Museums in the US & Canada:
- Boot Cotton Mill and Museum (Lowell, MA)
- Mission Mill Museum (Salem, OR)
- Museum of Work & Culture (Woonsocket, RI)
- Slater Mill (Pawtucket, RI)
- Windham Textile and History Museum (Willimantic, CT)
- The Cotton Museum (Memphis, TN)
- Mississippi Valley Textile Museum (Almonte, Ontario, Canada)
Museums in the UK:
- Helmshore Mills Textile Museum (Helmshore, Lancashire, England)
- Museum of Ayrshire Country Life & Costume (Kilwinning, Scotland)
- Nottingham Industrial Museum (Nottinghamshire, England)
- Quarry Bank Mill (Cheshire, England)
- Queen Street Mill (Burnley, Lancashire, England)
Museums in Europe:
Almgren Silk Museum (Almgren Sidenväveri)
Stockholm, Sweden
The only remaining mill north of the alps, the K.A Almgren silk weaving mill was Scandinavias largest workplace for women for a couple of decades, and the same family produced silk here during five generations. Silk is still produced on 170 year old Jacquard looms (mostly commissions for royal palaces), and the museum provides the history of silk production, its cultural heritage in Sweden, and weaving demonstrations.
Sjølingstad Woollen Mill (Sjølingstad Uldvarefabrik)
part of the Vest-Agder Museums in Lindenes, Norway
Established in 1894, this woolen mill produced yarn and fabrics sold in great parts of southern Norway until 1984. Today yarn, fabrics and blankets are produced on the old machinery, driven by our water power station with a 1913 turbine. Guided tours provides the history of the mill, and follows the production line from raw wool to finished fabrics.
Bielsko-Biala Museum and Castle
Bielsko-Biala, Poland
The Bielsko-Biała Museum includes the Julian Fałat’s Villa, The Museum of Textile Technology, Museum of Technology and Textile Industry, and the Weaver’s House, showcasing elements of the old textile factory – the treatment mill, weaving mill and finishing mill. A separate unit consists of machines for making hats. Reconstruction of the interior of a weaver’s house and workshop owned by a guild master underlies the exhibition housed in the Weaver’s House. Its arrangement is an attempt to bring closer the living and working conditions in a house of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. A hall splits the house into two major sections – workshop on the left of the entrance and living quarters on the right, with a kitchen and a bedroom. The Weaver’s House reveals an original example of the former wooden town housing. It is a unique attempt to show craftsman’s work, fully shaped by strong guild’s position.
Central Museum of Textiles (Centralne Muzeum Włókiennictwa)
Lódz, Poland
This museum concentrates on everything related to textile manufacturing process – from materials, textile techniques and technologies, to textiles products representing various processes. Apart from textiles they also collect other non-textiles fibres, including felts, knitting, and contemporary artworks created from paper (because linen and cotton “end” their lives in paper mills). Collections are gathered, scientifically elaborated, conserved and, in various forms, displayed by the specialized thematic departments of the museum.
Click here for a 1-page printable list of these museums
check back soon for more links, photos and updates!