Arthur A. Allen Folding Loom Historical Documents

         I am SO excited.  I sold the loom to a good friend and hand-spinner, so I know it will be well loved.  That is not really why I am SO excited though.  I am SO excited because the good friend and hand-spinner from whom I bought the loom originally is moving to Portland.  That part is sad, but leads to the exciting moment of her finding the paper-work about the Arthur A. Allen Folding Loom which she had promised to give me when she sold me the loom originally.

          It is funny as well as exciting because there seems to be a  history of delaying the forwarding of these documents--she handed them to me in an envelope addressed to her from the then previous owner with a note that says:

     I will have to include a similar note to the new owner! But FIRST I am going to scan and document these things, because when I searched the inter-webs I found nada/zilch/nuffin about these looms except for other people asking for information about them.  

    I think THIS note was from the previous, previous (previous) owner.  Susan Lilly still has a website, at weavingroom.com which I am going to go check out a little more closely very soon to read about her garment construction books, but back to the note:

       I visited the Historic Looms of America Website just now. While they do have much worthwhile information about historic looms, they do not have any information on the Arthur A. Allen Loom posted. I imagine it is just too small a company to have been prioritized as of yet. Hence, I am going to attempt to scan it for you.* I will do it page by page, as I think it will be too small to see in its adorable original 7" x 11" folded into thirds size.  

 

 

 

It really just explains how to warp it.  The rest is up to you. Hurrah!  Golly gee, it never occurred to me to fold it to make reaching the heddles easier while warping.

I have been saving the best for last.  Well, actually I am saving the best until I can go to the library tomorrow and see if I can find this on microfilm to get a complete copy.  This article appears to have appeared in the Sunday Oregonian Magazine in August 1944.  The last bit is missing front this copy, and it is pretty poorly reproduced here, so let's cross our fingers and just check out this teaser:

Hurrah, indeed! 

Hmm just found this link to Popular mechanics as well. Now, there's a rabbit hole....

*No copyright infringement at all is intended.  I suspect I am in the clear, as this is pretty old, and I am surely not making any money from this, but thought I should mention that.