BEACON BLANKETS Make Warm Friends

BEACON BLANKETS Make Warm Friends

by Jerry and Kathy Brownstein

Subject: Arts and Crafts Movement

Date Published: 2001

Size: 176 pages

From the Inside Cover:

The largest blanket manufacturer under one roof in the United States by 1920 was the Beacon Manufacturing Company, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, and letter of Swannanoa, North Carolina. Cotton, wool, and blended blankets came of their looms in plain geometric, and Indian designs by the millions. They were sold at departments and dry goods stores. Seven million blankets were produced for World War Two.

This book displays a large selection of Beacon blankets and color catalog pages from 1917 to 1957, together with original blanket designs, a history of the company, advertisements, and Bacon labels. There are special selections on crib blankets, bathrobes using Beacon fabric, related blankets, and Skookum Indian dolls dressed in Beacon remnants.

Today these blankets are diligently searched for by collectors of folk art and textiles because they represent a nearly-lost chapter in textile history and bring style and color to interior decoration.