When a Horse Blanket Provides more than just Warmth: Using Textiles as a Historical Source in Nineteenth-Century Canada

When a Horse Blanket Provides more than just Warmth: Using Textiles as a Historical Source in Nineteenth-Century Canada Deborah Livingston-Lowe July 19, 2017 1 Why was a fabric, usually reserved for fancy bed coverings selected to make horse blankets in late nineteenth century Canada?1 This fabric usage struck me as odd when I first became acquainted with nineteenth century Canadian textiles at the Royal Ontario Museum. I discovered that quality textiles and horse blankets were not an anomaly as evinced by the several handsome and complex specimens in the nineteenth century eastern Canadian material record. Horses were status symbols, and the nineteenth century horse owner was making a statement about the value placed on horses when choosing these beautiful and sometimes intricately woven textiles. The horse blanket that I will discuss in particular is more accurately described as a horse hood, collected close to Belœil, Verchères County, 35 kilometres northeast of Montreal (Image 1 and 2). It caught my attention several years ago in a book entitled The Comfortable Arts by renowned Canadian textile collector and curator at the Royal Ontario Museum, Dorothy Burnham.2 As I furthered my studies in historic Canadian textiles both academically and practically, I recalled this unusual textile periodically. At the time, I was interested in coverlet weaving hence this piece was tangentially related to my research because of the weave structure of the horse hood fabric. The structure of the weave, floatwork is deceptively simple as it allows the handloom weaver to produce a wide variety of geometric patterns with the basic loom set-up of four harnesses. The weaver creates the pattern by alternating a thread with long floats, little structure: the pattern thread, with a thread that provides maximum structure, plain weave to create a weave structure that many nineteenth century weavers called ‘floatwork’. 3 Although 1 2 This paper was presented at the Artifacts in Agraria Symposium at the University of Guelph, October 17 and 18, 2015. Dorothy Burnham, The Comfortable Arts: Traditional Spinning and Weaving in Canada (Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1981), 161. 3 Most ode sou es, i ludi g the Bu ha s efe to this t pe of te tile o st u tio as o e shot hile i etee th century weavers used several terms such as floatwork and single. Middlesex County weaver, John Campbell (1806-1891) used the te si gle fo this st u tu e. Joh Ca p ell s A ou t Book, -1885. The Ontario Science Centre Archives, Toronto. Li ol Cou t ea e , “a uel F to used floate o k a d si gle. “a uel F s A ou t Book, – 1868. The Royal Ontario Museum. The fi st t e tieth e tu efe e e, I lo ated, to o e shot is f o a a ti le o o e let ea i g. “ee ‘. F. Hea tz, Va iatio s i O e shot Wea i g Handicrafter, Vol.3, no. 1 (1931): 26-28. Before this date, textile commentators referred to this stru tu e as o e let ea i g. F a es Good i h, i Allanstand Cottage Industries, described this structure as shoto e desig s. The No th Ca oli a ea e s, ho she used as i fo a ts, used the te dou le d aft. Frances Goodrich, Allanstand Cottage Industries Alla sta d, No th Ca oli a: Wo a s Boa d of Ho e Missio s of the Presbyterian Church, 1902. A rather romanticized and American patriotic book on coverlet weaving: Eliza Calvert Hall, A Book 2 present in many European countries, Harold and Dorothy Burnham proposed that Scottish immigrants popularized floatwork in North America.4 The horse hood was an oddity to me – how did this showy piece of hand weaving and tailoring come into being in rural French-speaking Québec? Although I have yet to locate another nineteenth century horse hood using hand woven decorative fabric, I situate this example within the wider body of blankets, hand woven and of decorative quality laid on the horse’s back. I will make use of these horse blankets to define decorative textiles and also expand my discussion of the use of quality textiles for horse blankets. Although the cloth of the horse hood from Québec is notable, many of the other examples I refer to in this study are even more technically impressive as they were woven by the most highly skilled handloom weavers in nineteenth century Ontario.5 The presence of these highly complex examples provides further commentary about the importance placed on horses in nineteenth century eastern Canada using the vocabulary of hand woven textiles. The horse hood contains an abundance of clues in its manufacture that point to a larger question about the attitude to horses in late-nineteenth-century Canada. Understanding the process of how this object was made, used and perceived is central to this analysis. I will draw on my technical and historical knowledge of nineteenth century textiles to systematically interpret the fabric. My analysis of the blanket as a historical source is rooted in material culture, a discipline which provides a framework for the use of artifacts as primary sources. Historian Adrienne Hood provides a paradigm for the use of material culture in historical research by drawing on her practical knowledge of handloom weaving to inform her approach to of Hand-woven Coverlets. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1912 does not use the term overshot. She consistently referred to all decorative blankets, whether figured or four-harness, as coverlets. However, she stated that one of her informants, Mrs. Hill of Be ea, used the te si gle fo this o st u tio . 4 Harold & Dorothy Burnham, Keep Me Warm One Night: Early Handweaving in Eastern Canada (University of Toronto Press, 1972), 172-178. 5 I examined twelve horse blankets at the Royal Ontario Museum and the Waterloo Regional Museum. Many of these blankets were dyed in vivid colours and sometimes woven in complex weave structures requiring sixteen to 24 harnesses. 