URI textiles professor collects cloth-covered books of whaling era

10/09/08 - Susan Jerome, collections manager of the Historic Textile and Costume Collection at the University of Rhode Island, has always been interested in textiles. As a child, she sewed and taught herself to knit, savoring the feel of the fabrics. She also enjoyed history. These interests led her to Honolulu, Hawaii, and the Textile Society of America's 11th biennial conference.

Jerome also had the opportunity to continue her research in the warm Hawaiian sun. She was one of five finalists out of more than 100 applicants for the society's Founding President's Award.

Two members of the textiles, merchandising and design faculty, professor Margaret Ordoñez and instructor Abby Lillethun, also presented at the conference.

Jerome's research is titled "Trade Cloth on American Whaleships, 1820-1870." The project began in 2001, when she began her graduate studies at URI.

When she started working on her master's degree, Jerome was still occasionally working at Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Conn., home to the Charles W. Morgan, which, according to the National Park Service, is the only wooden whaling ship from the 1800s still in existence.

Jerome's thesis topic came to her during work. She realized that she had read many references to trade cloth, the pieces of cotton that whalers would use as currency during their travels. However, there weren't many descriptions of the actual cloth.

This intrigued Jerome, and after receiving some encouragement from a colleague at Mystic Seaport, she decided to research trade cloth.

"I thought I would look through sailors' journals, diaries and account books to find fabric on whaling vessels as a trade commodity," Jerome said.

However, her thesis changed after her second or third visit to the New Bedford Whaling Museum in New Bedford, Mass., where she was shown a fabric-covered book in the museum's vault.

"No one described the fabric" covering the books, Jerome said.

Her experience in New Bedford sparked her interest in finding cloth-covered books from the heydays of whaling in New England. She went to the Nantucket Whaling Museum and looked through their storage, and found 22 cloth-covered books.

"The books were covered in printed cotton and damask," she said.

Jerome said her discovery of these fabric-covered books leads her to believe that there is more fabric to find from this period of time. Her research thus far has focused on 1820 to 1870, when whaling was very popular in New England. While in Hawaii, she was able to tour some old settlements of the first New Englanders to come to Hawaii, primarily as missionaries.

However, she does have some concern that many of the fabrics she wishes to find are gone forever, used as drop cloths for painting projects and dismissed as rags instead of recognized as part of history.

"It's hard, I think, for people to value torn, shredded fabric," she said.

The fabrics, on books and fashioned into clothing, provide an insight as to how New Englanders lived their lives during a time of transition, she added. Rhode Island had "an agrarian middle class that's beginning to become industrial," she said. One of her favorite pieces in the collection from the time of her research is a pair of men's pants that were mended with 28 different patches. The pants tell her a story.

"You can just hear the women saying, 'Honey, do you have to rip your pants?'" Jerome said.

Jerome said that one goal of the TMD department with its collection of clothing is to "be an educational tool for everybody." She said many different groups, such as Girl Scouts and high school students, visit URI to see the collection.

The department has a small gallery on the first floor of Quinn Hall, which changes regularly. Jerome is working on finding clothing for the newest gallery, which will focus on what people wore to keep warm during the cold winter months. She is also considering a return to school, but she would also like to continue her research, which she finds fascinating.

"It's awfully fun," she said. "It's like being a bit of a detective."

Jerome said she enjoyed presenting to the Textile Society of America and is now working on proposals for the Costume Society of America. Her presentation for them will focus on what indigenous people did with fabric they received from whalers in the mid-to-late 19th century.

"Your concept of clothing is so different," she said of indigenous people. "What would you do with two yards of fabric? Would you wrap it around your head, your shoulders, your waist?"

Jerome wants to go back to Hawaii to further develop her research. She said presenting for these different organizations lets her see her own research in a new light.

"I can take all my research and focus it in different ways," she said.