Textiles

The textile industry never developed in Connecticut to the extent that it did in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and most of it was concentrated along the Quinnebaug and Shetucket river systems. Nevertheless, Presi­dent Jefferson once wrote a Connecticut correspondant that he’d heard that the best fine cloth made in the United States came from Derby (Papers of the NHCHS 1[1865]: 143-46).

The best way to study the textile industry in Connecticut is through larger studies of New England or the nation, or the statistical works listed above. One you might try is Jacob H. Burgy, The New England Cotton Tex­tile Industry: A Study in Industrial Geography (Baltimore: Waverly Press, 1932). This is a scholarly study, with numerous maps and charts, citations, and a good bibliography. More recent and just as comprehensive, and thus preferable if available, is Steven Dunwell’s much-acclaimed The Run of the Mill (Boston: Godine, 1978), which includes 250 illustrations, as well as extensive text covering the New England textile industry from its ear­liest days to 1978. For the woolen mills, see Arthur H. Cole’s magisterial The American Woolen Manufacture (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1926), 2 vols.  Cole writes that “the evolution of the American wool manufacture may be studied as a particularly clear and sometimes even an exaggerated reflection of the entire domestic industrial advance.” (pp. vii-viii) Woolens were important in Connecticut only during the first half of the nineteenth century, and -a fascinating story lies in David Humphreys’ efforts to establish wool manufacturing, from raising sheep to making clothes. See his entries in the “Biographies” section below. How­ard Dickman, in “Technological Innovation in the Woolen Industry: The Middletown Manufacturing Company,” CHS Bulletin 37(April, 1972)3:65-79, deals with a later development. See also Chester M. Des-tier, “The Hartford Woolen Manufactory: The Story of a Failure,” in Connecticut History 14(1974): 8-32.

One aspect of textile manufacturing did have its day in Connecticut thanks to the enterprise of a single family. The story is written up by Ellsworth S. Grant in a two-part article, “The Silken Cheneys,” CHS Bulle­tin 44(July and October, 1979)3:65-78, 4:106-16. See also Thomas R. Lewis, Silk Along Steel, in the section on “Railroads,” below.