American Textile History Museum
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| Established | January 1960 |
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| Dissolved | June 14, 2016 |
| Location | Lowell, Massachusetts |
| Coordinates | 42°38′30″N 71°19′00″W / 42.6417°N 71.3168°W |
| Public transit access |
MBTA Lowell |
| Website | www |
The American Textile History Museum (ATHM), located in Lowell, Massachusetts, was founded as the Merrimack Valley Textile Museum (MVTM) in North Andover, Massachusetts in 1960 by Caroline Stevens Rogers. ATHM tells America’s story through the art, science, and history of textiles. It was announced in June 2016 that the museum was closing.
In 1958, Caroline Stevens Rogers, a member of a textile industry family and a hand weaver and dyer, came into possession of her father’s collection of over 50 spinning wheels in various stages of collapse and a truck load of heavy beams (the disassembled parts of antique hand looms) as well as dozens of reels, winders, skarnes, raddles, and niddy-noddies. This collection had been cultivated over a 50-year period by her father, Samuel Dale Stevens (1859–1922). Caroline’s husband, Horatio Rogers, a retired doctor, restored many of the pieces.
By the spring of 1958 Caroline was thinking of ways to use her father’s collection of early cloth-making equipment, and, when named as President of the North Andover Historical Society, she decided to add the collection to the holdings of the Society. In 1959, J. Bruce Sinclair became the first Director of the North Andover Historical Society, and he proposed that a regional textile museum be established. He wanted its central concern to be wool and materials for its exhibits to be collected from all over the Merrimack Valley.
At the first meeting of the Advisory Board in January, 1960, those present agreed that the scope of the MVTM should not be limited to a specific geographic area nor by specific chronological dates. This meant that geographical and chronological boundaries would be considered less important than the natural boundaries limited only by the significance of the subject matter. In May, 1960, plans for a new building to house the MVTM began. It was completed by the summer of 1961. 18,000 square feet (1,700 m2) of floor space was divided almost evenly among the exhibit, study collection, and administrative areas. As the MVTM became a reality, the staff also grew. In January, 1961 Sinclair hired a secretary, a curator joined the staff in March, and a librarian was added in August.
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