Weaving was truly a cottage industry in Lebanon County, Pa., during the early 19th century. Itinerants traversed the county, setting up looms in private residences as needed to manufacture textiles on site, and some individuals supported looms in their own homes to produce for home consumption or resale. A German settler in the county, Jacob Rohland owned a book containing textiles patterns, presumably to aid him in weaving and perhaps to act as a sample book for potential customers.

Scope and contents:

The Jacob Rohland pattern book contains over 100 patterns for textile weaving. These reflect a range of popular folk designs, ranging from simple geometrical motifs to more complex representations of birds, houses, or flowers. Each pattern is accompanied by the tersest of notes in Rohland's hand, such as "diese gibt eine über aus schön arbeit."

The notes are written exclusively in old-script German, with the exception of an extremely brief note in a later hand written in Hebraic script.

Provenance:

Acquired, 1998.

M-3444
cat. 4/98 rsc

Subject index to the Jacob Rohland Pattern book

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