Jun 22, 2017 by Greta Bahnemann
The Minnesota Digital Library is excited to announce a new addition to the collection of the Weavers Guild of Minnesota. In addition to a series of photographs on weaving show and exhibitions, the contribution also includes Weaving Guild minutes, notes, and correspondence. These materials document the activities of the Guild during World War II as well as the 1950s and 1960s.
The Weavers Guild of Minnesota (WGM) was founded in 1940 to foster and promote fiber arts with emphasis on weaving, spinning, and dyeing. Among its activities, it provides educational resources to lifelong learners, researchers, textile historians, and historians in the fields of arts and crafts and American handweaving. WGM maintains the country’s largest library of weaving-related materials, searchable online.The Guild’s collection of letters, cards, photographs, swatches, and material dating from 1940 to 1967 from its first president, Hilma Berglund (1886-1972), relates to the founding of the Twin Cities Weavers Guild (the original name of WGM), the guild-sponsored Weaving Institutes held at the University of Minnesota 1940-45, Berglund’s weaving designs and loom inventions, and her professional life as it influenced and enriched the arts and crafts in Minnesota.