3 documentary sources such as inventories and account books.6 Beverly Gordon approaches the use of textiles as a historical source by evaluating the proximity of the consumer /observer to the textile, otherwise known as proxemics.7 Jules Prown specifies three steps for approaching material culture: description, deduction and speculation.8 He explains that material culture is an important tool to increase understanding of the past. He posits that the artifact provides a voice to those who did not write but who produced and used objects. Hood recommends that a study using material culture rely on an identified method with some modifications to suit the individual situation.9 I began a slow and intermittent study of horse blankets many years ago beginning with the black and white photographs and the brief explanations in the books of Canadian textiles published by the Burnhams.10 For this paper, I went beyond the black and white photographs and I examined several horse blankets at the Royal Ontario Museum, Waterloo Regional Museum and Fanshawe Pioneer Village, London. This examination began with a descriptive analysis as stipulated by Prown. I documented the dimensions, width of fabric from selvedge to selvedge, thread count, weave structure, condition, fibre and colour.11 The next step in Prown’s analysis, deduction, considers how the object was made, used and perceived. I expanded this step by considering the proxemics method as described by Gordon. For this study, I will employ two zones of proximity: intimate/personal and social/public. To 6 Adrienne Hood, "Material Culture and Textiles: An Overview," Material Culture Review / Revue de la culture matérielle, Vol. 31 (1990): 5-6. Adrienne Hood, Mate ial Cultu e: The O je t, i History Beyond the Text: A Stude t’s Guide to Approaching Alternative Sources, Sarah Barber and Corrina Peniston-Bird, eds., London and New York: Routledge, 2009: 175-197. 7 Be e l Go do , I ti a a d O je ts: A P o e i A al sis of Ge de -Based Response to the Material World, in Katherine Martinez and Kenneth Ames, eds., The Material Culture of Gender/The Gender of Material Culture, Winterthur Museum with University Press of New England, 1997: 237-252. 8 Jules Da id P o , Mi d i Matte : A I t odu tio to Mate ial Cultu e Theo a d Method, Wi te thu Po tfolio Vol. No. 1 (Spring, 1982): 7-10. 9 Hood, Mate ial Culture: The Object, 2009: 179. 10 Burnham, The Comfortable Arts, . Do oth K. Bu ha , Co st u tio s Used Ja ua d Co e let Wea e s i O ta io, in Studies in Textile History: In Memory of Harold B. Burnham. Veronika Gervers, ed., Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum, 1977: 31-42. Dorothy K. Burnham, Costu es for Ca ada’s Birthday: The Styles of 1 . Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum; University of Toronto, 1966. Dorothy K. Burnham, Cut My Cote. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum, 1973. Dorothy K. Burnham, Warp and Weft: A Dictionary of Textile Terms. New York: Cha les “ i e s “o s, . Ha old B. Bu ha , Canadian Textiles, 1750-1900: An Exhibition, The Sigmund Samuel Canadiana Gallery. To o to: ‘o al O ta io Museu , . Ha old B. Bu ha , O ta io: The Te tile A ts. Canadian Antiques Collector 6, no. 5 (May 1971): 65- . Ha old B. Bu ha , The Te tile A ts. Canadian Antiques Collector 7, no. 1 (Jan-Feb. 1972): 51- . Ha old & Do oth Bu ha . Ha d ea i g a d Te tiles. I The Book of Canadian Antiques. Edited by Donald Blake Webster, 282-295. Toronto: McGraw-Hill, 1974. Burnham & Burnham, Keep Me Warm One Night, 1972. 11 The weave structures used for the horse blankets: floatwork, twill, birds-eye, goose eye, twill diaper, point twill can be found in Appendix 1. 4 understand the physical function of horse blankets I refer to my sister, Susan Fish who was a professional equestrian for 27 years. I substantiated her insights about the use of a decorative horse blankets with horse care commentary from a book dating to 1900.12 10 I also referred to nineteenth century attitudes to horses by reviewing the secondary sources pertaining to horses from the early modern period to the late nineteenth century. To place the hood within the context of nineteenth-century woven production, I used the Québec censuses from 1881 to 1901 to examine the presence of weavers in Verchères County to discuss production. I expanded my examination of weavers and customers by using the account books of two weavers from Ontario who wove horse blankets in the late nineteenth century. Although the hood was collected in a primarily French community, my reading of this textile as a historical source suggests a connection with Scottish weavers due to the weave structure. The analysis of this artifact paired with contextualization with other horse blankets and documentary sources contributes to our understanding of the aesthetics and culture of rural people in nineteenth-century Canada. Description I conducted a technical analysis of the horse hood when I examined it at the Royal Ontario Museum. To begin, the structure of the fabric is called floatwork, a decorative weave used in many coverlets produced in eastern Canada in the nineteenth century. The earliest Canadian examples of this type of fabric derive from Scottish families or come from predominantly Scottish communities.13 Despite its strong association with the Scottish population, floatwork was not exclusive to this population but used by weavers of other backgrounds in rural eastern Canada.14 Although there was a Scottish population in Québec the area where the horse hood was collected, Verchères County was ethnically French in the late nineteenth century. Most 12 M. Horace Hayes, Stable Management and Exercise: A Book for Horse-owners and Students, Hurst and Blackett Limited: London, Second Edition, 1900. 13 Burnham & Burnham, Keep Me Warm One Night, 1972: 174-184. 14 Rosanah Young and sister Hester Abercrombie weavers of German background who lived in Prince Edward County, Ontario kept a collection of drafts which included many examples of floatwork patterns. Royal Ontario Museum, 954.148. 