Silk Purse from Sows' Ears
name: label: suppliers of raw material for glue
content: Messrs. Wilson & Company of Chicago
label: inventor and founder of arthur d. little, inc.
content: Little, Arthur D.
label: maker
content: Arthur D. Little, Inc.
notes: label: Description
content: The old notion that “you can’t make a silk purse from sows’ ears” refers to the impossibility of turning poor materials into quality products. Arthur Dehon Little, a research chemist in Cambridge, Ma., took up the challenge and announced his success in 1920. Little was a founder of A. D. Little, a technology research and consulting firm that was established in Boston in 1886, and that moved to Cambridge in 1917.
label: Description
content: Ref: Arthur D. Little, A Silk Purse from a Sow’s Ear (Cambridge, Ma., 1921).
label: Description
content: “INVENTIONS WHILE YOU WAIT BY OVERALL CHEMISTS,” Boston Globe (Sept. 19, 1920), p. E1.
label: Description
content: “Now Let’s Reverse Process, Silk Purse, Made from Sow’s Ear, Goes to Museum,” Boston Globe (Oct. 5, 1961), p. 1.
label: Description
content: Jonathan Swift, A Complete Collection of Polite and Ingenious Conversation In Several Dialogues (1738).
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Swine Carcasses
label: Subject
content: Rendering Industry
label: Subject
content: Chemical Industry
label: Subject
content: Pork
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Chemistry
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Arthur D. Little, Inc.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: CH.319082
label: catalog number
content: 319082
label: accession number
content: 236084
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Purse
label: Object Type
content: Chemicals
label: Object Type
content: Purse
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: glue mixture (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: dyed with glycerin (fiber color application)
label: Physical Description
content: woven (purse production technique)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (bands material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1.9 cm x 4.5 cm x 25.4 cm; 3/4 in x 1 3/4 in x 10 in