Figured Tapestry: Production, Markets and Power in Philadelphia Textiles, 18551941 [Hardcover]

A study of industrial maturity and decline, focused on the Philadelphia textile trades.Figured Tapestry is a study of industrial maturity and decline, focused on the Philadelphia textile trades from the era of the Knights of Labor through World War II. Scranton assesses the significance and limits of industrial versatility, owner-operated businesses, craft labor and its organizations, and the agglomeration of specialist mills in urban districts.Figured Tapestry is a study of industrial maturity and decline, focused on the Philadelphia textile trades from the era of the Knights of Labor through World War II. Scranton assesses the significance and limits of industrial versatility, owner-operated businesses, craft labor and its organizations, and the agglomeration of specialist mills in urban districts.Focusing on the Philadelphia textile trades from the era of the Knights of Labor through World War II, this book is a study of industrial maturity and decline. The author assesses the significance and limits of industrial versatility, owner-operated businesses, craft labor and its organizations, and the agglomeration of specialized mills in urban districts. An interdisciplinary blend of business, labor, urban, and economic history, industrial geography, and the history of technology, the book illuminates the hidden world of batch production, the other side of American industrialization, and highlights both the benefits and the hazards of flexibility.List of figures; List of tables; Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. Advantage, proprietors, 188693; 3. Inside the mill: flexible production and the family firm; 4. From crisis to crisis, 18931904; 5. Peace and war, 190418; 6. The changing time, 191933; 7. Long nights, false dawns, 193341; 8. Conclusion; Index. [Scranton's] depiction of distinctive production formats and histories for different sectors and areas of the textile industry holds profound implications for understanding not only other American industries and induslD