5 Québec textiles produced by the French are distinctive visually and technically.15 The collected examples of floatwork coverlets made by the French population differ from the standard floatwork structure.16 Another interesting anomaly with this fabric is that it was made entirely of wool singles.17 Typically, floatwork coverlets have a cotton structure with a two-ply wool pattern thread with an average thread count of 24 threads per inch.18 The fabric in the horse hood is slightly warp-faced at 30 threads per inch, that is the warp threads have a higher thread count per inch than the weft threads which are 16 wefts per inch. This warp-faced cloth has the effect of sharpening the design visually and I suggest that the more compact weave made the cloth more impervious to the elements.19 The fabric used to make the horse hood is not a typical fabric for coverlets for four reasons: it is lighter weight than a typical coverlet, it is made with singles, it is made entirely of wool and the repetitive pattern is not characteristic of patterns in a typical coverlet.20 The width of the fabric from selvedge to selvedge measures 31 ½” which is on the small range for a typical coverlet. Two pieces of uncut fabric join at the top of the neck by red bias tape and hang down to cover the horse’s neck. At the head, the maker cut and sewed the fabric to fit the shape of the horse’s head. The ears are cut and sewn in the shape of an ear and accented with red pom-poms at the tips. I would argue that the lighter weight of the cloth was more easily handled for its hand sewn construction.21 These factors suggest that the fabric was woven purposefully as a horse hood. There is some unevenness in the colour of the dye in both the red and black wool 15 Many coverlets from French Quebec are woven on two shafts. In the case of the catalogne coverlets which are made from strips of cloth in the weft, the patterns are created by the arrangement of colours in the weft. In the case of the boutonné coverlets, coloured wool is laid into the weft as a secondary weft. See the chapter on two shaft coverlets in Burnham & Burnham, Keep Me Warm One Night, 1972: 143-173. 16 In my experience examining floatwork coverlets, the warp is generally 2-ply cotton in a 2/10 weight. Older examples of floatwork have linen warps. The plain weave weft is often singles in a 10 weight. There is usually one plain weave throw between the pattern weft. 17 A single is one spun thread. A ply is two or more spun threads spun together. Singles are often used for wool blankets. 18 Th ead ou ts a e efe ed to ea e s as e ds pe i h fo the a p the le gth ise th eads o the loo a d pi ks pe i h fo the eft the idth ise th eads o the loo . I suggest e ds pe i h ased o a su e of o e lets i the Black Creek Pioneer Village collection. Structure refers to the warp and the plain weave weft. Plain weave travels under one thread and over the next in repetition. 19 I did a thread count in a few locations across the warp and found a range of counts. This range might indicate the use of an early reed. Reeds are placed in the beater and space the warp to get the threads per inch count. Early reeds are often made from cane stalks and are not as consistent as steel reeds. Hayes suggests that a closely woven woollen blanket is a better conductor of heat. He also suggests that layering cloth will make the blanket warmer. Hayes, Stable Management, 1900: 33. 20 The threading repeat is 130 threads. Many of the floatwork drafts in Keep Me Warm have a repeat of over 300 threads. See Burnham & Burnham, Keep Me Warm One Night, 1972: 191 & 193. 21 There are two repair patches that appear to be places where the ear holes were cut out accidentally and then patched. 6 indicating that the wool was dyed in small batches at home. Without performing a chemical analysis it is difficult to be certain whether the dye is natural or chemical, however, I speculate that the red wool was dyed from madder and the black was dyed from a recipe for black.22 The owner selected wool fibre most likely to increase the warmth of the hood. However, the fabric is not thick and it would not be excessively overwhelming to the horse.23 The maker of the horse hood sewed four bias tapes on each side of the hood that would be tied under the neck to secure the hood in place.24 There are two leather straps on either side of the nose, perhaps to attach to the bridle and one strap at the withers, possibly to attach to a matching blanket that would drape over the horse’s back.25 Following a similar data collection procedure, I examined thirteen horse blankets in total: eight at the Royal Ontario Museum, four at the Waterloo Regional Museum and one at Fanshawe Pioneer Village. Although the museums catalogued all thirteen examples as horse blankets, interestingly, the only blanket that truly presented itself as a horse blanket was the Fanshawe example. This piece, attributed to Thomas or John Alder, has a leather buckle on the front hem edge of the blanket that could be used to fasten the blanket across the chest of the horse. 22 Madder can be grown in Ontario. It was also sold in general stores in Ontario. Hugh McRae sold madder in his general store, Hugh McRae, Merchant and Postmaster, Strathburn, Ekfrid Township, B4068, X1668-73, 1854-1873, University of Western O ta io A hi es. A e ipe fo la k d e is e o ded i Joseph Cla k s a ou t ook, Joseph Cla k – Woolen mill 1860-1878. Nagle, Clark and Hignell Family Fonds AFC 112, University of Western Ontario Archives. The transcribed recipe from the a ou t ook: Fo Bla k to a ds of fulld Cloth oz. of ‘o a it al Boils o e hou ‘u ou loth i utes ai Boil and Run again then add 5 lbs. of Logwood a Peck of Sumach ½ a lb. of fustic and ½ Camwood Boil 1 hour Run 20 minutes Boil and ‘u ai Boils a d ‘u add ½ l . of Coppe as o Ve dig is disol ed i i iga o lig. Belo the e ipe the ite efe e ed the book, the Home Dyer. I located a book published in 1817, The Family Dyer and Scourer. I did not find the recipe exactly as it was written in the account book, but the instructions on page 33 are a close approximation. Tucker, William. The Family Dyer and Scourer: Being a Complete Treatise on the Whole Art of Cleaning and Dying: the Method of Cleaning Damask, Morine, and Other Bed-Furnitures, Carpets, Counterpanes, Hearth-Rugs, &c., Dying Silk, Cotton, or Woollen Dresses, Pelisses and Spencers, Bonnets and Feathers, Cleaning India and Fancy Shawls, Scarlet Cloth, Lace Veils, and Gentlemen's Clothes, Wet or Dry, the Whole Ensuring a Saving of Eighty Per Cent. London: Printed for Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, 1817: 33. Douglas McCalla records sales of madder and many of the ingredients in the recipe for black in his study of textile related purchases at general sto es. Douglas M Calla, Te tile Pu hases “o e O di a Uppe Ca adia s, , Material History Review 53 (Spring-Summer 2001): 17-18. 23 Hayes suggests that blankets should not be overly heavy or warm but that they should provide light coverage only. Hayes, Stable Management, 1900: 290. 24 Hayes writes that hoods are fastened to the horse with tapes and attached to the quarter blanket with straps. Hayes, Stable Management, 295. 