I was trying to find something else in the Connecticut Historical Society archives, and came across this image of the workmen (and that woman photobombing in the back corner) of the Deep River Lace Company.
http://emuseum.chs.org/emuseum/objects/15588/workers-at-deep-river-lace-company
To see what else was out there about Deep River Lace, I just quickly searched and found this article in the NYT archives:
Talks about a lot of old Leavers equipment and a style called "Rachel lace". Interesting tidbit about the Leaver's machines:
"But it is not entirely dying out. Each of the six huge machines from the Deep River shop weighs 16 tons and stands 9 feet 6 inches tall--a design essentially unchanged from the prototype built by John Leavers, an English lace worker, in 1813. But they are not being decommissioned. Instead the machines will be shipped to Calais, France, where the old ways of lace-making still hold sway and eager apprentices can be found."
The NYT article also references a bit about a similar mill in Rhode Island, "Rhode Island Lace Works in West Barrington" also to close soon, in August of 1990.
Has anyone ever researched any of this? Are there some old newsletter pieces or any local scholars of this around?
