Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Jeopardy

Jeopardy This is scholarship of the highest order, at once readable, instructive, critical, myth-smashing, eye-opening, and appreciative. We learn, among about a thousand other things, how and why women in New England (as in Appalachia) came to be the spinners and weavers and thus to deviate, with important consequences, from the European model in which men dominated the artisanal textile industries; just how difficult it was for those women to "raise flax, shear sheep, clean wool, comb worsted, spin, reel, bleach, dye, and weave yarn" (206); how much more time-consuming was the spinner's work than that of the weaver; how weather affected the quality of spun thread; and that the fabrics carefully stored in any given piece of early American furniture were almost always worth more than the furniture itself. This last is a fitting metaphor for the often overlooked value of women's work, and for the value of scholars who look inside the bureau-drawers of history. --Jane Eblen Keller As I watch you planted in your easy chair, you seem to have the answers. Aware of all you know, you never waver. It's about strategy. You wager correctly-- cut your losses if need be. Just don't forget to question. --Jana Durbin http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Appalachian Review University of North Carolina Press

Jeopardy

Appalachian Review , Volume 30 (1) – Jan 8, 2002

Loading next page...
 
/lp/university-of-north-carolina-press/jeopardy-V0nVoXLkXI

References

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
University of North Carolina Press
Copyright
Copyright © Berea College
ISSN
1940-5081
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

This is scholarship of the highest order, at once readable, instructive, critical, myth-smashing, eye-opening, and appreciative. We learn, among about a thousand other things, how and why women in New England (as in Appalachia) came to be the spinners and weavers and thus to deviate, with important consequences, from the European model in which men dominated the artisanal textile industries; just how difficult it was for those women to "raise flax, shear sheep, clean wool, comb worsted, spin, reel, bleach, dye, and weave yarn" (206); how much more time-consuming was the spinner's work than that of the weaver; how weather affected the quality of spun thread; and that the fabrics carefully stored in any given piece of early American furniture were almost always worth more than the furniture itself. This last is a fitting metaphor for the often overlooked value of women's work, and for the value of scholars who look inside the bureau-drawers of history. --Jane Eblen Keller As I watch you planted in your easy chair, you seem to have the answers. Aware of all you know, you never waver. It's about strategy. You wager correctly-- cut your losses if need be. Just don't forget to question. --Jana Durbin

Journal

Appalachian ReviewUniversity of North Carolina Press

Published: Jan 8, 2002

There are no references for this article.