I wonder if you couldn't find some rag businesses in a business periodical.  Usually the libraries keep those references under lock and key.  I would look there first for businesses in your area. 

Beat
Ann Frisina

-----Original Message-----
From: Textile Conservators [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sassenach
Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2011 11:11 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Fabric Press

Rag men (called rag and bone men in my family) were the original recylers. 
They also picked up bone, metal, and other trash that could be resold.  Rags 
could be sold to paper makers; finer/better condition textiles could be sold 
for other uses.  A family would have put out genuine rags; even in wealthier 
families clothing was 'made over' into something else.

Was there a paper manufacturer in the area  of the business this came from? 
Perhaps there was a stronger incentive to add this to their store if there 
was a reliable local buyer for it in bulk.  Could end up being an 
interesting little insight into the local economy.

An archaeologist once told me that he finds many more sites for Native 
Americans than pioneers -- the pioneers were too poor to throw anything 
away.  Getting a few pennies for rags exhibits a thrift that is 
unrecognizable to even the poorest of us today.

Best,
Kim Nettles

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Peggy Derrick" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2011 9:19 AM


> Greetings Everyone,
>
> I am posting these two images to several textile history listservs in
> the hopes of getting information about the ragstock business in the
> U.S. in the late 19th/early 20th centuries. This box was called a
> fabric press by the descendents of the family that used it. It stood
> in the basement of their store, and old textiles were dropped down a
> chute into the box and pressed into a bale. I am attempting to
> discover what was done with the ragstock, and whether it was a local
> business that utilized them. Uses of textiles after their primary life
> was over is not something I know much about, and we are trying to
> determine if this is an artifact we want for our collection.
>
> Thanks,
> Peggy Derrick
> Curator, La Crosse County Historical Society
>