May 5, 2020

"Tengujo can be made so thin that, at a certain point, it is too insubstantial for even the most gentle, decorative uses."

"At the width of a couple of kozo fibers, the paper becomes as thin as the wings of a mayfly. Only one use remains then: paper conservation. Trying to aggressively mend a document is risky because long-term chemical and physical effects are highly variable and relatively unknown. 'The more and more I am in this field, I feel that I should do less and less,' Ms. Choi said. So, as far as reinforcement material goes, the thinner the better.... The width of this thinnest tengujo is the same as the diameter of a single kozo fiber: 0.02 millimeters.... Slicing a 3-millimeter strip of Hidaka Washi tengujo with an ethanol-activated adhesive brushed onto one side, Ms. Choi gently covered an imperfection in Pinckney’s yellowing page. With a little push, the papers melted into each other. From a normal reading distance it looked as if nothing had been done, but under close examination you could see tiny strands of kozo gripping onto the ink....."

From "The Thinnest Paper in the World" (NYT).

Kozo is material — stems — from mulberry trees.

Choi is Soyeon Choi, "the head paper conservator at the Yale Center for British Art."

Pinckney is Eliza Pinckney, who was "a prominent American agriculturalist" and who wrote that letter in 1753.



From her Wikipedia article:
Eliza was 16 years old when she became responsible for managing Wappoo Plantation and its twenty slaves, plus supervising overseers at two other Lucas plantations, one inland producing tar and timber, and a 3,000 acres (12 km2) rice plantation on the Waccamaw River. In addition she supervised care for her extremely young sister, as their two brothers were still in school in London. As was customary, she recorded her decisions and experiments by copying letters in a letter book. This letter book is one of the most impressive collections of personal writings of an 18th-century American woman. It gives insight into her mind and into the society of the time.

From Antigua, [her father] Col. Lucas sent Eliza various types of seeds for trial on the plantations. They and other planters were eager to find crops for the uplands that could supplement their cultivation of rice. First, she experimented with ginger, cotton, alfalfa and hemp. Starting in 1739, she began experimenting with cultivating and improving strains of the indigo plant, for which the expanding textile market created demand for its dye. When Col. Lucas sent Eliza indigofera seeds in 1740, she expressed her "greater hopes" for them, as she intended to plant them earlier in the season. In experimenting with growing indigo in new climate and soil, Lucas also made use of knowledge and skills of enslaved Africans who had grown indigo in the West Indies and West Africa.

After three years of persistence and many failed attempts, Eliza proved that indigo could be successfully grown and processed in South Carolina. While she had first worked with an indigo processing expert from Montserrat, she was most successful in processing dye with the expertise of an indigo-maker of African descent whom her father hired from the French West Indies.

Eliza used her 1744 crop to make seed and shared it with other planters, leading to an expansion in indigo production. She proved that colonial planters could make a profit in an extremely competitive market. Due to her successes, the volume of indigo dye exported increased dramatically from 5,000 pounds in 1745–46, to 130,000 pounds by 1748.[4] Indigo became second only to rice as the South Carolina colony's commodity cash crop, and contributed greatly to the wealth of its planters. Before the Revolutionary War, indigo accounted for more than one-third of the total value of exports from the colony....

This letter book is one of the most complete collections of writing from 18th century America and provides a valuable glimpse into the life of an elite colonial woman living during this time period. Her writings detail goings on at the plantations, her pastimes, social visits, and even her experiments with indigo over several years. Many scholars consider this letter-book extremely precious because it describes everyday life over an extended period of time rather than a singular event in history....
There's a Pinckney Street in Madison, Wisconsin because of her son, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, who was one of the founders of the United States Constitution.

You can read some excerpts from Eliza Pinckney's letter book here. Example (from May 1742):
Wont you laugh at me if I tell you I am so busey in providing for Posterity I hardly allow my self time to Eat or sleep and can but just snatch a minnet to write you and a friend or two now. I am making a large plantation of Oaks which I look upon as my own property, whether my father gives me the land or not; and therefore I design many years hence when oaks are more valueable than they are now — which you know they will be when we come to build fleets.  I intend, I say 2 thirds of the produce of my oaks for a charity (I'll let you know my scheme another time) and the other 3rd for those that shall have the trouble of putting my design in Execution. I sopose according to custom you will show this to your Uncle and Aunt. “She is [a] good girl,” says Mrs. Pinckney. “She is never Idle and always means well.” “Tell the little Visionary,” says your Uncle, “come to town and partake of some of the amusements suitable to her time of life.” Pray tell him I think these so, and what he may now think whims and projects may turn out well by and by. Out of many surely one may hitt. . .

