Textile storage in colonial America, 1680-1750 (Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New York City)

Trends in textile storage reveal the importance and value of textiles in the home as well as the safe-keeping of these textiles in case furniture that made a visual statement. The furniture used to protect and store textiles changed dramatically from 1680 to 1750, which affected methods of clothing storage and retrieval.; To determine methods of textile storage, contemporary sources were used, including probate inventories, domestic advice manuals, written accounts, and surviving case furniture and portraits. Four areas were compared: Suffolk County, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; York County, Virginia; and New York City.; Throughout the period from 1680 to 1750, many changes occurred in the storage of textiles. The differences in the rate at which new forms assimilated into the homes of colonists in different areas is remarkable as the colonists looked to their cultural roots to determine what types of furniture filled their homes and how they stored their textiles.