Apr 16, 2021
We have a number of fantastic volunteers at CHS for the summer, and I am lucky enough to have a few working with me up in the costume collection.
I wrote in my book about how the addition of metallic salts to silk was part of a con job to sell cheap silks as better, and heavier silk. Such silks were known to spontaneously combust in high heats such as attics or ship holds. They also make curators lives difficult because a dress will literally shatter into little pieces. This post by the curators at the Connecticut Historical Society share images of “the heartbreak” of weight silk.