49 comments:

rhhardin said...

I have four shelves full of Coleridge's writings, almost none of it about life in the 1800s but about ideas about develoopments and what's going on. It comes of not being scatterbrained.

Earnest Prole said...

Wait, rhhardin, I thought you reliably promised women were nothing but fucktoys.

Todd said...

Now THAT was interesting! The wonders of the modern, helping to preserve the past!

Oso Negro said...

We've come a long way, baby. The average 16-year-old American girl is probably challenged to microwave a frozen pizza.

David Begley said...

She and her family owned slaves. How can the NYT even punish a favorable story about them? 1619 Project..

rhhardin said...

Sappho was good.

A peer of the gods he seems to me, the man who sits over against you face to face, listening to the sweet tones of your voice and the liveliness of your laughing; it is this that sets my heart fluttering in my breast. For if I gaze on you but for a little while, I am no longer master of my voice, and my tongue lies useless, and a delicate flame runs over my skin. No more do I see with my eyes, and my ears are filled with uproar. The sweat pours down me, I an seized with trembling, and I grow paler than the grass. My strength fails me, and I seem little short of dying.

Sappho, cited by Longinus, On the Sublime, ch. 10, trans T.S.Dorsch.

rhhardin said...

Among modern women worth reading, Vicki Hearne. Guys will like it. Women mostly will be puzzled. Adam's Task, Bandit, Animal Happiness. Ignore idiot cover blurbs, they're written by puzzled women who can't figure out what is going on.

rhhardin said...

There's a large historical gap of several thousand years with no women worth reading, as far as I can tell.

Ann Althouse said...

rh is going full rh this morning

you never go full rh

h said...

Knowing what I know about Madison politics, I have reason to doubt there is a street in the city named in honor of a slave owner. I am reliably informed that the city itself is named after the bank robber James Madison. "He robbed 17 banks of $81,000, each time wearing a different hat. His hats included a hunting cap, a knit ski cap, a St. Louis Cardinals cap and a Texas Longhorns cap." [quote from Wikipedia]

rhhardin said...

How great would Althouse be if she understood male reasoning. Read Vicki Hearne and notice that she adds to what is missing in male thought, in a way undermining the whole thing and in a way leaving it standing.

Or you can go the scatterbrained route.

John Borell said...

That was a fascinating read, thanks Professor. Interesting the things people are capable of. Then and now. Some hope is refreshing.



rhhardin said...

Guys abstract from details to get at a universally applicable structure. Vicki Hearne adds back details that are ones that shouldn't have been abstracted away because they matter in general. That undermines that particular structure so that it hardly applies any longer to anything.

She agrees with the process but the process has to be right.

rhhardin said...

Immanuel Kant proposed a distinction between human beings and animals at the opening of a longish essay on education. He said that baby animals, unlike baby humans, don't cry, because if they did, some wolf or wild animal would get them. But they do cry, of course, and quite often a wolf or even a wild animal does get them, and I do not bring this up to be disrespectful of the mighty dead, but to suggest that most of the time when a philosopher starts a discussion by distinguishing between people and animals, it is prudent to skip that part.

A philosopher's mistakes about animals are like anyone's mistakes about animals, of no real significance unless something follows from them, but when something does follow from them it is wise to watch carefully, because mistakes with things following from them can be tricky guides.

- Vivki Hearne _Animal Happiness_ "Wittgenstein's Lion" p.167

iowan2 said...

That part of anthropology is often ignored. How early people moved about the planet and what was important. Water, food, wealth creation. We see that in these writings. Water she had no concern for, in the Carolina's. Food basic was rice, supplemented by fish. While they had personal gardens, things that could be stored, long "shelf life" staples, Then wealth creation. Oaks to build ships, Indigo was one of those rewards realized by taking a risk. Your short excerpt doesn't include all of her failures. All of this advancement and forward thinking without experts or government. hmmm?

Michener's Hawaii, chronicles islanders around Bora Bora, trekking to the unknown destination of Hawaii, and all of the plants and animals brought along to provide sustenance, IF they made a destination. He goes on the chronicle the importation of things like Pineapple, and the continuing quest for just the right balance of sweet to sour.

David Begley said...

1793 - President George Washington served as a pallbearer at her funeral at St. Peter's Church, in Philadelphia where she had traveled for treatment.

Eliza Lucas Pinckney was way more important to America than Joe Biden. She created the indigo industry, managed a big business and raised fine children. Also way smarter than Biden.

Howard said...

If althaus understood male reasoning should have just be another dumb f*** like shouting Thomas. Besides it's always nice to be able to surprise your girl because they can't figure out how you can decipher a complex situation with simple tinkertoy/Erector set models. If they could do it they wouldn't need us.

