An Extraordinary Ordinary Woman: The Journal of Phebe Orvis 1820-1830

We are excited to announce that at the November FiberGuild meeting we will have author Susan Ouellette give a virtual presentation about her book "An Extraordinary Ordinary Woman: Journal of Phebe Orvis 1820-1830".  Please join us for this unique opportunity!

Phebe Orvis lived in a time of transformation. Born into a society not much different from her grandparents’ time, she learned the skills necessary to be a good and productive housewife. But by the time she was a teenager, the development of the first wave of industrialization changed her world. Key to these changes was the shift of textile production from the home to the factory. For Orvis, who lived on the edge of these newfangled developments, this meant incorporating factory produced goods - cotton warp thread and factory woven shirting- into her household and repertoire. In this Orvis became a transitional figure who married older colonial hand skills with the new machine mediated products.

Susan is a professor of history at St. Michael’s College in Vermont.  In this book she sets the stage with background information before presenting Phebe Orvis’ daily journal started in 1820 and continuing for ten years as Phebe transitions from single life to being married and becoming a mother.  During this time, Phebe describes her spinning, dyeing, weaving, sewing, knitting, mending, and quilting, and of course gardening, cooking, candle making, and all the other tasks an ordinary woman needed to do at that time.

The presentation will be via Zoom, and will include a Powerpoint presentation and an opportunity for questions.