25 I speculate that a matching floatwork quarter blanket might have been part of a hood and blanket set. Perhaps the blanket was repurposed and did not survive as it was not collected with the hood. 7 The museum staff at both the Royal Ontario Museum and the Waterloo Regional Museum quite rightly commented that their horse blankets differed little from the many coverlets in their collections. However, there is one fact that distinguishes this group of textiles from bed coverlets – the accession record statements of the original owners that the blankets were passed down from generation to generation as horse blankets. Although the family accounts are important, I searched for additional proof to strengthen the claims that the twelve textiles from the Royal Ontario Museum and the Waterloo Regional Museum are examples of horse blankets. To begin, although these blankets vary in their length and width measurements, in general, the average length and width measurements of my sample of horse blankets is smaller by about 10” than a sample of coverlets that I measured at the Royal Ontario Museum. 26 The next piece of evidence concerned damage on the blankets that I suggest might have resulted from fastening the blanket to the horse. These decorative blankets would not require the same degree of fastening as a blanket used in the stable because the duration of unsupervised time for the horse would be considerably shorter for the horse waiting for its owner’s return from a social visit.27 The last indication that supports the ethnographic information comes from two blankets; one at the Royal Ontario Museum and one at the Waterloo Regional Museum, woven in a diamond-shaped pattern referred to as birds-eye or goose-eye by weavers. John Campbell from Ontario recorded that he wove a birds-eye horse blanket in 1882 and a diamond horse blanket in 1884. Similarly, James Murdoch of Québec recorded that he wove a birds-eye horse blanket in 1827 and 1828.28 These references to this weave structure in material and documentary sources 26 Usi g t el e out of the thi tee la kets f o sa ple, I a i ed at a a e age la ket size of L W. I did ot use the blanket fragment from the Waterloo Regional Museum 1973.006.003. 27 Susan Fish explained that horses rub against the walls and lie down on the floor when in the stable. This can easily dislodge an unfastened blanket. The Royal Ontario Museum has three blankets with damage that might be a result of fastening the blanket to the horse. Blanket 969.235 has two tears which could have developed from fastening the blanket to the horse. Blanket 970.118.6 has damage where an attachment might have been located - 15"from edge, 6 1/2 "from hem, 1"across x 1"deep. Blanket 968.116.1 has a rip where an attachment might have been located - 15"from edge, 15"from hem, 3 x 1 3/4". 28 The birds-eye pattern is diamond shaped created by threading of the loom and treadling the pattern when weaving. When the diamonds are small they are often referred to as birds-eye. When the pattern is extended they are often referred 8 provide evidence for the prevalent use of this diamond pattern for horse blankets. I contend that these three features reinforce the credibility of the ethnographic accounts that this sample is indeed horse blankets. I use this sample of horse blankets to strengthen my understanding of the use of decorative textiles for horses. Deduction Intimate/Personal Zone Using the visual and technical description of the horse hood, I consider the production and consumption of the horse hood using the first two zones of proxemics, the intimate/personal zone which governs the maker, the horse and the horse owner. Although we do not know who wove the fabric or who the original owner was, we know that it is a fabric woven predominantly by Scottish weavers. The construction of the fabric is unusual in the density of the warp threads and the sole choice of wool singles. Could it have been woven by a Verchères County weaver who was unfamiliar with conventional floatwork weaving? Burnham suggests that when French weavers wove floatwork they did unusual things such as use rags for the weft or make the threads more warp faced.29 This piece might suggest a French weaver who was exposed to the Scottish tradition of floatwork coverlet weaving and saw an unconventional purpose for this structure. Perhaps the weaver saw the decorative potential for this weave structure and applied it to an item that conveyed status and taste. Using the date of the horse hood, the late nineteenth century, suggested by Burnham, I surveyed the Québec 1881 and 1901 censuses to gain an understanding of the demographics of the area of collection close to Belœil in Verchères County.30 Verchères County was largely agricultural in the late nineteenth century with only five carders and weavers listed in the 1881 to as goose-eye. Campbell might have indicated the size of the repeat by using birds-eye for a small diamond and diamond for a larger diamond. 29 Burnham & Burnham, Keep Me Warm One Night, 1972. 30 Burnham, The Comfortable Arts, 1981. I did not use the 1891 census because I could not search by occupation using Ancestry.ca or the Library and Archives Canada sites. 9 census.31 Fascinatingly, in the neighbouring county of St. Hyacinthe there were 118 carders and weavers in the 1881 census offering an accessible location for wool processing for handloom weavers in neighbouring counties.32 Unfortunately, schedule 1 of the census does not indicate whether weavers were handloom or factory weavers.33 Regional studies of handloom weaving in eastern Canada suggest that textile production was nuanced by individual factors and the type and reliability of documentary sources. An appreciation of the historiography of handloom weaving in eastern Canada offers a context to understand the community that created this decorative horse blanket. Research by David-Thierry Ruddel suggests that women wove most of the hand woven cloth in the mid nineteenth century Québec to earn extra money after the economic downturn of the mid-nineteenth century.34 According to Béatrice Craig, Judith Rygiel and Elizabeth Turcotte production of hand woven cloth in eastern Canada depended on a variety of complex factors including consumer demand for hand woven cloth, a local infrastructure for textile production and a skilled local population able to provide carded, dyed and spun fibre to the weaver.35 Research in New York State by Adrienne Hood and in Leeds County, Ontario by Kris Inwood and Janine Grant suggest that the production of hand woven cloth is linked to poor agricultural fertility.36 In New Brunswick, women fulfilled a demand for hand woven cloth for warm clothing for men working in the lumbering industry.37 In Ontario, handloom weaving for home consumption was done by women while weaving for customers was done primarily by 31 Census of Canada, 1880-81, volume 2, page 258. There were 2,295 people employed in agriculture in 1891. Page 267. Census of Canada, 1880-81, volume 2, page 258. Inwood and Wagg related the mechanization of carding and fulling by local mills with a decrease in overall production time for textiles, revealing a shift in time spent by families on textile home production. Kris Inwood and Ph llis Wagg, The “u i al of Ha dloo Wea i g i ‘u al Ca ada i a , Journal of Economic History 54, no. 2 (June 1993): 346-358. 