Silky Smooth

The Maine Historical Society's October 2008 publication (sorry, I can't find an online link to it) has an article about the history of silk production in Maine written by Jacqueline Field. Close readers of this site may recognize Field as a co-author of American Silk, a book I wrote about last summer. Anyway, the pull-quote from Field's article:

In 1894 when the American Silk Association
commissioned scientific tests to compare the quality of foreign and domestic
silks, the American silks emerged triumphant, shown to have the least
adulteration. Published nationally, the results revealed that the American silks
used in the tests were from the Haskell Silk Company. This put the Westbrook
silk company on the map, associated the name Haskell with quality, and gave the
company a permanent marketing edge.

- John C.L. Morgan

P.S. Tip of the 'ol cap to Suzan Roberts Norton.