BROOKE SHANNON ANTIQUE SEWING MACHINE EXHIBIT ROOM
The Mill Museum has a collection of more than 75 antique sewing machines, many of which are on display in the Brooke Shannon Room. The room was dedicated in 2011 to the late Brooke Shannon, a former Executive Director of the Mill Museum. The exhibit also includes toy sewing machines, thimbles, and other sewing paraphernalia. To learn more about the history of early Connecticut sewing machines, see the article Sewing Revolution in our History section.
Connecting to the Mill Museum’s Archives
To see a mid-1900s Casige toy sewing machine up close, click here. To see a darning egg, click here. To see an instruction manual for a 19th-century, Connecticut-made Wheeler and Wilson No. 8 sewing machine, click here. To see an 1867 Wheeler and Wilson No. 3 sewing machine, made in Bridgeport, CT, click here. To see a 19th-century Willimantic Linen Company wooden thread display chest for retailers, click here. To see a pair of snips used to cut thread by a worker at the American Thread Company, click here. To see a Stichwell toy sewing machine, click here. (Connecting to the Museum’s Archives made possible in part by a grant from Connecticut Humanities.)
Video of 19th-Century Wilcox and Gibbs Treadle Sewing Machine
Other Things to See in This Exhibit







