Sep 29, 2022 - Sale 2615

Sale 2615 - Lot 253A

Price Realized: $ 562
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900
(VERMONT.) Photograph albums of textile machinery made by the Parks & Woolson Machine Company. Approximately 350 silver-print photographs, each about 7 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches, many mounted back to back on stubs, bound in 4 albums. Oblong 4to, original leatherette 3-ring binders, moderate wear, with worn printed labels on backstrips; some with cello tape mounting, some with typed captions laid down, a bit musty. Springfield, VT, circa 1920s-1950s

Additional Details

Parks and Woolson, manufacturers of woolen cloth finishing machinery, was established in 1829, drawing water power from the Black River. Upon its closing in 2003, it was the oldest machine shop in Springfield, VT. The archive documents the company's production from the 1920s through the 1950s, including images of their products installed in factories across New England: the Broad Brook Company of East Windsor, CT; Cranston Print Works in Rhode Island; Vassalboro Mills in Maine; Trenton Dyeing and Finishing in Canada; and many others. Some images show workers positioned nearby, and many show textiles emerging or positioned within the apparatus. An appealing group for those who recall New England's once-thriving textile mills.