“Clothes for a Sustainable Future: Growing Flax, Processing Linen, and Weaving Cloth in Early New Hampshire” with Dr. Kimberly Alexander

“….in all Joshua Sow’d about 1½ Bu. & ½ peck flax Seed.”

Samuel Lane, Almanack, May I, 1769 

The history of flax and linen—its cultivation, production, sale, and trade–is an integral part of UNH’s Dr. Kimberly Alexander’s research into New Hampshire’s pre-industrial textile economy. In this illustrated lecture, she reveals how working with account books, like those of shoemaker Deacon Samuel Lane of Stratham and shopkeeper General John Montgomery of Haverhill Corner, in tandem with growing flax and processing it into linen at the UNH Woodman Agricultural Research Farm, provide insight into home production during Revolutionary-era New Hampshire. Dr. Alexander will discuss how this research fosters fresh opportunities for UNH students and colleagues as well as community-wide engagement.

Dr. Kimberly Alexander is the Director of Museum Studies and Senior Lecturer in the Department of History at the University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH. Dr. Alexander is the author of Treasures Afoot: Shoe Stories from the Georgian Era [Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018] and Fashioning the New England Family [Massachusetts Historical Society, 2021] in the Shaw Research Library

For more on the  UNH flax project, click here: http://www.theflaxprojectunh.com.

Please RSVP to this event by calling 603-431-2538.

Courtesy photo.