was used to make work clothing in England. Similarly, the swanskin jackets and capotes found on inventories were probably among the garments worn by voyagers to the colonies.67
Wool
The fine soft, curly hair, which forms the fleecy coat of the sheep and other such animals, such as the goat and alpaca llama. The felting properties of wool depend upon the kink and scales of the fiber. The hair is kept pliable by natural wool oil (yolk, suint or lanolin) that the animal secretes. Wool is the easiest fiber to dye.
Woolen
Cloth made of short-staple carded wool fibers. It was often fulled in the finishing to yield a denser and heavier cloth.68
Worsted
A lightweight cloth made of long staple combed wool yarn. Worsted yarns are generally made form long and lustrous varieties of wool. It usually has a harder twist than other varieties of yarn.69 The weave structure is the most prominent feature of the fabric. The name worsted was derived from the village of Worstead near Norwich, a center for worsted weaving.70 It was also knows as “stuff” in the fur trade (as opposed to “cloth” or “woolen” – the terms used for cloth composed of short carded wool fibers.)
1 Cory Silverstein, “Appendix: Glossary of Textile Terminology” in Clothing Encounters: The Power of Dress in Relation between Anishnaabe and British peoples in the Great Lakes Region, 1760-2000. (Ph. D. diss., McMaster University, Ontario 2000.)
2 Ibid.
3 Silverstein, “Appendix: Glossary of Textile Terminology.”
4 Ibid.
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid.
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.
9 Phyllis Tortora and Robert Merkels, eds., Fairchild’s Dictionary of Textiles, 7th ed. (New York: Fairchild Publication, 1996), 73.
10 William Partridge, A practical Treatise on Dyeing of Woolen, Cotton, and Skein Silk with the Manufacture of Broadcloth and Cassimere including the most improved methods in the West of England. (Wiltshire, England: Pasold Research Fund, 1973), 2.
11 Kenneth G. Ponting, A Dictionary of Dyes and Dyeing. (London: Mills and Boon, 1980), 170.
12 George S. Cole, Cole’s Encyclopedia of Dry Goods: A Reference Book for the Wholesale and Retail Dry Goods Trade of the United States. New York: Root Newspaper Association, 1900), 49.
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid, 48.
15 Ibid.
16 Silverstein, “Appendix: Glossary of Textile Terminology.”
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid.
19 Ibid.
20 Tortora and Merkels, Fairchild’s Dictionary,127-28.
21 Silverstein, “Appendix: Glossary of Textile Terminology.”
22 Francis George Dow, Every Day Life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. (New York: New York Times Press, 1977), 71.
23 Florence M. Montgomery, Textiles in America, 1650-1870: a dictionary based on original documents prints and paintings, commercial records, American merchants’ papers, shopkeepers’ advertisements, and pattern books with original swatches of cloth. (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1984) , 228.
24 Silverstein, “Appendix: Glossary of Textile Terminology.”
25 Ibid.
26 William S. Beck, The Draper’s Dictionary: A Manual of Textile Fabrics. (London: Warehousemen & Drapers’ Journal Office, 1882), 4.
27 Ibid.
28 William S. Beck, The Draper’s Dictionary, 5.
29 Montgomery, Textiles in America, 238.
30 Silverstein, “Appendix: Glossary of Textile Terminology.”
31 Ibid.
32 Ibid.
33 Dow, Every Day Life in the Massachusetts, 75.
34 Silverstein, “Appendix: Glossary of Textile Terminology.”
35 Ibid.
36 Montgomery, Textiles in America, 272.
37 Cole, Cole’s Encyclopedia of Dry Goods, 228.
38 Ibid.
39 Montgomery, Textiles in America, 272.
40 Cole, Cole’s Encyclopedia of Dry Goods, 228.
41 Montgomery, Textiles in America, 279.
42 Ibid.
43 Ibid.
44 Silverstein, “Appendix: Glossary of Textile Terminology.”
45 Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. (New York, 1988), 20.
46 Eber Midgley, Technical Terms in the Textile Trade: a dictionary of yarns, cloths, makes, weaves, and terms for spinners, manufactures, merchants, distributors, vol. 2. (Manchester: Emmott & Company, 1932), 220.
47 Ibid.
48 Cory Silverstein, Clothing Encounters, 5.
49 Ibid.
50 Ibid.
51 Cole, Cole’s Encyclopedia of Dry Goods, 340.
52 Silverstein, “Appendix: Glossary of Textile Terminology.”
53 Irene Emery, The Primary Structures of Fabric. (Washington, DC: The Textile Museum, 1994), 76.
54 Ibid.
55 Eber Midgley, Technical Terms in the Textile Trade, 184.
56 Tortora and Merkels, Fairchild’s Dictionary, 495.
57 Linda Baumgarten Berlekamp. “The Textile Trade in Boston.” (Masters Thesis, University of Delaware, 1976), 72.
58 Ibid.
59 Silverstein, “Appendix: Glossary of Textile Terminology.”
60 Ibid.
61 Ibid.
62 William Ponting, The Woolen Industry of South West England. (Bath: Adams and Dart, 1971), 145.
63 Ibid.
64 Montgomery, Textiles in America, 352-3.
65 Dow, Every Day Life in the Massachusetts, 81.
66 Silverstein, “Appendix: Glossary of Textile Terminology.”
67 Ibid.
68 Montgomery, Textiles in America, 375.
69 Cole, Cole’s Encyclopedia of Dry Goods, 616.
70 Montgomery, Textiles in America, 375.