Workshop- Living History: Stories of Silk

Living History: Stories of Silk

Sun, July 31, 2022

10:00 AM – 11:30 AM

Purchase tickets here 

Join us for a hands-on workshop at the GFN Community Farm about silk, the insects and mulberry trees that make it possible, and the rich history of silk production here in Florence during the 19th century.

Entomologist and educator, Faith Deering, will demonstrate silkworm development and the process of reeling silk from cocoons. We will have a chance to examine live silkworms at different stages of growth, mulberry leaves, silk cocoons, and silk textiles as we learn how people have been making silk textiles for centuries. Tom Goldscheider of the David Ruggles Center will speak about the silk production right here in Florence during the 19th century, and the Northampton Association for Education and Industry that ran a worker cooperative to produce silk as an alternative to slave-produced cotton fabric.