Ann Althouse said...

"How great would Althouse be if she understood male reasoning..."

Sung to the tune of "How Great Thou Art."

gilbar said...

confusing!
She was a SLAVE OWNER... SO, MUST BE DAMNED AND IGNORED!
but!
She was a FEMALE... SO, MUST BE PRAISED AND VENERATED!

decisions decisions

Ann Althouse said...

"undermining the whole thing and in a way leaving it standing"

Let the record show that I did not introduce the topic of erections.

West Texas Intermediate Crude said...

"...her son, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, who was one of the founders of the United States Constitution."
I know that the Constitution is foundering now, but did Mr Pinckney found it?
One of the writers? One of the authors?
He helped to found a form of government. Does one found a document?
/pedant.

Lurker21 said...


"Agriculturalist" or "planter"... like we don't know what that means.

rhhardin said...

Agricola, the first soft drink.

Fernandinande said...

Those interested in such writing might enjoy
Early western travels, 1748-1846
Compiled edited by Reuben Gold Thwaites, although the books (34 volumes at the Denver library, dunno what subset of that they're presenting here - it's for sale on Amazon) are scanned, there's some poorly formatted text, e.g.

"Journal 22d. Crossed Alleghany Hill & came to the Clear Fields, 16 Miles.13 23d. Came to the Shawonese Cabhins, 34 Miles. 24th. Found a dead Man on the Road who had killed himself by Drinking too much Whisky; the Place being very stony we cou'd not dig a Grave; He smelling very strong we covered him with Stones & Wood & went on our Journey; came to the 10 Mile Lick, 32 Miles. 25th. Crossed Kiskeminetoes Creek & came to Ohio that Day, 26 Miles."

"This Day news came to Town that the Six Nations were on the point of declaring War against the French, for reason the French had Imprison'd some of the Indian Deputies. A Council was held & all the Indians acquainted with the News, and it was said the Indian Messenger was by the way to give all the Indians Notice to make ready to fight the French.20 This Day my Companions went to Coscosky, a large Indian Town about 30 Miles off.21 30th. I went to Beaver Creek, an Indian Town about 8 Miles off, chiefly Delawares, the rest Mohocks, to have some Belts of Wampum made"

daskol said...

You know what they say. Green thumb, blue balls.

john said...

Mary Chestnut was a also competent complex woman in charge of a slave plantation while her husband was off fighting for the confederacy. They say Diary from Dixie had an undertone of a closet abolitionist, something I didnt see but suspect those others wanted her to be that to make her palatable. No need, she is worth reading on her own terms. Amazon has a half dozen books about Eliza Pinckney and I look forward to reading one. Thanks, professor, for posting this.

Dave Begley said...

She wrote to her father that she felt her "education, which [she] esteems a more valuable fortune than any [he] could have given [her], … Will make me happy in my future life."[5]

William said...

That portrait looks idealized and like it came from the 19th and not 18th century. She certainly doesn't look burdened by weighty responsibilities. Perhaps a blue shirt or scarf would have been more appropriate attire.

Dave Begley said...

Eliza wrote, "to make a good wife to my dear Husband in all its several branches; to make all my actions Correspond with that sincere love and Duty I bear him… I am resolved to be a good mother to my children, to pray for them, to set them good examples, to give them good advice, to be careful both of their souls and bodies, to watch over their tender minds."

To watch over their tender minds. Now there's a goal worthy of today's women. And note well the prayer aspect.

She's my new Revolutionary War hero.

Dave Begley said...

I just might write a Broadway musical about this woman and her family. Title? Eliza!

rcocean said...

Fascinating. I'll have to read her letters. BTW, she was the mother of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney - who helped write the Constitution.

rcocean said...

"Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation 1838-1839" by Frances Anne Kemble gives a different view of Plantation life.

Dave Begley said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dave Begley said...

lynn:

You must understand Eliza Lucas Pinckney within the context of the times. Slave owning was common in SC at the time and throughout the South. What was not common was an educated young woman who ran a large business and then went on to raise fine children and one of them was a Founding Father.

George Washington, the Father of his country, thought so highly of her and her family that he was a pall bearer at her funeral. A great woman!

Jupiter said...

"I'm not for reparations, but I'm not into calling slaveowners "heros", no matter their gender."

Load it up and cart it off.

Lurker21 said...

I don't think it was so much that Mary Chestnut was a closet abolitionist, as that she had reasons for resenting how male slaveowners behaved towards their female slaves and towards their wives and families - maybe "closet feminist" might be closer to the mark. Someone could feel qualms about that without explicitly opposing the institution of slavery itself.