33 In my study of Middlesex County weavers in the 1871 census, I found that 37% of weavers listed in Schedule 1 were also entered in Schedule 6. Deborah Livingston-Lowe, Counting on Customers: Counting on Customers: John Campbell, 1806-1891, Middlese Cou t Ha dloo Wea e , Maste s thesis, U i e sit of Guelph, O ta io, : , Appe di . . 34 David-Thierry Ruddel, Do esti Te tile P odu tio i Colo ial Que e , , Material History Bulletin 31 (Spring 1990): 45. 35 Béat i e C aig, Judith ‘ giel a d Eliza eth Tu otte, The Ho espu Pa ado : Ma ket-Orientated Production of Cloth in Eastern Canada in the Ninetee th Ce tu , Agricultural History 76, no. 1 (2002): 53. 36 Adrienne Hood did a comparison between the less agriculturally fertile New York State which did not attract skilled i ig a t ea e s a d the o e ag i ultu all fe tile, Pe s l a ia hi h did. Ad ie e Hood, The Ge de Di isio of La o in the Production of Textiles in Eighteenth-Ce tu ‘u al Pe s l a ia ‘ethi ki g the Ne E gla d Model , Journal of Social History 27 (Spring, 1994): 539. Kris Inwood and Janine Grant determined that weavers in Leeds County were active because of low agricultural fertilit . K is I ood a d Ja i e G a t, La ou i g at the Loo : A Case “tud of ‘u al Ma ufa tu i g i Leeds Cou t , . Canadian Papers in Rural History Vol. VII (1990): 216. 37 Judith ‘ giel, Th ead i he ha ds, ash i he po kets: Wo e a d Do esti Textile Production in 19th century New B u s i k, Acadiensis 30, no. 2 (Spring, 2001): 56-70. 32 10 men.38 Further research in Verchères County is required to clarify the production of textiles in this particular region. The Weaver To understand horse blankets from the perspective of the weaver, I turn to account book records of weavers. Currently, I do not know of a late nineteenth century weaver’s account book from Québec so I turn to account book sources from Ontario that I believe can be used judiciously to shed light on horse blanket weavers and consumers in eastern Canada.39 The Burnhams state that Albert and Edward Graf and John and William Noll of Waterloo County wove horse blankets.40 Indeed, both the Royal Ontario Museum and the Waterloo Regional Museum attribute horse blankets to the Noll Brothers.41 Two weaver account books in Ontario which document the selling of horse blankets are the account books of John Campbell and Thomas and John Alder, both from Middlesex County, Ontario. John Campbell a Scottish weaver who emigrated to New York State then Ontario in the mid-nineteenth century kept excellent records in an account book that begins in 1859 and ends in 1885. Campbell was a prolific handloom weaver producing about 2000 yards of cloth per year.42 Campbell took orders from 25 customers for horse blankets between 1861 and 1885 totalling 328 ½ yards of cloth and $44.50 in sales. Campbell’s horse blankets accounted for about 1% of his total production. Campbell lists horse blankets at seven prices between 12 ½ cents and 19 cents per 38 I ood a d G a t, La ou i g at the Loo , : -236. Handloom weaver, James Murdoch kept an account book in Richmond County, Quebec in the 1820s and 1830s. On page 78 of the account book, Murdoch records the sale of a horse blanket in 1827 to William Lange. On page 102 he records the sale of a horse blanket in 1828 to Robert Morison. Account book of James Murdoch, 1799-1838, Richmond County, Quebec. McCord Museum Archives, Montreal, M2002.134.1 40 Keep Me Warm, 117 and 295. 41 Blanket 950.109 from the Royal Ontario Museum and Blanket 1969.091.004 and 1969.091.005 from the Waterloo Regional Museum are attributed to the Noll Brothers. Blanket 969.235 ROM is attributed to Albert or Edward Graf. 42 Livingston-Lowe, Counting on Customers, 2012: 110. 39 11 yard.43 It is important to note that Campbell prices in his account book are for labour alone. As such, the cost of fibre purchased and supplied to Campbell by the customer is not part of his account book prices. Using the cost of fibre in the late nineteenth century, I provide a cost which presents an estimate for the total cost of the blanket. Campbell’s horse blankets are not extant, so my calculations are based on thread counts and an average horse blanket size informed by examples in museum collections.44 To weave a blanket measuring 76 L x 70” W on John Campbell’s loom, he would weave the blanket as a 35” width and a 152” length. The 152” length would be cut into two 76” lengths and sewn together to create the 76 x 70” blanket.45 As such, including the cost of fibre, the total cost of Campbell’s blankets, ranged approximately from the least expensive, $2.00 to the most expensive at $2.65.46 Campbell’s two most expensive and decorative textiles were floatwork at .30 cents and carpet coverlets at .70 cents per yard.47 The low price range of Campbell’s horse blankets suggests that he was not using a decorative weave structure.48 To provide some perspective, I used the floatwork and carpet coverlets, to arrive at prices for the more upscale decorative horse blankets in my sample. I applied his highest and lowest prices per yard for the floatwork and carpet coverlets to the dimensions of a 76 x 70” horse blanket. The 43 The ajo it of his ho se la kets, ½ a ds e e sold at the ½ e ts pe a d ate. Ca p ell s loth a ged i p i e from his least expensive cloth, flannel at 10 cents per yard and his most expensive cloth, the carpet coverlet at 70 cents per yard. I estimate that the 10 cents per yard flannel equalled 38 cents per yard when fibre was included. The 70 cents per yard carpet coverlet equalled $1.30 per yard when fibre was included. Livingston-Lowe, Counting on Customers, 2012: 55 & 74. 