TEXTILE PRODUCTION IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY ORANGE, ALAMANCE, AND DURHAM COUNTIES, NORTH CAROLINA

The purpose of this study was to investigate domestic textile production in nineteenth century Orange, Alamance, and Durham counties, North Carolina. The specific objectives were to determine the amount of home textile production, the effect of the textile mill industry on home production, and the role of men and/or women in domestic textile production. Public records have proven to be reliable sources about material culture. These records often include references to textile production equipment and are a reliable means of learning about textile production practices. Content analysis was done of all the nineteenth century estate records and wills available in the three counties. The records included documents such as estate inventories, sales accounts, widows' allotments, guardians' accounts, bills from craftsmen, and merchants accounts. This information was recorded for each record: date (usually of death), name of the decedent, type of document in the estate records, piece of equipment, and price. The chi square statistical text was done to compare equipment ownership of men and of women. Extent handwoven bedcoverings were analyzed and the oral history recorded.;The estate sales accounts indicated that home textile production was commonly done during the nineteenth century in the three counties. The textile mill industry affected the numbers of textile production equipment owned but handweaving and spinning continued long after the mills were established. Quantitative data showed that women owned as much or more textile equipment as did men and wills showed that looms and spinning wheels were left to women in at least 86 percent of the cases. Qualitative information supported the supposition that women had a primary role in domestic textile production. The oral history related by owners of handwoven bedcoverings indicated that all the pieces of known origin were believed to have been woven by women.