Peace Dale Manufacturing Company sign
date: label: Date made
content: mid-19th century
notes: label: Description
content: In the late nineteenth century, this sign hung over the counting room of the Peace Dale Manufacturing Company, a prominent textile manufacturer. The Peace Dale Manufacturing Company began in 1802 and was operated by the Hazard family. Their textile mills found a market producing clothing for enslaved laborers in southern states during the first half of the 19th century. Such clothing was typically made from a coarse and uncomfortable fabric known as “Negro cloth,” using cotton or a cotton-wool blend (Peace Dale varied the materials used according to the wishes of the enslaver). The 1840s were the company’s fastest decade of growth.
label: Description
content: After emancipation, Peace Dale shifted to producing shawls and cashmeres. Beginning in 1878, the company experimented with sharing a portion of their profits with their employees but ended this practice in 1902. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the mills were affected by strikes and economic downturns, and although producing khaki during World War I provided a temporary boost, the company was closed in 1947.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Production and Manufacturing
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of the American Textile History Museum
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2017.0233.03
label: catalog number
content: 2017.0233.03
label: accession number
content: 2017.0233
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Sign
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood, pine (overall material)