44 I looked at ho se la kets. The s allest la ket as a d the la gest as . The a e age size as . I used prices of fibre from historical sources to determine price per yard. My calculations are based on the following prices: wool - .27/lb., carding - .09/lb., hand spinning - .14/lb., cotton - .40/lb., Livingston-Lowe, Counting on Customers, 2012: 126-130. 45 I have simplified these measurements as the width and length on the loom. In general, when a textile is removed from the loom, it shrinks by about 5%. After laundering, the blanket will shrink by another 5 to 7 %. 46 The p i e eakdo fo the least e pe si e ho se la ket easu i g at a warps per inch and 17 wefts per inch: 12 ½ cents per yard, labour (.50 cents), 3 lbs. wool for warp and weft ($1.50) equalling $2.00 per blanket. I used the twill horse la ket f o the ‘o al O ta io Museu , . . fo the th ead ou t. Ca p ell s ost expensive horse blanket was priced at .19 cents per yard and measured 9 yards in his account book. I suggest that the 9 yard length would have been used for two horse blankets. The 9 yards cut into two lengths of 4 ½ yards and then cut again into 2 ¼ yards to provide two blankets easu i g . Ca p ell ote that this ho se la ket as o e i dia o d. I i te p et this as a ea e also k o as goose-eye. I used the goose-eye horse blanket at the Royal Ontario Museum, Accession number: 969.235 which has a thread count of 19 warps per inch and 19 wefts per inch. I estimate that the total cost of the blanket was: 19 cents per yard, labour (.85 cents), 3.6 lbs. wool for warp and weft ($1.80) equalling $2.65 per blanket. 47 Campbell lists a wide variety of types of cloth in his account book. For example, he lists five different types of rag carpets. Reasons for different prices might be the width of the cloth, number of shuttles and the density of the weave. 48 Campbell was one of only about 30 weavers in Ontario who produced carpet coverlets. Burnham, The Comfortable Arts, 171. His carpet coverlet customers lived in a 150 kilometre radius from his workshop in Komoka, Middlesex County, Ontario indicating the special nature of this textile. Livingston-Lowe, Counting on Customers: 103. Although carpet coverlets would not have been used as a horse blanket, the price of this textile is a good indicator of the price of a multi-shaft twill diaper or point twill horse blanket. 12 total cost of a floatwork structure horse blanket would cost between $3.80 and $4.00 while a horse blanket at the carpet coverlet price would range from $4.40 and $5.40. These prices provide a benchmark when trying to realise the value of the complexly woven horse blankets from Waterloo County.49 Thomas Alder a weaver from Gloucestershire, England also sold horse blankets. He is listed in the Canada West 1861 census as a weaver and kept an account book from 1897 to 1906, the year he died. His son John continued weaving and keeping accounts until 1922.50 The Alder account book is not as detailed as the Campbell account book. Most of the time, the fabric is not described, only a price per yard. The Alders mixed farming and weaving so their weaving income is substantially less than Campbell’s. On average, Thomas and John wove 970 yards per year and made $170 per year.51 There is only one entry for horse blankets in the Alder account book. In 1899, Thomas Alder sold 9 yards of horse blankets at 16 cents per yard. It is possible that they sold more horse blankets, but did not specify in their account book entries and only listed the price of 16 cents per yard for which there are many entries. Like Campbell, the Alders’ prices account for weaving labour only and as such, the cost of fibre would need to be added to the weaving labour to arrive at a total cost. Fanshawe Pioneer Village in London, where the Alder loom and shop are located has two checked twill horse blankets attributed to the Alders. Based on the dimensions and thread count of this blanket, I estimate that it would cost $1.80.52 50 Interestingly, the Alder horse blankets are the only two blankets that I have seen with leather attachments to secure the blanket to the horse.53 Advertisements and account books indicate that horse blankets were widely available in the nineteenth century as horses were becoming increasing prevalent in rural and urban North 49 I am not currently aware of a price for point twill or twill diaper blankets. Tho as a d Joh Alde s A ou t Book, -1922. Middlesex County. The University of Western Ontario Archives, London. I compiled the yards and income from the account book to get the averages. Thomas and John Alde s A ou t Book, 1922. Middlesex County. The University of Western Ontario Archives, London. 52 This la ket is L W. The a p is otto set at th eads pe i h a d the eft is ool set at th eads pe i h. I estimate that the cotton would cost .40 cents and the wool would cost .75 cents. At .16 cents per yard, the weaving labour is .64 cents. 53 Accession number: 963.987.1, Fanshawe Pioneer Village, London. 50 51 13 America.54 There were a range of horse blankets on the market from inexpensive and utilitarian to expensive and fancy. There were a variety of purchasing options as well. A blanket could be purchased: from a local weaver if the customer was able to supply the processed fibre; from a local general store or from the catalogue. Strathburn General Store in Middlesex County was one of several general stores that sold horse blankets.55 The 1897 Sears Roebuck catalogue lists two pages of horse blankets to suit many needs including light weight canvas blankets and decorative fancy blankets. They sold their least expensive horse blanket at $1.35 and a fancy blanket for $2.75. The catalogue also advertised a horse hood and blanket ensemble for $8. They list a fancy hood on its own for $3.75.56 These blankets were clearly made from mass-produced cloth. Buying from the catalogue greatly simplified purchasing as the customer simply chose the blanket in exchange for payment. Interestingly, the variation between the cost per blanket when comparing the custom hand woven blanket to the general store and catalogue blankets is not expansive. The general store blanket was $1.00, the Sears Roebuck catalogue blanket was $1.35 and the Alders’ blanket was $1.80, fibre included and .64 cents for the weaving labour alone. Furthermore, comparing Campbell’s most expensive rate of $5.40 per blanket including fibre costs or $2.95 for weaving labour alone reveals that if an owner could provide the fibre, the costs were comparable to factory made cloth. As such, if a horse owner was willing to add value to the blanket by purchasing and processing their own fibre they could pay the weaver approximately what they would pay to the Sears Roebuck catalogue for a comparable blanket. The Horse Blanket Consumer 54 55 Ann Norton Greene, Horses at Work: Harnessing Power in Industrial America. