First published in 1984, this remains the definitive study of textiles as they were used in early American homes.

American Textile Colossus: The Story of Fall River, Massachusetts, its Cotton Manufacturing Industry, and its People is by Jay J. Lambert, president of the Board of Directors of the Fall River Historical Society. Jay devoted over a decade painstakingly researching and writing this major contribution to the history of the American textile industry. This book can be regarded as a definitive work on the subject. American Textile Colossus is a sweeping saga of Fall River's old cotton textile industry - the mills, the managerial hierarchy, the workforce, and the events and issues that shaped their lives. Documenting the cotton textile industry from the local perspective of Fall River, it is an unpretentious effort to understand the city's role in the industrialization of America.

From Macon to Hawkinsville, the history of Georgia's once thriving textile mills is documented in this visual history. Cotton was once king throughout Georgia. Reconstruction investors and railroad tycoons saw this potential to open textile mills in the South instead of sending cotton up North. Towns across Central Georgia became a prime spot to locate textile mills because of the access to cotton from local farms, cheap labor, and nearby rivers to power the mills. Textile mills were operated in cities and towns across Central Georgia such as Macon, Columbus, Augusta, Tifton, Forsyth, Porterdale, and Hawkinsville, among others. The textile mills provided employment and sometimes a home in their villages to people across Georgia as the agrarian lifestyle gave way to industrial expansion. In these mills, photographer Lewis Hine captured iconic images of child labor. After the decline of production and closing of the mills, many have been revived into new usages that honor the legacy of the mill workers and their families who lived in the villages of the textile mills across Central Georgia.

"This catalogue is published in conjunction with the exhibition An American Style: Global Sources for New York Textile and Fashion Design, 1915-1928 held at the Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture from September 27, 2013 through February 9, 2014."--Title page verso.