Hi Susan: It’s explained in the book. They did make white lace in Ipswich (MA) - perhaps even a large amount of white lace - and the original samples sent to Alexander Hamilton comprised 22 samples in black silk and 14 samples in white linen. Unfortunately, the whereabouts of the page of white samples is not known. Only the page of black samples was found in the Library of Congress. The books that have been written about Ipswich lace are based on that page of samples, so they’re all black. (If anybody out there has a page of 14 samples of white linen lace pinned onto 18th-century paper, do let the Smithsonian know. But tell us first ;-)
Adele West Vancouver, BC (west coast of Canada) > On Dec 9, 2017, at 8:46 AM, Susan <[email protected]> wrote: > > Karen was very generous to let me use photos of her Ipswich, MA lace samples > in our library exhibit earlier this year. They were positioned near samples > made by Chris Guarnieri from Karen’s book & they made a nice display. My > question? Why is the Smithsonian Ipswich lace white? From previous > discussions that I recall, Ipswich is black—help! Sincerely, Susan Hottle > USA - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