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2008: 5. In 1871, a horse blanket cost $1. Account Books of Hugh McRae, Merchant and Postmast, Strathburn, Ekfrid Township, 1844- 1904. McCalla records that five stores carried horse blankets beginning in 1842. McCalla, Te tile Pu hases y some ordinary Ca adia s, . 56 1897 Sears Roebuck & Co. Catalogue, Reprint, Skyhorse Publishing, 2007: 693. 14 Customers of hand woven cloth in nineteenth century eastern Canada were active participants in the production of the cloth.57 Whether they fulfilled some or all of the tasks of pre- and post-weaving production such as raising the sheep, carding, dyeing and spinning the wool, fringing, hemming or sewing two panels together, this work would reduce the cost of the item while providing household tasks for family members.58 Ordering a piece of cloth from the weaver was a long range plan that took months of preparation and contributed to the household economy.59 Decorative coverlets such as floatwork coverlets appeared in Scottish, Irish and English communities while point twill and twill diaper coverlets occured in German communities. Understandably, it is these weave structures familiar to the weavers and customers that furnish the aesthetics for decorative horse blankets. Most of Campbell’s horse blankets were sold to customers who lived in the same township as Campbell, Lobo or neighbouring townships in Middlesex County.60 Campbell sold his most expensive and unusual textile, the carpet coverlet to customers as far as 150 kilometres away.61 Campbell sold his more common fabrics such as flannel and rag carpets to his more immediate customers. This suggests that customers of the birds-eye and diamond horse blankets, the type Campbell produced, purchased from their local weaver.62 Many of the customers who bought Campbell’s horse blankets were regular customers of his hand woven textiles. In 1861, he sold 8 yards of horse blankets to Andrew Small from Caradoc Township, Middlesex County at 12 ½ cents per yard, or two horse blankets. Andrew Small, a steady customer of Campbell’s purchased 647 yards of cloth over 9 years, or over 70 yards per year 57 Judith Rygiel, Th ead i he ha ds, ash i he po kets: Wo e a d Do esti Te tile P odu tio i th e tu Ne B u s i k, Acadiensis 30, no. 2 (Spring, 2001): 70. Inwood and Grant refer to the value in the form of carding, spinning and fulling that was added onto a a d of ha d o e loth. I ood a d Wagg, The “u i al of Ha dloo Wea i g i ‘u al Ca ada, . Cohe , Women's Work, Markets and Economic Development in Nineteenth Century Ontario, 87. Livingston-Lowe, Counting on Customers: 84 & 88. 58 I suggest that young women purchased great numbers of carpet coverlets so that they could add value by preparing the wool and then re-selling the coverlets. Livingston-Lowe, Counting on Customers, 2012: 126-128. 55 Several historians have discussed the household economy in rural Canada. Béatrice Craig, Backwood Consumers and Homespun Capitalists: The Rise of a Market Culture in Eastern Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009), 244. I ood a d Wagg, The “u i al of Ha dloo Wea i g i ‘u al Ca ada, . Da id-Thie ‘uddel, The Do esti Te tile Industry in the Region and City of Quebec, 1792, Material History Bulletin 17 (Spring, 1983), 44. Wages and employment options for women were very low at this time making household production a viable option for additional income. LivingstonLowe, Counting on Customers, 2012: 127. 60 One customer came from a place called Hendrick. I was not able to locate this place. 61 Livingston-Lowe, Counting on Customers, 2012: 103. 62 In Ontario there were approximately 2000 weavers listed in the 1881 Ontario census. Livingston-Lowe, Counting on Customers, 2012: 168. 15 on average. Many of Small’s fabric purchases were for ordinary fabric such as full cloth and flannel. In 1862, Campbell sold 14 ½ yards of horse blankets to Ben Woodhull who along with his extended family purchased Campbell’s cloth extensively for over two decades.63 The Horse In nineteenth century rural Canada, horses worked on the farm and also provided transportation to market and social visits. Horses were a symbol of social mobility in nineteenth century society as more people acquired horses to work on the farm transitioning from the necessity for the intense strength of an oxen team. As farmers prospered, horses could be used in a dual purpose of work and social duties.64 In the winter, a horse’s ungroomed winter coat provided sufficient coverage for a horse even if outdoors. As such a horse blanket was unnecessary.65 However, grooming of any degree alters the horse’s coat and interferes with the horse’s ability to remain warm independently.66 When a horse is groomed, measures must be taken to provide shelter in a stable and horse clothing to keep the horse sufficiently warm.67 In the winter, a groomed horse without the protection of its own winter coat would need a blanket after driving a distance followed by standing unsheltered for a length of time.68 The preferred outdoor horse blanket is light weight wool which distributes moisture away from the skin similar to that of the ungroomed coat. The weight and the warmth of the blanket should only be sufficient to keep the horse warm without being burdensome with weight and heat.69 The blanket should be in keeping with the amount of grooming and only keep the horse minimally protected. A hood in addition to a quarter blanket affords necessary coverage in the severe weather conditions found in Québec.70 Social/Public Zone 63 Benjamin Woodhull lived in Lobo and ran a carding and fulling mill in Kilworth, Delaware Township. Carding and fulling mills were small-scale industries which were an important part of the infrastructure of rural handloom weaving. 64 There were 24 horses to every hundred people in 1881. Report of the Minister of Agriculture for Canada for the Calendar Year 1886. MacLean, Roger & Co.: Ottawa, 1887: 303. 303. Greene, Horses at work, 2008: 12. 65 Fish does not groom her horses in the winter unless she intends to show them. In agreement with Hayes, she states that their winter coat keeps them in a healthier state. Hayes, Stable Management, 34. 