How I decided what to look for
I used a variety of search terms in Google to start with:
"zip cloth australia" retrieved 14,700,000 results
zip cloth australia history but not sale retrived 58,400 results
history of zip manufactuire in Australia got no results
zip manufacturers in Australia got no results
lightning zippers took me to "http://www.thefedoralounge.comshowthread.php?t=6076&page3
also http://steelzipper.com a 2005 zite
In flickr there were photos/tags/zippers
http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa082497.htm a page written by Mary Bellis
Through library catalogues I found references to:
Technology in Australia 1788 - 1988, Melbourne Uni
Zipper: an exploration in novelty by R. Friedel 1996
The Evolutionof useful Things by Henry Petroski 1995
I found a reference to wooden box with with Lightning Zippers written on it at an auction site http://invaluable.com which was auctioned 2002
Searching for ICI Australia I found the referenfce Making the Future: A History of ICI Australia Research
I also found a reference to zippers in the Cuckson Family papers held by the ANL and Asked a Librarian for some advice about the contents of the boxes. That was helpful.
My main goalwas to find out information about the things I have collected. So far I need to do more about ICI Australia. I have founduseful information about Rondo brand zippers in the collection and the assumption that Cuckson factory may have packages zippers for other brands because one older package had the Cuckson name and address on it and once I noticed that I saw the Rondo brand on the zipper packets in other branded packets.
I have several different styles of Lighning zipper packets which I assume were made in different decades. The font used changed over the decades and when I first saw that ICI Australia started in the 1930's I thought my wooden box may be that old. But I have since noticed that the font used on the printing on the box is not as old as the oldest packets which say made in Australia, so the wooden box may be from the 1950's or 1960's. Until I find more information I can't even really say the box was made in Australia, it could be badged with an Australian decal but mass produced in Canada.
I have enjoyed this process because I have looked more closely at what I have under my nose as well as finding out some of the background to some of my collection.
As with every topic there have been many things I have omitted. The history of the actual invention is interesting but not what I have wanted to study. The cultural aspects of the effect of zippers on speed an ease of dressing is also interesting. What I wanted to learn about was who was making zippers in Australia, when did they start, where were they, how big did the Australian industry become, what made the local industry disappear.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
zippers from kind people
On Sunday I took the kids to "Art from Trash" and struck up a conversation with the person minding the exhibition, who is an artist. She said she had bought a shopping trolley full of zips from an op shop and would look to see if she had any lightning zips in their packaging. She rang the next day to say she did! Yeehaa!! I can collect them from Salamanca market on a Saturday, but not when its pouring rain.
Monday, July 27, 2009
infolit 28.7
Today learning Power Point was fun. I've committed to my subject and now I need to decide how I will present it. More people in the first group chose blogging, but Power Point looks very effective, too.
I need to say why I chose my subject. I am married to a person who collects various things. So I bought a bookj called "The Cultures of Collecting: from Elvis to antiques - why do we collect things" edited by John Elsner and John Cardinal and published by Melbourne University Press in 1994. I was most interested in an interview with Robert Opie, pages 25 to 48 in this book. I have since seen reproductions of old packaging copyright to Robert Opie.
I like to make things and will often go to op shops looking for interesting fabrics and 'notions' (objects used to make things like buttons, zips, cotton, lace, cloth tapes, bias bindings). Following Roberts Opie, I started to see these objects, when found in their packets, as historical records of what people had available to them when they were making their own clothes, as my grandmother and mother used to do. Then the packets started to become as important as the object inside. I was in one of the antique shops in Oatlands, Tasmania, and saw a small wooden shop fitting with Lightning zippers written on the side and for $55 it was mine. Yesterday, 27 July 2009, I went to the Collectibles from the Tip shop in Elizabeth St, Hobart and was excited to see a number of jacket zippers in green packets branded lightning zippers.
I need to say why I chose my subject. I am married to a person who collects various things. So I bought a bookj called "The Cultures of Collecting: from Elvis to antiques - why do we collect things" edited by John Elsner and John Cardinal and published by Melbourne University Press in 1994. I was most interested in an interview with Robert Opie, pages 25 to 48 in this book. I have since seen reproductions of old packaging copyright to Robert Opie.
I like to make things and will often go to op shops looking for interesting fabrics and 'notions' (objects used to make things like buttons, zips, cotton, lace, cloth tapes, bias bindings). Following Roberts Opie, I started to see these objects, when found in their packets, as historical records of what people had available to them when they were making their own clothes, as my grandmother and mother used to do. Then the packets started to become as important as the object inside. I was in one of the antique shops in Oatlands, Tasmania, and saw a small wooden shop fitting with Lightning zippers written on the side and for $55 it was mine. Yesterday, 27 July 2009, I went to the Collectibles from the Tip shop in Elizabeth St, Hobart and was excited to see a number of jacket zippers in green packets branded lightning zippers.
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