Findings: The Material Culture of Needlework and Sewing

Findings: The Material Culture of Needlework and Sewing by Mary C. Beaudry. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780300110937.

Mary C. Beaudry mines archaeological findings of sewing and needlework to discover what these small traces of female experience reveal about the societies and cultures in which they were used. Beaudrys geographical and chronological scope is broad: she examines sites in the United States and Great Britain as well as Australia and Canada and she ranges from the Middle Ages through the Industrial Revolution.The author describes the social and cultural significance of "findings" pins needles thimbles scissors and other sewing accessories and tools. Through the fascinating stories that grow out of these findings Beaudry shows the extent to which such "small things" were deeply entrenched in the construction of gender personal identity and social class.