[Themaintainers] Looking for bibliography: repair and material culture
Nina Lerman
lermanne at whitman.edu
Fri May 5 12:15:51 EDT 2017
hi all (hi Steve!),
Thanks Lara for all these material culture citations and links!
In the history literature, textile repair usually turns up with household mending. It is indeed interesting the way these words shift form and connotation: one repairs shoes but one tends to mend cloth.
So, as Ruth suggests, maintaining textiles involves laundry, and also often starching and ironing. There are a range of chemical processes here, historically involving “production” (soap) as well as cleaning and further processing to return the textile (especially clothing) to its “use” condition.
Repairs include
mending, darning, patching
alteration (remaking older clothes for new person, pregnant body, old styles/new styles, etc)
storing
Marla Miller compares New England gown makers to blacksmiths as mostly not scale-up enterprises: “…blacksmiths and gownmakers both continued to make and to mend products used locally” (she also compares men’s tailoring to the furniture trade, shifting to ready-made production rather than remaining at least partly in a service economy). Miller, The Needle’s Eye (UMass, 2006) p. 194.
Book indexes seem to replicate these overlaps: even in books with many mentions of “mending” it’s not indexed, and “sewing” is the closest entree. But discussions of household labor routinely include fragments from diaries and domestic manuals on maintenance and mending.
In addition to the already mentioned works by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Arwen Mohun, and Susan Strasser, and Miller (above) a few more with mending and laundering scattered througout:
Jeane Boydston, Home and Work (New England again) Miller,
Wendy Gamber,, The Female Economy (dressmaking — lots of Boston but also other cities)
Glenda RIley, The Female Frontier (plains and prairie)
For further specification of technique, school needlework books are useful, now digitized!:
Hapgood, Olive C. School Needlework. A Course of Study in Sewing Designed for Use in Schools. Boston, Ginn & company, 1893.
http://archive.org/details/schoolneedlework00hapgrich. —see both the directions for darning, etc, and also in the teachers’ pages, notes on “boys’ sewing,” it turns out they may need to repair their clothing. And, the educators, at least, seem to have figured out the usefulness of the word “repair”
Claydon, Ellen P., and C. A. Claydon. Needlework Without “specimens”: The Modern Book of School Needlework. New York, E.P. Dutton & co., 1900.
http://archive.org/details/needleworkwithou00clay. — several pages at the end on “repair"
I’m thinking that household “maintenance” creates a new set of challenges to the “maintainers” category.
Most materially food storage, a few quick notes:
Sarah McMahon, Laying Foods By, in McGaw, ed Early American Technology
Glenda Riley, above
much more, root cellars through freezer chests and canning.
But what of all the larger realm of gendered spaces and tasks: what is “maintenance”?
—feeding kids & menfolk
—healing/keeping household healthy
—keeping garden, chickens
—dairy work
What happens if the old category “reproductive work” is reclassified with the other “maintainers”?
Please pardon my quick-ish brain dump, ask if I’m unclear, crazy week
Best wishes,
Nina
On May 5, 2017, at 8:21 AM, Lara Houston <phd at labmeta.net> wrote:
> Hi Steve (and all)
>
> On the mending and material culture front I’d suggest looking at Daniela Rosner’s work (which explores digital craft across many forms and iterations). This article includes textiles in a study of gender in the new public repair movement -http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~daniela/files/Rosner_Public_Culture.pdf
>
> This piece on Binding and Ageing with Alex Taylor is really lovely- http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1359183512459630
>
> Jones Middleton is a brilliant PhD candidate working on mending and new materialism, who has this short piece in the handbook of sustainable fashion - http://katefletcher.com/publications/books/routledge-handbook-of-sustainability-and-fashion/
>
> You might also want to see some practitioners of visible mending in a conference she co-organised called Mendrs back in 2012 - https://futuremenders.wordpress.com
>
> On the material culture front, the DaSilvey and Edensor pieces in the crowdsourced bibliography already linked to are especially wonderful.
