West Georgia Heritage Textile Trail
Primary Faculty Mentor’s Name
Dr.Ann McCleary
Proposal Track
Student
Session Format
Paper Presentation
Abstract
The West Georgia Heritage Textile Trail (WGTHT) at the University of West Georgia connects regional textile history of thirty-three communities along U.S. Highway 27, from Dalton to Columbus, Georgia, to both locals and visitors. The Textile Trail researches and preserves local textile industry that has left a unique impression upon the communities of west and northwest Georgia. For many in Georgia, textile history is less a story about economics and industry, but rather a story that relates to them personally. Georgia textile, cotton, hosiery, chenille, carpet, and apparel mills employed entire families and working in the textile mill was often seen as a family tradition. The textile industry formed the basis of the economy for many communities and provided jobs to hundreds of men and women.
The Textile Trail project centers on the Georgia regional history that was central to the American textile industry, illustrating the interaction between national industrial and regional history. The stories shared by the WGTHT not only relate to Georgia or the American South, but to a larger story of work and labor in America. The Textile Trail presents the history of all who worked in the mills, including African Americans, women, and children, thus broadening what has been an exclusively white male narrative.
My work with the Textile Trail began spring semester 2015 with the Textile Trail’s on-going Arcadia Book Project. As Book Research Intern, I located and digitized photographs that showcased the textile history in both west and northwest Georgia. In addition, I wrote captions for photographs that were selected for the book. Many of the photographs that I selected were not gathered from an online database, but rather from local repositories. By visiting these local respiratories, I observed the sense of pride that local historians had in their communities’ textile histories. For the historians and locals that shared with me, the textile industry was something that connected the entire community together and created a feeling of solidarity between those who worked and lived near the mills. The textile industry created a shared culture between all those who worked in the mill. From studying the textile industry in Georgia one is able to grasp a sense of how industry can affect the entirety of a community.
Currently, the Textile Trail is updating its website featuring the history of over thirty communities along the Trail as well as creating a membership plan that will best serve its current and entice future memberships.
Keywords
textile, community, regional history
Location
Room 2905
Presentation Year
2015
Start Date
11-7-2015 1:00 PM
End Date
11-7-2015 2:00 PM
Publication Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Recommended Citation
Rodriguez, Heather E., "West Georgia Heritage Textile Trail" (2015). Georgia Undergraduate Research Conference (2014-2015). 40.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gurc/2015/2015/40
West Georgia Heritage Textile Trail
Room 2905
The West Georgia Heritage Textile Trail (WGTHT) at the University of West Georgia connects regional textile history of thirty-three communities along U.S. Highway 27, from Dalton to Columbus, Georgia, to both locals and visitors. The Textile Trail researches and preserves local textile industry that has left a unique impression upon the communities of west and northwest Georgia. For many in Georgia, textile history is less a story about economics and industry, but rather a story that relates to them personally. Georgia textile, cotton, hosiery, chenille, carpet, and apparel mills employed entire families and working in the textile mill was often seen as a family tradition. The textile industry formed the basis of the economy for many communities and provided jobs to hundreds of men and women.
The Textile Trail project centers on the Georgia regional history that was central to the American textile industry, illustrating the interaction between national industrial and regional history. The stories shared by the WGTHT not only relate to Georgia or the American South, but to a larger story of work and labor in America. The Textile Trail presents the history of all who worked in the mills, including African Americans, women, and children, thus broadening what has been an exclusively white male narrative.
My work with the Textile Trail began spring semester 2015 with the Textile Trail’s on-going Arcadia Book Project. As Book Research Intern, I located and digitized photographs that showcased the textile history in both west and northwest Georgia. In addition, I wrote captions for photographs that were selected for the book. Many of the photographs that I selected were not gathered from an online database, but rather from local repositories. By visiting these local respiratories, I observed the sense of pride that local historians had in their communities’ textile histories. For the historians and locals that shared with me, the textile industry was something that connected the entire community together and created a feeling of solidarity between those who worked and lived near the mills. The textile industry created a shared culture between all those who worked in the mill. From studying the textile industry in Georgia one is able to grasp a sense of how industry can affect the entirety of a community.
Currently, the Textile Trail is updating its website featuring the history of over thirty communities along the Trail as well as creating a membership plan that will best serve its current and entice future memberships.
