Name/Title
Machinist's or Fixer's Tool ChestEntry/Object ID
2026.28.1Description
Textile mill worker's wooden tool chest with steel hardware. It has four compartments: two drawers, plus a top compartment accessed by lifting a lid, and which is divided into both a main space and a removable wooden tray. Bottom drawer missing a pull. The letters RF are carved on the inside of the lid. It came with the following contents:
1. Four blue cardboard tags, bound in string, each with the name of a weaver (there were no weavers at the American Thread Company / Willimantic Linen Company, which spun thread and yarn, but did not weave cloth), piece number, loom no., lot no., picks, yards, weight, and style.
2. A flat, thin piece of steel, about 8 inches long and 1.5 in wide.
3. Six 3 x 5 index cards, preprinted. Rodman Mfg. Co./ Employees' Card, with notes handwritten or typed on the back.
4. Stack of other note cards and scraps of paper with notes.
5. Cardboard advertising flyer from the Niagara Fire Insurance Company, torn in half.
6. Twelve 3 x 5 notebooks with notes, some 1920s. Some mention Fabyan Woolen, Fabyan, Conn.
7. Three large steel wrenches.
8. Instruction book for Cloth Finishing and Fabric Machines, compliments of George W. Voelker & Co., Woonsocket, RI, no date.
9. Putty sticks, drill bits, pieces of metal.
10. Various machinists' manuals.Use
Textile mills like the Willimantic Linen Company and the American Thread Company hired machinists, fixers, electricians, plumbers, pipefitters, wheelwrights, carpenters, and other skilled craftspeople to repair and maintain manufacturing machinery and buildings. Often making repairs onsite, fixers and others craftspeople carried their tools around the mills in large wooden toolboxes loaded with metal tools and parts. It often took two people to carry these heavy toolboxes. The toolboxes were the property of the workers themselves, who made them. Consequently, the Mill Museum owns five toolboxes, donated by the workers themselves after they retired.Context
1. Rodman Manufacturing Company in LaFayette Village (town of North Kingston), RI. Founded 1847 on site of an earlier cotton mill (1824) by Robert Rodman. Incorporated in 1883. Closed in 1952.
2. Fabyan Woolen Mill in Fabyan (town of Thompson), CT. Incorporated 1968. Last report filed 1990. Forfeited 1993. https://www.ctcompanydir.com/company?utm_source=fabyan-woolen-corporation.
3. George W. Voelker and Co. of Woonsocket, RI, manufactured large fabric printing presses. The Company was founded in 1894. https://www.holidays.net/mardigras/store/2-RARE-ANTIQUE-LARGE-FORMAT-PHOTOGRAPHS-THE-VOELKER-PRESS-WOONSOCKET-RI-USA_304369142590.html.Collection
General CollectionMade/Created
Date made
circa 1920Time Period
20th CenturyInscription/Signature/Marks
Type
Carved inscriptionLocation
Inside of lidTranscription
RFLexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Secondary Object Term
Chest, ToolNomenclature Primary Object Term
Container, ToolNomenclature Class
Multiple Use T&E for MaterialsNomenclature Category
Category 04: Tools & Equipment for MaterialsLocation
Location
Exhibit Room
Thread City Exhibit, Bev York Room* Untyped Location
Main Museum BuildingCategory
ExhibitDate
April 25, 2026Provenance
Provenance Detail
Found ObjectCreate Date
April 25, 2026Update Date
May 3, 2026