>
> Best wishes
>
> Lara
>
>
>
> _______
> Dr Lara Houston
> Postdoctoral Researcher
> Citizen Sense
>
> Department of Sociology
> Goldsmiths, University of London
> New Cross, London SE14 6NW
> United Kingdom
>
> Editor - Continent. R3PAIR Volume
> larahouston.co.uk
>
>
>> On 4 May 2017, at 17:16, Christopher Henke <chenke at colgate.edu> wrote:
>>
>> Hi all---following on Lee's point about mending, you might want to check out Silvia Gherardi's work, as she uses textile metaphors to describe organizational culture.
>>
>> Best wishes,
>>
>> Chris
>>
>> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>> Christopher Henke
>> Faculty Director, The Upstate Institute
>> Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology
>> Colgate University
>> chenke at colgate.edu
>> http://www.colgate.edu/centers-and-institutes/upstate-institute
>> http://blogs.colgate.edu/sociology-and-anthropology/
>>
>> On Thu, May 4, 2017 at 7:00 AM, <themaintainers-request at lists.stevens.edu> wrote:
>> Send Themaintainers mailing list submissions to
>> themaintainers at lists.stevens.edu
>>
>> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
>> https://lists.stevens.edu/mailman/listinfo/themaintainers
>> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
>> themaintainers-request at lists.stevens.edu
>>
>> You can reach the person managing the list at
>> themaintainers-owner at lists.stevens.edu
>>
>> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
>> than "Re: Contents of Themaintainers digest..."
>>
>>
>> Today's Topics:
>>
>> 1. Re: Looking for bibliography: repair and material culture
>> (Lee Vinsel)
>> 2. Re: Looking for bibliography: repair and material culture
>> (Tom Okie)
>> 3. Re: Looking for bibliography: repair and material culture
>> (Boris Jardine)
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 1
>> Date: Wed, 3 May 2017 12:22:12 -0400
>> From: Lee Vinsel <lee.vinsel at gmail.com>
>> To: Steven Lubar <steven_lubar at brown.edu>
>> Cc: "themaintainers at lists.stevens.edu"
>> <themaintainers at lists.stevens.edu>
>> Subject: Re: [Themaintainers] Looking for bibliography: repair and
>> material culture
>> Message-ID:
>> <CAE7-JMsy=-iT9_x9xbAwZhmFzM9eWhON+RcdYk4WG8xoMH9mDw at mail.gmail.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>>
>> Hi, Steve!
>>
>> Thanks for the question. For a general bibliography of maintenance/repair,
>> I've seen lots of folks?including Andy Russell and me?rely on this handy
>> list put together by Alain Bovet of the Wohnforum at ETH Zurich (note: it
>> doesn't capture publications post-2015):
>> http://www.wohnforum.arch.ethz.ch/sites/default/files/dateien/bibliography_repair_work10.03.2015_2.pdf
>>
>> See also their project description:
>> http://www.wohnforum.arch.ethz.ch/en/repair-maintenance-and-urban-assemblage
>>
>> Regarding textiles, I don't have specific sources, though I am generally
>> interested in how some industrialized nations moved from a world where
>> repairing clothing was the norm to a world where most clothing was/is
>> disposable. (Historian Nina Lerman got me thinking about this.) With this
>> thought in mind, I've been hoping to return to Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's
>> _Age of Homespun_ to see if she addresses any of these themes. (She does
>> cover many maintenance/repair related topics in her midwife book.)
>>
>> I also know that some STS scholars are interested in the maintenance/repair
>> of textiles and have been exploring related, typically-gendered metaphors,
>> like "mending." But sadly I don't know where to point you for this work.
>> Perhaps some other folks on this list will know.
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> Lee
>>
>> On Tue, May 2, 2017 at 6:39 PM, Steven Lubar <steven_lubar at brown.edu> wrote:
>>
>> > Any suggestions for readings that might be useful for a graduate course?
>> > I'm especially interested in textiles.
