Samuel Slater's Spinning Frame
date: label: Date made
content: 1790-1793
name: label: inventor
content: Slater, Samuel
label: inventor
content: Slater, Samuel
notes: label: Description
content: The Smithsonian's first label for Slater's Spinning Frame was written by textiles curator Frederick L. Lewton in 1912 for an exhibition in the United States National Museum in Washington, D.C.:
label: Description
content: "This 48-spindle spinning machine, the oldest piece of cotton machinery in America, was built by Samuel Slater, and first operated by him on December 20, 1790, at Pawtucket, Rhode Island. One hundred years later, 1890, it was lent to the city of Pawtucket for exhibition at the Cotton Centenary, a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the beginning of cotton spinning by power machinery on the Western Hemisphere, and yarn was spun on it by an old man who had tended the spinning frame in the 'Old Slater Mill' when he was a boy. In 1876, it was exhibited at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, and in 1885, was lent by the National Museum for exhibition at the World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition in New Orleans. Presented by the Rhode Island Society For The Encouragement of Domestic Industry."
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Place Made
content: United States: Rhode Island, Pawtucket
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Textiles
label: See more items in
content: Work
label: See more items in
content: Industry & Manufacturing
label: See more items in
content: Textiles
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Nation of Nations, A
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of the Rhode Island Society for the Encouragement of Domestic Industry
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TE.T11197.000
label: catalog number
content: T11197
label: accession number
content: 13137
objectType: label: Object Name
content: spinning frame
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 61 in x 104 in x 36 in; 154.94 cm x 264.16 cm x 91.44 cm