a large box with five samples of 100% linen drapery fabric -- part of a collection of fabric samples once housed at the University -- these samples were designed and hand woven by Joan Patterson, in probably the late 1940s/early 1950s -- she was the Textiles Professor at Oregon State University from the 1940s through the '60s -- she used Oregon grown flax as her source as part of an attempt at developing an industry in the state-- -- the one shown in the last two pictures, measures about 38 by 71 in. -- --
-- two pieces are 'heavily stained' as marked on the box label -- o/w rust stain about the tag staples but the rest of the fabric seems to be clean and in nice condition -- all have fold lines --
-- *we are currently listing several more boxes from this collection*
"from OSU Archives: Joan Patterson was a Professor of Clothing, Textiles, and Related Arts at Oregon State University from 1936 until her retirement in 1969.
from Willamette Heritage Center article "Flax" researched and written by Joan Marie “Toni” Meyering
"...Developments at Oregon State University reduced the harvesting and processing costs of flax, but a main obstacle in competing with foreign grown fiber still lay in mixing the short, or tangled, tow fibers with the long fiber flax, and in grading the flax properly. Joan Patterson of Oregon State University began experimenting in the late 1940s with linen woven in combination with other fabrics. Instead of being done with the long fiber flax she, too, used the tow which had formerly been burned as waste. Her hand-loomed samples were applicable to power loom production, and samples from the Oregon Worsted Company were featured in magazines like House Beautiful, House and Garden, Modern Bride, Better Living, and Good Housekeeping after she previewed them in New York City in 1951. In 1952, National Automotive Fibers decided to concentrate its entire home rugs operation at the Salem plant in West Salem.
Between the linen mill, the flax textile mills, and the woolen mills, Salem in 1952 was rapidly becoming known as a textile center. Despite these hopeful signs, acreage harvested in 1952 was down, and plants throughout the Willamette Valley were closing....""
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