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The Survival of Handloom Weaving in Rural Canada Circa 1870

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2009

Kris Inwood  and
Phyllis Wagg
Kris Inwood
Affiliation:
University of Guelph, Guelph, CanadaN1G 2W1.
Phyllis Wagg
Affiliation:
Dalhousie University, Halifax, CanadaB3H 3J5.
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Abstract

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Handloom weaving with a mixture of wool and cotton yarn was common in late nineteenth-century Canada. The hand technology survived using industrial inputs and part-time female labor whose opportunity cost was relatively low in rural areas. The demand for homespun was income-sensitive and reinforced by the cold Canadian climate. The patterns of weaving by men and women differed, but both produced for the market in addition to home consumption. Cloth constituted a significant share of farm production, especially in low-income areas.

Type
Papers Presented at the Fifty-Second Annual Meeting of the Economic History Association
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 53 , Issue 2 , June 1993 , pp. 346 - 358
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1993

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