>> >
>> > Thanks,
>> >
>> > Steve
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Assistant Professor and Director,
>> Program on Science and Technology Studies
>> College of Arts and Letters
>> Stevens Institute of Technology
>> Hoboken, NJ 07030
>> leevinsel.com
>> Twitter: @STS_News
>> -------------- next part --------------
>> An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
>> URL: <https://lists.stevens.edu/mailman/private/themaintainers/attachments/20170503/2239d395/attachment-0001.html>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 2
>> Date: Wed, 03 May 2017 12:48:28 -0400
>> From: "Tom Okie" <wtokie at gmail.com>
>> To: "Lee Vinsel" <lee.vinsel at gmail.com>
>> Cc: Steven Lubar <steven_lubar at brown.edu>,
>> "themaintainers at lists.stevens.edu" <themaintainers at lists.stevens.edu>
>> Subject: Re: [Themaintainers] Looking for bibliography: repair and
>> material culture
>> Message-ID: <5334811B-F196-4C01-A115-40B9966F062A at gmail.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"; Format="flowed"
>>
>> Hi Steve, and Lee,
>> I?d certainly add Susan Strasser, *Waste and Want* to that list,
>> especially for her fascinating description of the global rag trade from
>> rural housewives, to tin peddlers, to the rag rooms of urban paper
>> mills.
>>
>> Tom Okie
>>
>> On 3 May 2017, at 12:22, Lee Vinsel wrote:
>>
>> > Hi, Steve!
>> >
>> > Thanks for the question. For a general bibliography of
>> > maintenance/repair,
>> > I've seen lots of folks?including Andy Russell and me?rely on this
>> > handy
>> > list put together by Alain Bovet of the Wohnforum at ETH Zurich (note:
>> > it
>> > doesn't capture publications post-2015):
>> > http://www.wohnforum.arch.ethz.ch/sites/default/files/dateien/bibliography_repair_work10.03.2015_2.pdf
>> >
>> > See also their project description:
>> > http://www.wohnforum.arch.ethz.ch/en/repair-maintenance-and-urban-assemblage
>> >
>> > Regarding textiles, I don't have specific sources, though I am
>> > generally
>> > interested in how some industrialized nations moved from a world where
>> > repairing clothing was the norm to a world where most clothing was/is
>> > disposable. (Historian Nina Lerman got me thinking about this.) With
>> > this
>> > thought in mind, I've been hoping to return to Laurel Thatcher
>> > Ulrich's
>> > _Age of Homespun_ to see if she addresses any of these themes. (She
>> > does
>> > cover many maintenance/repair related topics in her midwife book.)
>> >
>> > I also know that some STS scholars are interested in the
>> > maintenance/repair
>> > of textiles and have been exploring related, typically-gendered
>> > metaphors,
>> > like "mending." But sadly I don't know where to point you for this
>> > work.
>> > Perhaps some other folks on this list will know.
>> >
>> > Best,
>> >
>> > Lee
>> >
>> > On Tue, May 2, 2017 at 6:39 PM, Steven Lubar <steven_lubar at brown.edu>
>> > wrote:
>> >
>> >> Any suggestions for readings that might be useful for a graduate
>> >> course?
>> >> I'm especially interested in textiles.
>> >>
>> >> Thanks,
>> >>
>> >> Steve
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Assistant Professor and Director,
>> > Program on Science and Technology Studies
>> > College of Arts and Letters
>> > Stevens Institute of Technology
>> > Hoboken, NJ 07030
>> > leevinsel.com
>> > Twitter: @STS_News
>>
>>
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Themaintainers mailing list
>> > Themaintainers at lists.stevens.edu
>> > https://lists.stevens.edu/mailman/listinfo/themaintainers
>> -------------- next part --------------
>> An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
>> URL: <https://lists.stevens.edu/mailman/private/themaintainers/attachments/20170503/23513da3/attachment-0001.html>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 3
>> Date: Wed, 3 May 2017 18:02:31 +0100
>> From: Boris Jardine <borisjardine at gmail.com>
>> To: Tom Okie <wtokie at gmail.com>
>> Cc: Lee Vinsel <lee.vinsel at gmail.com>, Steven Lubar
>> <steven_lubar at brown.edu>, "themaintainers at lists.stevens.edu"
>> <themaintainers at lists.stevens.edu>
>> Subject: Re: [Themaintainers] Looking for bibliography: repair and
>> material culture
>> Message-ID:
>> <CABMup7Cp1imcmQwzFENBJZ0tNNvqCNKc_uyryEtERgFG6ZQt3Q at mail.gmail.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>>
>> Hi Steve, all,
>>
>> I'd recommend looking at Simon Werrett's work on 'recycling' (considered
>> very broadly!). His book will be out soonish, but until then here are two
>> articles:
>>
>> https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007087412000696
>> http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14782804.2016.1249672
>>
>> All best,
>> Boris
>>
>> *?*
>> * Dr Boris Jardine*
>> *Leverhulme** Early Career Research Fellow*
>> *Department of History and Philosophy of Science*
>> *University of Cambridge*
>> * ?*
>>
>> On 3 May 2017 at 17:48, Tom Okie <wtokie at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> > Hi Steve, and Lee,
>> > I?d certainly add Susan Strasser, *Waste and Want* to that list,
>> > especially for her fascinating description of the global rag trade from
>> > rural housewives, to tin peddlers, to the rag rooms of urban paper mills.
