THE JACKSON PROJECT: WAR IN THE AMERICAN WORKPLACE: A MEMOIR

Southern Tufts begins with the bedspreads of Dalton, Georgia, arduously handmade and sold to Floridabound tourists along the “spreadlines” of Dixie Highway (31). Callahan offers a concise synthesis of extant works on the colloquial needlework traditions associated with the Georgia bedspreads, complete with fascinating details on the homegrown distribution networks fueling the trend’s early twentieth-century growth. The unique history of candlewicking itself—the precise term for tufts woven, clipped, and fluffed by hand, as opposed to the more comprehensive industry term, chenille—offers a tantalizing glimpse at too-rarely seen rural economies. The quickly mentioned broader context of the Southern Appalachian craft revival and the colonial revival suggests a jumpingoff place for more in-depth analyses of the phenomenon. The storyline focuses on the subsequent growth in chenille manufacturing and the expansion of crafting networks. With consistent clarity, Callahan distinguishes between the production, design tropes, and styles popular in department stores by the late 1930s and those available along the Georgia spreadlines. Along the way, pullouts feature individual stories of relevant companies. Though potentially visually disruptive to the overall narrative, these ecru-colored pages offer a valuable resource for business historians seeking thorough accounts of the trade in tufted materials. The consumer, including those Floridabound tourists, is not neglected. Liberal details about how both home accents and garments (the latter being the book’s clearest contribution to the topic) found their way to buyers, and the peculiarities of customers’ preferences, demonstrate Callahan’s understanding of the intricacies—and vagaries—of fashionability. Southern Tufts expands what limited perceptions of chenille garments exist—even for those schooled in fashion history—by including examples of the trend’s collision with other fads, including a covetable pair of chenille harem pants, custom-made circa 1940 (86). Formal collection photographs, such as those of the harem pants, and other ample visual details, such as spreadline postcards, found photographs, advertisements, and dress patterns, generously illustrate many of the book’s anecdotes. Well-chosen examples of chenille’s cultural appearances—such as Scarlett O’Hara’s Rosette bedspread at Tara in the 1939 film version of Gone with the Wind, Tracey Ullman’s wardrobe choice for the closing scene of her 1980s television show, and the made-to-order lavender chenille robe made iconic by Brad Pitt in the 1999 film Fight Club—seem to underscore the inherent nostalgic value and class and regional connotations of the material, once again inviting deeper analysis. For the scholar tempted in that direction, this book has laid some basic groundwork. From colonial mimics of candlewick bedspreads to end-of the-twentieth-century chenille robe revivals, Southern Tufts interweaves stories of the tufted trends with details of the challenges of its related businesses. In doing so in a readable and well-decorated way, Callahan appeals both to the casual reader with an interest in southern textiles and national fashion trends, and to the serious scholar looking to apply the material in this unparalleled resource in numerous disciplinary directions.