THE LOOM MANUAL LIBRARY

The Loom Manual Library of Janet Meany

By Pat Bingham  Stafford, VA

 

Many of us have acquired a loom that has been disassembled and made into pile of sticks. Usually there are no directions for assembly, no photo, and no way to know even if all the parts are there. Maybe the maker’s name is found somewhere in the pile of sticks, but nobody seems to have even heard of the maker. What to do? That’s easy: Contact Nancy Mambi, who is conserving Janet Meany’s massive collection of loom manuals and ephemera through the Textile Center Library, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Janet Meany began assembling her collection of loom manuals, ephemera, and stories in the early 1980s, focusing on the looms and weavings influenced by the region’s many Scandinavian immigrants. She traveled to people’s homes recording the stories behind these handmade looms. She also researched the rag rug looms produced by American manufacturers between the late 1800s through the early 1980s, including the Deen, Union, Newcomb, and Reed loom companies. Later, Janet would travel to guilds and conferences giving lectures on these hand-made and manufactured looms.

Janet and Paula Pfaff met in the early 1980s; together, they wrote “The Rag Rug Handbook” which focuses on weaving plain-weave rag rugs and the histories of the Dean, Union, Newcomb, Reed, and other rag rug loom companies. The book
is still in print and the authors have given the distribution rights to Great Northern Weaving. This book is still considered to be one of the most important additions to every rag rug weaver’s library.

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In 1990 Janet founded “The Weaver’s Friend” a news letter for rug weavers.  In 2015 she passed the newsletter. To Carol Ann Kapheim  now editor of “The Weaver’s Friend 2” who continues her to follow Janet’s intent and philosophy.

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Early in 2020, Paula Pfaff, Nancy Mambi, and Denise Perry began working with Janet to transfer her collection to the Textile Center Library, an effort lead by Nancy in her capacity as the library’s director. The collection is now being conserved, cataloged, and scanned by volunteers at the library. Current plans include posting PDF copies of the collection on the library’s website.

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There are several ways to help support this project which is in the very early stages. 

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• Manuals, photographs, and other ephemera are needed to help complete the collection. Please contact Nancy Mambi, at nmambi@textilecentermn.org or (612)-436-0646, to ask if your materials would help complete the collection. Nancy is at the library twice a week so it may take a few days to receive a response.

• Monetary donations are always appreciated to help defray supply and website costs.

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If you need a manual or have questions you may reach Nancy Mambi in several ways.  

 

By Letter:  Textile Center, 3000 University Ave. Minneapolis, MN 55413.​

By Phone: 612-436-0646

By E-mail  www. nmambi@textilecentermn.org​

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