Object Details
- Description
- Sample of Peruvian full rough raw cotton fiber; Wonalancet Co., NH; 1913. Raw Peruvian Full Rough Cotton, another type of #2 grade, showing same characteristics as highest type in every particular except color. All Peruvian cotton has a slightly creamy tinge but this has enough to throw it out of the highest class and into a special class of its own. Value varies but averaging $0.01 a pound less than highest type. [per 1913 Accession folder information]
- The cost and long supply chain of wool imports into the US (which did not produce enough wool to meet domestic demand during the heyday of the American woolen industry) led manufacturers to explore substitutes and additives. Specific strains of Peruvian and Chinese cotton were exploited for this purpose, as being "wool-like" in staple length and feel.
- The Wonalancet Co. was incorporated in 1905 by Harry Harmon Blunt in Nashua, NH. The company imported cotton from Piura and Lima, Peru, and from China; it was in existence at least into the mid 1970s.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
- date made
- 1913
- Credit Line
- Gift of the Wonalancet Company, Nashua, NH
- Physical Description
- cotton (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 4 1/2 in x 6 in x 11 1/2 in; 11.43 cm x 15.24 cm x 29.21 cm
- Object Name
- raw cotton sample
- cotton fiber sample