>> >
>> > Tom Okie
>> >
>> > On 3 May 2017, at 12:22, Lee Vinsel wrote:
>> >
>> > Hi, Steve!
>> >
>> > Thanks for the question. For a general bibliography of maintenance/repair,
>> > I've seen lots of folks?including Andy Russell and me?rely on this handy
>> > list put together by Alain Bovet of the Wohnforum at ETH Zurich (note: it
>> > doesn't capture publications post-2015): http://www.wohnforum.arch.
>> > ethz.ch/sites/default/files/dateien/bibliography_repair_
>> > work10.03.2015_2.pdf
>> >
>> > See also their project description: http://www.wohnforum.arch.
>> > ethz.ch/en/repair-maintenance-and-urban-assemblage
>> >
>> > Regarding textiles, I don't have specific sources, though I am generally
>> > interested in how some industrialized nations moved from a world where
>> > repairing clothing was the norm to a world where most clothing was/is
>> > disposable. (Historian Nina Lerman got me thinking about this.) With this
>> > thought in mind, I've been hoping to return to Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's
>> > _Age of Homespun_ to see if she addresses any of these themes. (She does
>> > cover many maintenance/repair related topics in her midwife book.)
>> >
>> > I also know that some STS scholars are interested in the
>> > maintenance/repair of textiles and have been exploring related,
>> > typically-gendered metaphors, like "mending." But sadly I don't know where
>> > to point you for this work. Perhaps some other folks on this list will know.
>> >
>> > Best,
>> >
>> > Lee
>> >
>> > On Tue, May 2, 2017 at 6:39 PM, Steven Lubar <steven_lubar at brown.edu>
>> > wrote:
>> >
>> >> Any suggestions for readings that might be useful for a graduate course?
>> >> I'm especially interested in textiles.
>> >>
>> >> Thanks,
>> >>
>> >> Steve
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Assistant Professor and Director,
>> > Program on Science and Technology Studies
>> > College of Arts and Letters
>> > Stevens Institute of Technology
>> > Hoboken, NJ 07030
>> > leevinsel.com
>> > Twitter: @STS_News
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Themaintainers mailing list
>> > Themaintainers at lists.stevens.edu
>> > https://lists.stevens.edu/mailman/listinfo/themaintainers
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Themaintainers mailing list
>> > Themaintainers at lists.stevens.edu
>> > https://lists.stevens.edu/mailman/listinfo/themaintainers
>> >
>> >
>> -------------- next part --------------
>> An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
>> URL: <https://lists.stevens.edu/mailman/private/themaintainers/attachments/20170503/4fe4b3b3/attachment-0001.html>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Themaintainers mailing list
>> Themaintainers at lists.stevens.edu
>> https://lists.stevens.edu/mailman/listinfo/themaintainers
>>
>>
>> End of Themaintainers Digest, Vol 15, Issue 2
>> *********************************************
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Themaintainers mailing list
>> Themaintainers at lists.stevens.edu
>> https://lists.stevens.edu/mailman/listinfo/themaintainers
>
> _______________________________________________
> Themaintainers mailing list
> Themaintainers at lists.stevens.edu
> https://lists.stevens.edu/mailman/listinfo/themaintainers
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.stevens.edu/mailman/private/themaintainers/attachments/20170505/380dd8fa/attachment-0001.html>
More information about the Themaintainers
mailing list