Exhibit: Textile Manufacturing and Tools of Female Independence

• Event Date: Tuesday, May 6, 2014–Sunday, September 14, 2014
• Location: Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL
• Cost: Free

• Exhibit
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The tools in these two cases demonstrate not only methods of European textile manufacturing but also tools of female independence at a time when women’s roles in society were somewhat constrained. Spinning and bobbin lace making were professions firmly in the hands of women. Women and girls of all ages and throughout all classes of society in Western Europe between the seventeenth and early twentieth centuries practiced these activities. Although both crafts were also popular leisure activities in urban, middle class, and aristocratic environments, they were very important sources of income within rural communities.