Greening the Archive with the Samuel Oldknow Papers, 1782-1924

"This exhibition unpacks the Samuel Oldknow Papers, a Columbia Rare Book & Manuscript archive unassumingly described as "the papers of a watermill," that in fact showcases the growing importance of cotton manufacturing to Britain's domestic industry both as a hub for growing international trade and a source of employment that shaped many working people's lives. The Oldknow-Arkwright archive combines the papers of Samuel Oldknow, an English industrialist who was the first large-scale domestic manufacturer of lightweight cotton cloth, and Richard Arkwright, inventor of the spinning frame. The papers--letters, account books, invoices, and payrolls documenting the rise and fall of a cotton empire--provide valuable insight into many facets of the new factory system, including the extension of global trade networks dependent on slave labor and imported cotton and the transformation of local British environments, from waterways, ports and canals to sleepy agricultural towns. "