We judge 19th century Americans based on whether they cared about the slaves and wanted them to be free, but for many of them slavery wasn't about the slaves, but about the power of the masters and whether that was consistent with ideas of liberty, democracy, and decency. Not that it was political for Chestnut or that she was going to do anything about it, but she had her feelings and wrote about them in her diary.

mikee said...

I am intrigued by the phrase "an indigo-maker of African descent whom her father hired from the French West Indies," as it elides the race of the man, probably because he was black and apparently free. I, for one, would have been damn careful about going to South Carolina as a black man in that era.

traditionalguy said...

The great seaport of Charles Town, soon pronounced Charleston, was long the most elegant example of the British culture transplanted to the continent. Quite a strange way of life compared to the rest of the colonies. The women ran the townhouse and the plantation house being directly in command of their large slave work forces , thus freeing their aristocrat men to be playboys. But eventually railroads supplanted the Atlantic seaports. In any event Sherman’s Army took special revenge on South Carolina. Georgia got off easy.

Jupiter said...

Rather than casting your judgment upon Eliza Pinckney, who has gone where your malice and ignorance cannot reach her, perhaps you might speculate as to which aspect of your miserable existence the future will find most execrable. Your diet? Your spelling? Your political arrangements? Perhaps your hygiene? Your failure to do anything useful about North Korea?

Grant said...

The article is a bit off in its technical details. Properly speaking, kozo paper is produced from the inner bark of the paper mulberry, which can be found growing along certain rivers in the southeastern US if you know where to look. It's not made from the wood of the stems, as the article seems to imply. The inner bark fibers are exceptionally long and soft, and it takes a great deal of finesse not to wind up with a useless mass of hopelessly knotted gunk. I have done this by hand so I speak from experience.

Cheryl said...

Thanks so much for this link. I would have never heard of Eliza Pinckney without it. This is one reason why I love your blog so much!

john said...

Lurker21 - good points. I think you are correct.

Big Mike said...

Sung to the tune of "How Great Thou Art."

Althouse gets it! She gets it at last! 8-)

buwaya said...

Modern entertainment is full of women that become physically disabled by strong emotion. Incapacitated, paralyzed by tears. Hysterical in other words, with grief or fear or ... something. Its so common it is easily missed.

Its possible that this has served as a model, more or less, a guide, to how women, especially young women, are expected to behave. Its a very strange thing, quite the opposite of feminism.

I don't think this sort of thing was quite so common fifty years ago.

Clyde said...

The intersection of Althouse and Instapundit today is Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Eliza's son.

I read a post over there by Gail Heriot about how, on this day in 1787, James Madison arrived (early) in Philadelphia for the Constitutional Convention. She also linked to an article about the Indian Queen Tavern in Philadelphia where some of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention stayed and held meetings, including this little nugget:

"Menassah Cutler, heavily involved in the negotiations over the Northwest Ordinance, notes in his journal on July 13th, that he saw Madison, Mason, Alexander Martin, Hamilton, Williamson, Rutledge, and Pinckney having dinner at the Indian Queen. Several historians interpret this meeting as a backroom deal on the slavery question."

Ralph L said...

Modern entertainment is full of women that become physically disabled by strong emotion.

You'd think women would be offended by so many basket cases. The other annoying thing is when they hit the bad guy once and then run--instead of finishing him off.

Nichevo said...


rhhardin said...
How great would Althouse be if she understood male reasoning.


That's just stupid rh. Wouldn't make her tits any bigger or her pussy any tighter.

ken in tx said...

" I, for one, would have been damn careful about going to South Carolina as a black man in that era."

In this early era, it was recognized that there were class differences within all peoples. One of the largest slave holders was a black man who owned plantations in both South Carolina and Africa. He was considered an equal to the other plantation owners there. Only later did it become accepted that blackness was considered equivalent to being a slave. Even as late as 1860 there were over 200 free black slave owners listed in the South Carolina census.

Krumhorn said...

After an appoligy for a girl at my early time of life presuming to advise and urge him to beware of false notions of honour. That he makes proper distinctions between Courage and rashness, Justice and revenge.

Great post and excellent thread of comments. I love that part of the country having served, off and on, at MCAS Beaufort for a number of years, and I still go to Kiawah once a year to play golf with friends in the most beautiful place on the planet. The area around Charleston had the distinction of having a large number of free blacks long before the Civil War. And the Gullahs, after the war, became large and successful landowners and eventually sold their coastal lands to real estate developers.

Eliza's impertinent advice to her brother entering military service would be very useful today in the inner city. She was clearly an amazing (and beautiful!) woman.

- Krumhorn