Just a bit of crafting history...

Today I thought I'd just share a passage from a book I'm reading for class right now. I'm taking a Women in American History class and reading a book about Irish Immigration called Erin's Daughters in America I've been dragging my feet about reading it but now that I've gotten past the part about statistics and the potato famine it's gotten interesting.

"Contractors paid women cash for knitting, weaving, lacemaking, and sewing for several decades after the Famine. From the 1870s to the 1890s in places like Donegal (which sent a large portion of it's residents to the United States) these kinds of activities for women throve. One American visitor noticed that at "land meetings it was common to see in the crowd women intent on the speaker's words while their needles flashed in the sunlight"
(Diner pg 26)

With my interest in Women's history and art I've read my fair share about women throughout history and fiber arts and I always find it fascinating! When I come across passages like this I'm going to try to start writing them down, after all, this is the history of our craft and considering how many people have relatives who came from Ireland this is a piece of their history.

♥ Freckled Crafts