Weaving in Greenfield Village

Henry Ford believed in "learning by doing." Students enrolled in the Edison Institute Schools located on the grounds of Ford's Greenfield Village had ample opportunities for practical, hands-on training. Students, if they desired, could learn to weave. Beginners used small tabletop looms. As they progressed students created woven materials using larger looms located in Greenfield Village's Plymouth Carding Mill and Weaving Shed.

The Greenfield Village Weaving Shop demonstrates the evolution of textile production from the colonial home and craft shop, through the Industrial Revolution to commercial factory. Housed in a converted 1840s Georgia cotton mill, the Weaving Shop contains a number of working looms, including one of the few operating mechanical Jacquard looms in North America.

Henry Ford believed in "learning by doing." Students enrolled in the Edison Institute Schools located on the grounds of Ford's Greenfield Village had ample opportunities for practical, hands-on training. Students, if they desired, could learn to weave. Beginners used small tabletop looms. As they progressed students created woven materials using larger looms located in Greenfield Village's Plymouth Carding Mill and Weaving Shed.

Sidney Holloway (1901-1960) was instrumental in establishing the weaving program at Greenfield Village. Holloway, once employed in the Ford Motor Company's Textile Department, began working with Henry Ford's textile-making collections in 1930. Through hands-on experience and self-study, he mastered the weaving craft. Holloway would engage Greenfield Village visitors for thirty years and pass on his skills to the next generation of artisans.

Craftspeople have presented weaving demonstrations at Greenfield Village since it opened to the public in 1933. Over the years, weavers have used several historic and refurbished looms located in the Plymouth Carding Mill (now Gunsolly Carding Mill) to create hand-crafted textiles. These presentations and resulting products help tell the story of textile production in America.

Henry Ford believed in "learning by doing." Students enrolled in the Edison Institute Schools located on the grounds of Ford's Greenfield Village had ample opportunities for practical, hands-on training. Students, if they desired, could learn to weave. Beginners used small tabletop looms. As they progressed students created woven materials using larger looms located in Greenfield Village's Plymouth Carding Mill and Weaving Shed.

Craftspeople have presented weaving demonstrations at Greenfield Village since it opened to the public in 1933. Over the years, weavers have used several historic and refurbished looms located in the Plymouth Carding Mill (now Gunsolly Carding Mill) to create hand-crafted textiles. These presentations and resulting products help tell the story of textile production in America.

Craftspeople have presented weaving demonstrations at Greenfield Village since it opened to the public in 1933. Over the years, weavers have used several historic and refurbished looms located in the Plymouth Carding Mill (now Gunsolly Carding Mill) to create hand-crafted textiles. These presentations and resulting products help tell the story of textile production in America.

Henry Ford believed in "learning by doing." Students enrolled in the Edison Institute Schools located on the grounds of Ford's Greenfield Village had ample opportunities for practical, hands-on training. Students, if they desired, could learn to weave. Beginners used small tabletop looms. As they progressed students created woven materials using larger looms located in Greenfield Village's Plymouth Carding Mill and Weaving Shed.

Craftspeople have presented weaving demonstrations at Greenfield Village since it opened to the public in 1933. Over the years, weavers have used several historic and refurbished looms located in the Plymouth Carding Mill (now Gunsolly Carding Mill) to create hand-crafted textiles. These presentations and resulting products help tell the story of textile production in America.

Henry Ford believed in "learning by doing." Students enrolled in the Edison Institute Schools located on the grounds of Ford's Greenfield Village had ample opportunities for practical, hands-on training. Students, if they desired, could learn to weave. Beginners used small tabletop looms. As they progressed students created woven materials using larger looms located in Greenfield Village's Plymouth Carding Mill and Weaving Shed.

Craftspeople have presented weaving demonstrations at Greenfield Village since it opened to the public in 1933. Over the years, weavers have used several historic and refurbished looms located in the Plymouth Carding Mill (now Gunsolly Carding Mill) to create hand-crafted textiles. These presentations and resulting products help tell the story of textile production in America.

Henry Ford believed in "learning by doing." Students enrolled in the Edison Institute Schools located on the grounds of Ford's Greenfield Village had ample opportunities for practical, hands-on training. Students, if they desired, could learn to weave. Beginners used small tabletop looms. As they progressed students created woven materials using larger looms located in Greenfield Village's Plymouth Carding Mill and Weaving Shed.

Craftspeople have presented weaving demonstrations at Greenfield Village since it opened to the public in 1933. Over the years, weavers have used several historic and refurbished looms located in the Plymouth Carding Mill (now Gunsolly Carding Mill) to create hand-crafted textiles. These presentations and resulting products help tell the story of textile production in America.

Henry Ford believed in "learning by doing." Students enrolled in the Edison Institute Schools located on the grounds of Ford's Greenfield Village had ample opportunities for practical, hands-on training. Students, if they desired, could learn to weave. Beginners used small tabletop looms. As they progressed students created woven materials using larger looms located in Greenfield Village's Plymouth Carding Mill and Weaving Shed.

Craftspeople have presented weaving demonstrations at Greenfield Village since it opened to the public in 1933. Weavers have used several historic and refurbished looms to create a variety of hand-crafted textiles and to tell the story of textile production in America. This photograph shows Frank Caddy, future Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village president, at a power loom in 1935.

Craftspeople have presented weaving demonstrations at Greenfield Village since it opened to the public in 1933. Over the years, weavers have used several historic and refurbished looms located in the Plymouth Carding Mill (now Gunsolly Carding Mill) to create hand-crafted textiles. These presentations and resulting products help tell the story of textile production in America.

Joseph-Marie Jacquard's loom, first developed in 1801, is programmable. It used a series of punched cards to control the lifting of each individual warp thread to weave a figured fabric. With this loom, weavers could create intricate patterns more easily, faster, and with better accuracy. Punch card technology became the basis for computer data storage during the 20th century.