Anne Macdonald - No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting

T o my late parents, Florence Hite and Walter Franklin Lineberger, whose enthusiastic support of my education enabled me to attend Santa Barbara Girls School, in whose sunny library I researched my first history paper and was forever hooked.

To Wellesley College, where beloved history professor Barnett Miller advised, Go to the original sources to catch the voice of the past. Then, and only then, write about it. Hers was the driving force behind my lifelong commitment to the discipline of history.

To National Cathedral School, where I taught American history for many years and honed my research skills through study grants. My special gratitude for the ever-resourceful assistance of librarians Anne Carr, Joan Parker and the late Margaret Keys, who sustained my addiction to primary materials.

To legions of my former history students whose research so affected my own, particularly Jennifer Roeckeleins study of Amelia Bloomer, Alison Sheehys examination of womens life on the Overland Trail and Cynthia Pauls exploration of the great bicycle craze of the 1890s. As I write I am conscious of every students hot breath upon my neck, gleeful that I must punctuate and spell properly, answer to a higher authority (my editor), meet deadlines and vouch for every footnote.

To my treasured friend Patricia Slattery Brand for debunking the myth of helpless southern women and insisting that I include their backbreaking struggles during the Civil War. Discovering records of the Ladies Aid Society of Greenville, South Carolina, her hometown, was one of my special rewards.

To my professional colleague, fellow author and close friend, Elisabeth Griffith, whose enviously broad background in womens history prompted me to wander from political to social history. Introducing me to the Womens Movement, she assured me that I would lose neither my dignity nor my husband if I identified myself as Anne Macdonald rather than Mrs. Peter Macdonald. When I retired from teaching, she encouraged me to publish the fruits of my research and dispatched me to her literary agent.

To that agent, Leona Schechter, who responded to my original proposal with an encouraging Thats a wonderful idea! and promptly found a publisher.

To my editors, Jolle Delbourgo and Michelle Russell, whose respect and encouragement have made writing No Idle Hands so rewarding.

To Pat Trexler, without whose help the modern parts of this book would have lacked authority and color. Her urging readers of her column, Pats Pointers, to respond to my questionnaire brought a Niagara of mail.

To Jane Nylander, formerly of Sturbridge Village, who generously allowed me to take notes from her card file on knitting in early nineteenth-century sources.

To former president Sidney Wasch and current executive vice president Daniel Lowe of the Bucilla Company, who shared their companys history with me through access to their rich files, begun when Bernard Ulmann emigrated to the United States in the mid-nineteenth century. Their permission to reproduce photographs from pattern books and advertising has enriched this publication immeasurably.

To the staff of the Library of Congress, my second home, where materials boggle the mind and assistance from experts is generously given. Bruce Martin in Reader Facilities always had a cheery Hows it going?; Peggy Coughlin in the Childrens Division dispensed hints on childrens knitting; Sarah Pritchard shared bibliographies and suggested new sources; Chris Wright borrowed desperately needed materials from other libraries; fellow researchers cheered my luck in landing a contract.

To archivists, curators and librarians of many institutions for their help, especially Doris Bowman of the National Museum of American History; Cynthia Young of the Detroit Historical Museum; Ralph A. Pugh of the Chicago Historical Society; Dale C. Mayer at the Herbert Hoover Library; William G. Allmon, assistant curator of the White House; Carol Downey of the Arizona Department of Library, Archives and Public Records; Helen Matuskowitz of the Valley Forge Historical Society; Linda Baumgarten of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation; Susan Swan of Winterthur Museum; Cynthia Bertsch of the Oregon Historical Society; Margaret Klapthor of the Divison of Political History of the National Museum of American History; Anne Inglehart of the Schlesinger Library in Cambridge; Polly Mitchell of the Shelburne Museum; Ellice Rowsheim of the Ohio Historical Society; Grant Allen Anderson of the Historical Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints; Terry Geesken of the Museum of Modern Art; Mrs. Marguerite Hubbard of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library; Hazel Braugh of the National Red Cross; and the staffs of the Connecticut Historical Society and the Library of the Mount Vernon Ladies Association of the Union.

To hundreds of knitters, particularly Suzanne Baizerman of the Weavers Journal and Christine Timmons of the Taunton Press, who have shared their stitching histories with me and suggested others to contact.