Book Review: Cotton and Thrift

 

Another title on my deep-dive du jour, feed sack textiles: Cotton and Thrift: Feed Sacks and the Fabric of American Households, by Marian Ann J. Montgomery. This title accompanied and exhibit of the same name which ran at the Museum of Texas Tech University in 2019.

It's clear from this book that the Museum at TTU has an extensive and impressive collection of feed sack swatches, garments, artifacts, and ephemera, as well as secured the loan of some extraordinary relevant items. The catalogue has a more concise history and direction to its presentation of "the feed sack story" than the McCray text I also read/reviewed recently. I said in that review that if you could only get one book on feed sack textiles, that would be it, but I amend that statement--if you want a quicker look into the topic than a 500+ page book, this is a great introduction and comprehensive survey of the "feed sack phenomenon" in the realm of American midcentury domestic textiles.

And in fact, this larger-dimension book is easier to hold, peruse, and read than the smaller/thicker McCray text. Because it's an exhibit catalogue, it might actually be more challenging to find a copy though.

Filled with full color photos as well as an appendix of the TTU feed sack swatch collection and an excellent bibliography.