66 Hayes discusses grooming the coat. Stable Management, 316-333. 67 Hayes, Stable Management, 285. 68 A horse with a clipped coat that sweats from exertion will benefit from a blanket because the sweat will transfer away from the horses body to the blanket. Hayes, Stable Management, 24, 36 & 286. 69 Hayes, Stable Management, 289-290. 70 Fish and Hayes agree that hoods are not recommended for use inside the stable because they have a tendency to be e o ed the o e e ts of the ho se s head. Ha es, Stable Management, 295. 16 In the winter, farm families less occupied by the work of the farm took part in increased social activities.71 If a family went on a winter outing and their groomed horses needed to stand outside a horse blanket would be essential, a decorative horse blanket would be a statement. Indeed the transition to using horses on the farm instead of oxen was sending a message to the community about the prosperity of the farmer.72 Horse care manual author M. Horace Hayes recommends that horse clothing should be visually distinctive so that the horse’s whereabouts are easily verified from a distance by the owner.73 A farm family seeking to assert their success by keeping horses might also want to keep their finest horses groomed for social occasions when on display in the community, as a handsome horse epitomised virtuous qualities on the owner.74 Using a hand woven decorative blanket on a horse communicated much unspoken information to members of the community who understood the skilled work required within the household to make these decorative textiles. I suggest that the owner of the decorative horse blanket made a conscious decision to communicate status using hand woven textiles on their horse. The showy textile spoke of the prosperity needed to groom the horse for appearance and the time and money that went into purchasing a blanket that went beyond mere warmth.75 When neighbours saw a horse blanketed with a hand woven decorative textile they perceived a meaning that they would understand technically and aesthetically.76 Conclusion 71 Catherine Parr Traill, The Backwoods of Canada being Letters from the Wife of an Emigrant Office, Charles Knight & Co., London, 1846: 154. 72 Greene, Horses at Work, 2008: 10-12. 73 Hayes, Stable Management, 291. 74 Hayes states that if the horse is on a farm that is not wealthy, you should keep the coat long. Hayes, Stable Management, 351. Business owners used their best looking horses to make deliveries. Clay McShane and Joel A. Tarr, The Horse in the City: Living Machines in the Nineteenth Century. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 2007: 13. 75 Grant Thorburn des i es a ho se o e : If the ho se s ski is sleek a d shi i g, if he ea s a fl -net in summer, and a horse- la ket i i te , life o it, ou a e t ust the o e ith a load of u ou ted gold. G a t Tho u , The Ho se a d his ‘ide , The New York Mirror: A Weekly Journal of Literature and the Fine Arts. Volumes 18-19, Samuel Woodworth, George Pope Morris, Nathaniel Parker Willis, G.P. Morris, 1841, 100. 74 John Campbell sold hand woven textiles to about 1000 families in southwestern Ontario in the mid to late nineteenth century. Many of his customers were neighbours or family relations who were also connected by their desire to use hand woven fabric perhaps because of its sturdiness, its place in the household economy and because of its aesthetic appeal. Livingston-Lowe, Counting on Customers, 2012: 112-113. 17 There were a broad range of textiles available to the nineteenth century horse owner. Mechanization of textile production meant that horse owners could choose blankets from a variety of sources for a range of prices. While factory produced horse blankets met the needs of the burgeoning population of urban horses working in commercial capacities, the hand woven blanket met the interdependent production and consumption needs of the weaver and the customer.77 The hand woven blanket was rooted in community in its aesthetics and its manufacture. The horse, groomed not for its own well-being but for its appearance conveyed status on its owner to the rural community. The horse owner invested in their horses by grooming them and purchasing decorative horse blankets. During winter social events, the horse provided an opportunity to show success and wealth when hitching the horse and draping a horse blanket over the horse’s back. The horse, the driving force behind the expansion of nineteenth century North American society was a commodity that was highly valued and controlled.78 The horse, the most elite animal on the farm was an indispensable partner because of its strength, adaptability and beauty.79 Not only was a horse an object of status but a conveyance for status in the form of a decorative horse blanket. The study of nineteenth century horse blankets provides key insights about the degree in which people valued their horses as prestige objects in nineteenth century rural Canada. Understanding the manufacture and social perception of these blankets increase our understanding of the agency of nineteenth century rural people in the creation of status. While the blankets have decorative appeal, the extent of the technical complexity within the extant body of the horse blankets in this study is noteworthy bringing another dimension to the understanding of these blankets as markers of status. 77 The weaver needed the customers pre- and post-weaving skills while the customer needed the expertise of the weaver to produce a textile beyond the customers technical abilities. Many of Camp ell s usto e s o e loth i additio to pu hasi g cloth from Campbell. This indicates that they would turn to Campbell when they required cloth that was beyond their technical capability. Livingston-Lowe, Counting on Customers, 2012: 123, 125, Appendix 1.35, 199. 78 Greene, Horses at Work, 2008: 5, 9. 79 Karen Raber , Treva Tucker., eds. The Culture of the Horse: Status, Discipline and Identity in the Early Modern World. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005: 2. 18 19 Image 1 A reproduction of the horse hood woven by the author and sewn by Susan Fish. The horse hood is modelled by Susan’s horse Argentina. Image 2 Reproduction horse hood. 20 Appendix 1: Weave Structures used in Horse Blankets Floatwork Twill Birds-eye Goose eye Left, Twill Diaper Below, Point Twill 21