LEWISTON — The popularity of “The Art of the Bates Bedspread,” a well-attended exhibit by Museum L-A’s guest curator in 2016-17 showcasing the many designs involved in the making of the famous local product, indicated it was time to publish a book about Bates Mill as a local global economic engine and leader in design and fashion.

“Textiles & Designs: Bates Mill 1930-1990” presents the first comprehensive study of Bates Manufacturing’s mid- to late-20th century woven and printed textiles. In time for the holiday season, author Jacqueline Field will be at Museum L-A from 3 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 12, to sign her book, which has over 200 illustrations that highlight designs, fabrics, advertising strategies and mill stories. Aspects of the individual textiles, including technical innovations and patent awards, are explored and, where relevant, human interest mill stories are interwoven.

“Jacqueline Field helped us fulfill our mission of honoring and memorializing the mill workers who, most with little education, were very creative and innovative as they worked to build an amazing community,” said Rachel Desgrosseilliers, founding executive director. “Museum L-A is proud to validate their work and their lives.”

Various home and fashion fabrics that made Bates a national household name in the post-World War II decades are explored in the book. These textiles provide a valuable record and constitute a monument to Lewiston’s last generations of mill workers. Field tours many of Bates’ products — from woolly lambs to astronauts and the moon landing — and the brilliant marketing strategies employed. She shares a teaser in a story she unearthed in the Bates Company records, when in 1942 Bates produced the “Midway” bedspread commemorating the Battle of the Midway. The U.S. fleet of aircraft carriers, bombers and battleships defended the atoll and defeated the Japanese fleet.

Textile historian Diane Affleck Fagan remarked, “Using corporate records, factory-floor pictures and a wealth of promotional materials, Jacqueline Field’s book, ‘Textiles and Designs: Bates Mill 1930-1990,’ tells a fascinating story about the Bates mills and their products. While she details the company’s history and its evolution from a thriving New England textile manufacturer to its eventual demise, the real richness of the book is in the images and Field’s narrative about the Bates textiles themselves and the company’s advertising campaigns.”

Field is a textile and dress historian. Born and educated in Scotland, she studied textiles at Edinburgh College of Art, began her career as a textile designer in Manchester, England, and is now a long-time U.S. resident in Portland. After a long college career teaching textile subjects, she devotes most of her time to researching and writing about textiles.

“Textiles & Designs: Bates Mill 1930-1990” is available in softbound and hardbound books and can be purchased and signed by the author on Dec. 12. It can also be purchased in the museum’s gift shop during regular business hours. Copies can be reserved by calling 207-333-3881 or online at www.museumla.org. All proceeds from the sale of the book go directly toward the museum’s programming and exhibits. The cost of publishing the book has been covered by a grant from the Coby Foundation as well as a gift from an anonymous donor.

Museum L-A is in the Bates Mill Complex, 35 Canal St.; enter the parking lot at 36 Chestnut St. Hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays. For more information, email info@museumla.org.

Copy the Story Link