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Women in the Archives Research Guide

Other Crafts

An interesting piece of art in Special Collection is the Atwater Letter, which discusses Atwater's work in hand weaving in Montana. It also contains patterns for her work.

Mary Meigs Atwater Letter to H. G. Merriam, 1936 February 5

Mary Meigs Atwater founded a hand loom weavers' guild in Basin, Montana in 1916. She taught weaving and eventually even offered correspondence courses for various designs. In 1936, MSU English professor Harold Guy Merriam contacted Atwater for information on her weaving school. She responded with this letter, which describes her guild, correspondence courses, promotion of weaving for therapeutic work, and familial information. The collection also houses prints of some of Atwater's weaving patterns.