2_Penland Weavers and Potters records

“The Penland Weavers and Potters grew first out of a dream to revive and perpetuate the native arts and crafts of a mountain community, and secondly out of desire to provide for the people of this mountain community an opportunity of supplementing the products of their small farms with a little cash income.” Bonnie Willis Ford, The Story of the Penland Weavers, circa 1938

Begun in 1924 as the Fireside Industries, the Penland Weavers and Potters was an economic outreach program developed by Lucy Morgan and initially supported by the Episcopal Church. The program focused on the revival of traditional craft skills, especially weaving. Local mountain women were provided training, equipment, and raw materials and Morgan connected them to markets for the sale of the handcrafted goods. The program was under the aegis of the Episcopal diocese until 1937 and continued as an adjunct to Penland School of Handicrafts until 1967.

Morgan met George Coggin, North Carolina State Supervisor of Industrial Education, while she was demonstrating weaving and selling woven goods at the North Carolina State Fair in 1924 and he suggested that the program at Penland would qualify for government funding. According to the provisions of the 1917 Smith-Hughes Act, the weavers would need to have regular training opportunities. In answer, local families helped build the Weaving Cabin, a place where the women would meet every Wednesday to receive instruction, deliver finished work, receive payment, pick up supplies and new orders, and have the opportunity to socialize and share information. The government funding provided Morgan with a salary for her role as vocational instructor until 1953. Four folders of Government reporting records provide excellent documentation of who the local women were, who provided instruction, and the classes that were being offered. This information provides not only important information about the Penland Weavers, but also informs us about the development of the Weaving Institutes and Penland School of Handicrafts.

A particularly colorful moment in the history of the Penland Weavers, was Morgan’s dream of taking goods to the Chicago World’s Fair. She prevailed and drove a Model AA Ford truck with a small log cabin mounted on the bed, the Travelog, to Chicago where goods produced by the Penland Weavers and Potters were sold in both 1933 and 1934. This is purported to be the first time the organization went into the black.

Craft efforts expanded from weaving and pottery, to include pewter and copper work, candle making, basket making, and sachets and balsam pillows. Pottery was discontinued by 1945, shipping expenses and fragility were to blame. Pewter first and then copper became restricted materials due to the war effort. By the 1950s traditional weaving patterns had been adopted to suit suburban household needs: including bridge tablecloths, table sets, cocktail napkins, and simple pieces of clothing with a ‘folksy’ flair.

In 1929 over 70 local women were employed. By the mid-1930s it is documented that 40 households were supported by money earned participating in this program. By 1962, when Lucy Morgan retired, there were only 12 women left involved in craft production and the program ended in 1967. The Penland Weavers and Potters records reflect the ebb and flow of Depression economics, document political support for vocational education, and track material rationing during the Second World War. Many records are missing, with records from 1941 to 1951 representing the bulk of the documentation. However, enough early documentation exists to provide support to the existing narratives.

In the series Program Literature, several editions of Bonnie Willis Fords publication The Story of the Penland Weavers offer an in depth history of this program. Ford’s mother was the first Penland Weaver and Ford was Lucy Morgan’s assistant for decades, and also the manager of the Penland Weavers from the 1930s through to the 1950s. Other program managers were Irene Beaudin, a Canadian weaver and instructor, in the early 1950s and Jessie McKinney, a local Penland resident, in the 1960s.