The history
of laundry and clotheslines is fascinating. Learn more here and
let us know if we are missing something important.
Washday
The old way of washing and drying
took a long time and some elbow grease.
Laundry Art
There are thousands and thousands of
artists who have capitalized on the clothesline as a compelling
image. We have created a gallery of some of these paintings,
sculptures, and photographs in the
Gallery section section of our
site.
Photography and paintings, sculpture
and other artwork by Claes Oldenburg, Pierre-Auguste Renoir,
Pietro Longhi, Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Sabra Field, Mary Azarian, and
Josef Albers can all be seen at
our gallery.
 Some Clothespin
History
In December 2002, Richard Penley
turned off the machines at the Penley Corp. clothespin plant in
West Paris, laying off 39 of the company's 54 employees. Penley
now imports and distributes clothespins - the very ones he used to
compete against - as well as wooden matches, toothpicks, plastic
straws and cutlery.
Penley, whose company was started
in 1923 by his grandfather and his two brothers, said this is an
"evolutionary time" for Maine's wood product industry.
"The small family-owned, secondary
wood processing companies are dying off," he said. (Source:
Montana Associated Technology Roundtables)
The Better Clothespin in
American Heritage (Fall 2006, Volume 22, Issue 2)
COOL CLOTHESPIN
FACT
In 1908
and again in 1926 the Patent Office transferred thousands of
patent models to the Smithsonian, including these clothespins.
Clothespin patent models, 1852-87.
Between 1852 and 1887, the Patent Office granted patents to
146 different clothespins. |
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