I have been working hard on my input to the Fan reed book by Norma Smayda Staley. I have sent in the section on the mechanics of my fan reed. Last night I found myself in Leamington Spa with a spare evening and spent it in writing up the other two sections, on the history and on my weavings with a fan reed. The history is distinctly dodgy. I have completed the European/American section and am now dealing with Japan which has a language problem!
One thread I am still pursuing but have been really unsuccessful are the archives of the US loom maker, Crompton and Knowles, which I have tracked down to Worcester Polytechic in New England. It is all in the Gordon Library and, if you search the website very carefully, you can find a list of the archive contents. But they have not been digitised and the librarians do not appear to bother answering emails from foreigners. Woe is me!! The trouble is that I do not feel like paying out for a trip to Boston when I am not 100% sure there is anything there. Bah!! And yet I am sure there must be something relevant in there.
I live about half an hour from Worcester Polytech. I'd be happy to go take a look at the archives for you. If you're interested, contact me at lrognsvoog [at] verizon [dot] net.
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