Browse Items (13 total)
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Wool comb, circa 1800
In addition to flax, wool was an important fiber during the colonial and frontier era. Wool combs arranged the fibers, separating the undercoat from outercoat and teasing the wool before carding by disentangling, cleaning and intermixing fibers. Sheep were among the early domesticated animals brought to Kentucky. Home production of wool increased during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 due to trade embargos. Free and enslaved women prepared and spun the wool into a usable yarn. They used the yarn for knitting, or it was taken to a professional weaver (free or enslaved person) who turned it into cloth. Wool was often woven with cotton or hemp in early Kentucky textiles. Approximately 4/12 lbs. of spun wool were needed to make a single blanket. Wool cloth was also sewn into clothing by women. -
Travels through the states of North America, and the provinces of upper and lower Canada, during the years 1795, 1796, and 1797.
Includes view of the natural Rock Bridge, houses, conditions of the enslaved peoples,the land, cultivating tobacco, lower classes of people in Virginia, unhealthy apperances, the Shenandoa Valley, German immigratnts, landscapes, military titles that are common in America, Irish immigrants, etc.Tags African American; agriculture; canada; climate; clothing; clover; enslaved persons; enslavement; European Immigrants; farming; fashion; german immigrants; immigration; irish immigrants; military titles; natural history; natural rock bridge; nature; public health; social class; tobacco; travel; travelogue; wheat; Women -
Letters from the South and West
Contains observations on the first settlers of Kentucky as well as their cabins, crops, animals and customs. -
Travels through the Western Interior of the United States, from the year 1808 up to the year 1816
"Travels through the western interior of the United States, from the year 1808 up to the year 1816: with a particular description of a great part of Mexico, or New-Spain. Containing a particular account of thirteen different tribes of Indians through which the author passed, describing their manners, customs, &c., with some account of a tribe whose customs are similar to those of the ancient Welsh." -
Letter from Nicholas Gautier to Etienne Gautier, 20 September 1812
Letter from Nicholas Gautier to his brother in which he describes farm life in Logan County, with descriptions of the multinational population, economy, education. Describes agricultural self-sufficiency and slavery. Talks of his inheritance and thanks his brother for sending vouchers of birth and family, and comments on his Americanization. -
Letter from Henry Massie to Helen Bullitt Massie
Letter from Henry Massie to his wife, Helen Bullitt Massie, in which he writes of matters for her to attend to while he is in Ohio. He relays information about livestock, planting dates for corn and tobacco, and money affairs. -
Patent right issued to Nathaniel Foster, 28 June 1809
Patent issued to Nathaniel Foster of Fleming County, Kentucky, for a machine for spinning hemp and flax. Signed by President James Madison, Secretary of State Robert Smith, and Attorney General Caesar A. Rodney. -
Letter from George Corlis to John Corlis, 5 March 1816
Letter from George Corlis to his father, John Corlis, contains information on the hog market and prices. -
Letter from George Corlis to John Corlis, 23 April 1816
George Corlis writes to his father, John Corlis, about hiring two men to make bricks for his house addition, the price of bricks, and the process of brickmaking. He also writes of assorted farming items such as hog prices and planting crops. -
Letter from George Corlis to John Corlis, 14 April 1816
A letter from George Corlis to his father, John Corlis, contains more on the impending construction of an addition to his house, his continuing troubles finding laborers, and agricultural news. -
Cotton prices handbill, New Orleans
Broadside from J.R. Bedford stating the cotton prices in New Orleans for the early 1820s. -
The Southern Cultivator, 1840
The Southern cultivator: and journal of science and general improvement, a semi-monthly publication, devoted in the main to the interests of agriculture. Included are scans of two articles titled, "Education and common schools in a Democracy", and "The hemp culture in Kentucky and Tennessee". -
Spreading Hemp in Kentucky
Image from, "A report on the culture of hemp and jute in the United States: with statements concerning the practice in foreign countries, the preparation of the fiber for market, and remarks on the machine question."