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Textile and Apparel Resources In the 19th Century South: Columbus, Georgia 1850–1891
Author(s) -
Ulrich Pamela V.,
Duffield Frances J.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
home economics research journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.372
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1552-3934
pISSN - 0046-7774
DOI - 10.1177/1077727x8301200111
Subject(s) - clothing , newspaper , extant taxon , textile , business , advertising , engineering , history , archaeology , evolutionary biology , biology
The objectives of this historical study were to investigate resources available to meet clothing needs of men and women in Columbus, Georgia, an important center of the southern textile industry, between 1850 and 1891. The resources examined were products of Columbus textile mills; retailers of clothing fabrics and ready‐to‐wear garments and goods sold by them; and establishments and/or individuals assembling custom‐made clothing. Data sources were newspapers, city directories, and extant business records. A comparison of the number of newspaper advertisements for clothing fabrics and ready‐to‐wear garments in both Columbus and New York City was made to measure any relationship between a southern city and a major metropolis. Major findings were: (1) the assortment of textiles manufactured in Columbus expanded and included clothing fabrics marketed there; (2) a narrower assortment of fabrics was advertised in Columbus than in New York City, but fine fabrics were available in Columbus (The measured relationship between the two cities in terms of clothing fabrics and ready‐to‐wear was minimal; only a few types of ready‐to‐ wear garments advertised in New York City were never advertised in Columbus.); (3) fabrics and/or ready‐to‐wear were sold in general stores, and in dry goods, merchant tailors and men's clothing specialty stores; (4) the number of sources of custom‐made clothing increased for women, but remained almost constant for men.