Wool: Unraveling an American Story of Artisans and Innovation, Peggy Hart

Wool: Unraveling an American Story of Artisans and Innovation offers a vivid, richly photographed survey of the role wool has played in shaping American life over four hundred years. From colonial farms and Native American weaving to industrial mills and 20th-century marketing campaigns, Peggy Hart traces the fibre’s journey through technology, labour, migration and culture.

The narrative pivots elegantly between macro-histories and personal vignettes: sheep herds driven across the frontier, workers in woollen mills, and the consumer’s relationship with the material—from home knitwear to warm blankets. With more than a hundred photographs, this is a book that honours wool not just as cloth, but as living, breathing intersection of craftsmanship, innovation, and identity.

About the Author
Peggy Hart is both artist and historian—her practice includes weaving, teaching and research. Drawing from her background as a production weaver, she bridges lived material knowledge with archival storytelling. Her perspective is grounded in hands-on experience: she has worked with sheep, fibre, loom and market, and this textile literacy animates her social and technological histories.

Publication date: 2017
Publisher: Schiffer Publishing
Pages: 192
ISBN: 9780764354311