Library materials are traditionally printed on paper; however, hundreds of historic objects at AAS, including broadsides, children's books, and ribbon badges, were printed on textiles. Cloth printings, produced as keepsakes, souvenirs, commemorative objects, and teaching tools, consist of texts and images printed onto silk, muslin, linen, and leather. The AAS collection of cloth printings is fully cataloged online in the General Catalog.
Resources
- Printed Ribbon Badges: An American Antiquarian Society Illustrated Inventory
- From Past-is-Present, "Not Everything That is Printed is on Paper: Survey of Textile Broadsides"
- From Past-is-Present, "Indestructible! How Children’s Books Have Survived the Centuries"
Selected Examples
This gallery provides images showing the range of textile printing made across the United States from Boston to San Francisco during the nineteenth century.
