Collection contains publications generated by the College of Textiles and its various departments. Materials range in date from 1941 to 2012.
The North Carolina State University College of Textiles is the largest of its kind in the United States, offering one of only two accredited Textile Engineering programs in the country. The COT produces more than half of the textile graduates in the United States each year. Almost 20 percent of the graduates serve as corporate managers, and half of those are either board chairpersons or presidents of their companies. The textile industry is involved with more than producing fabric and apparel. Composites, artificial organs, fireproof materials, tire sections and computer circuit boards are just a few of the modern products in the textile industry. More than 150,000 people have been implanted with a knitted polyester artery developed at the COT. The industry continues to need more college graduates with skills in design, engineering, electronics, chemistry, management, computers, apparel, marketing/sales and quality control. In 1991, the COT moved to the North Carolina State University Centennial Campus, where students learn in state-of-the-art laboratories that are unequalled anywhere in the country. Here, students can participate in the Mars Mission, funded by NASA, where one of the world's only automated, three-dimensional braiding machinery creates space-age fabrics and fibers. Special projects are also being conducted to address environmental issues through the Industrial Electrotechnology Laboratory enabling students to learn about more about energy-efficient systems for manufacturing facilities. Because of the strong emphasis on research, development or management in the textile industry, the COT prepares its students with professional skills to meet the demands of a rapidly changing world. COT students gain strong backgrounds in mathematics and science, and it pays off; almost all the graduates have professional job offers within three weeks of graduation from the COT. Starting salaries for textile graduates are also among the highest on campus.
D. A. Tompkins of Charlotte was one of the most eager advocates for textile education in the South. Tompkins and other community leaders were instrumental in the founding of the textiles department in 1899 at the North Carolina Agricultural and Mechanical College (NC State University). George Franks Ivey taught the first course in textiles in 1899. The next year the college expanded its textiles program; Ivey left and Henry M. Wilson joined the faculty as an instructor in cotton manufacturing. The college offered courses such as carding and spinning, weaving, textile designing, and textile chemistry and dyeing. The courses provided students with specialized expertise to operate mills and use advanced scientific research in the textiles industry.
The original textile equipment was housed in the basement of Holladay Hall. Support for the program grew, and in 1901 the North Carolina General Assembly appropriated $10,000 toward the construction of a textile building. This structure, Tompkins Hall, resembled a textile mill of the period and was completed in early 1902. Thomas Nelson, a young Englishman from the Lowell Textile School in Massachusetts, joined NC State's faculty in 1901 and became department head in 1906 following Wilson's resignation.
On 24 March 1914 Tompkins Hall was almost completely destroyed by fire. With the help of builders and manufacturers, who donated much of the replacement machinery, the textiles program bounced back and by 1919 enrollment reached 154. Meanwhile, the textile industry continued to expand in North Carolina, as mills from the North moved South. The new College of Textiles (School of Textiles) was created out of the School of Engineering at the Board of Trustees meeting on 8 June 1925 and Thomas Nelson was appointed dean of the school.
From 1925 to 1943 students organized style shows to display their fabric designs. Students from local women's colleges participated in the event by creating fashions from fabrics made by NC State students and by modeling for the shows. These popular style shows were held in Pullen Hall. After the show, the audience and contestants visited Tompkins Hall to attend the NC State College Textile Exposition which displayed the latest methods of textile processing from raw material to finished fabrics.
Collection contains announcements, books, brochures, flyers, newsletters, pamphlets and reports produced by the College of Textiles and its constituent units. Materials range in date from 1941 to 2012.
These records have not been processed. Initial materials are arranged alphabetically, additions are arranged in the order recieved.
The nature of the NC State University Libraries' Special Collections means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The NC State University Libraries claims only physical ownership of most Special Collections materials.
The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.
This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which North Carolina State University assumes no responsibility.
[Identification of item], North Carolina State University, College of Textiles Publications, UA 130.200, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC
Transferred from the College of Textiles.
Processed by Lauren E. Garbrick, April 10, 2002, and Hermann Trojanowski, October 29, 2002
Encoded by Steven Mandeville-Gamble, 2006 March 8
Finding aid updated by Cate Putirskis, 2008 May; 2009 January
Researchers may request copies of digital files. The Special Collections Research Center cannot guarantee that all files will open and will not in all cases have software available to read files.
This collection is open for research; access requires at least 48 hours advance notice. Because of the nature of certain archival formats, including digital and audio-visual materials, access to digital files may require additional advanced notice.
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Mailing address:
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[Identification of item], North Carolina State University, College of Textiles Publications, UA 130.200, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC
The nature of the NC State University Libraries' Special Collections means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The NC State University Libraries claims only physical ownership of most Special Collections materials.
The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.
This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which North Carolina State University assumes no responsibility.
