Needle Arts in Nova Scotian Women's Lives 1752-1938 (Curatorial Report #83)

Abstract

This report was researched and written over nine weeks, in conjunction with planning three traveling exhibits and audiotapes. It is a preliminary study only of an area that has great potential for future research and interpretation. Any analysis suggested by this report is tentative; further study of needlework practises in Nova Scotia is needed to validate or discredit the historical implications suggested here.

This introductory survey of needle arts in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries is based primarily on secondary sources, diaries of Nova Scotian women, and a very superficial assessment of period newspapers, ladies' books, magazines, and manuals. Much of the data regarding women's needlework reflects larger patterns in New England and England, as communicated by secondary sources, while the regional diaries and newspapers confirm certain trends and place the isolated facts within the context of the lives of Nova Scotian girls and women.

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