Ellsworth Fabric Sample Notebook
date: label: date made
content: 1834
label: associated dates
content: 1990 01 19 / 1990 01 19
notes: label: Description
content: Henry Leavitt Ellsworth brought this notebook of sample fabrics from an East Coast manufacturer to Fort Gibson, Oklahoma, during his time as part of the Stokes Commission from 1832 until 1834. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 forced southeastern tribes to the Indian Territory in the West, and Fort Gibson became the home of the commission, whose goal was to pacify the indigenous tribes and create treaties between new tribes during their forced migration.
label: Description
content: Ellsworth explained the books contents on the first page, “The annexed samples were cut from large samples and promised at the manufacturers in the East. These prices are fixed by the manufacturers themselves. A sutler at this post Wm. West has kindly given the prices as sold at this garrison. In the interior they are much higher.” The book was believed to have been assembled to support a bill in front of Congress regulating trade with the Indians. As outlined in the book, cloth sold to the Indians was sold at anywhere between a 48% and 180% markup—one of many unfair trade practices between the settlers and Native Americans. The Ellsworth report used this as an example of the need for regulation to prevent traders from taking advantage of the Native Americans with the prospect of a booming population due to forced migration. The book itself contains fifty samples of eleven different fabric types.
topic: label: Subject
content: Indians
label: Subject
content: Native Americans
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Textiles
label: See more items in
content: Cultures & Communities
label: See more items in
content: American Enterprise
label: Exhibition
content: American Enterprise
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Sewer, Andy; Allison, David; Liebhold, Peter; Davis, Nancy; Franz, Kathleen G.. American Enterprise: A History of Business in America
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1979.0425.183
label: catalog number
content: 1979.0425.183
label: accession number
content: 1979.0425
objectType: label: Object Name
content: sample book, fabric
label: Object Name
content: sample book,
label: Object Name
content: textile sample book
label: Other Terms
content: sample book, fabric; 1834
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: leather (cover material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (book material)
label: Physical Description
content: cotton (49 swatches material)
label: Physical Description
content: cotton/wool (one swatch material)
label: Measurements
content: average spatial: 6 in x 4 in; 15.24 cm x 10.16 cm