A discursive 1890 magazine essay by Edward E. Hale on the history of cotton, opening the New England Magazine's series on the subject. It traces cotton from Herodotus and Indian muslins through early New England use, quilted cotton armor, spinning by hand, Hargreaves's jenny, Eli Whitney's cotton gin, Robert Owen's New Lanark mills, the growth of Southern cotton manufacture, and Samuel Slater's introduction of spinning machinery at Pawtucket. It is a narrative and anecdotal overview rather than a technical study, with no weaving drafts.

An illustrated 1890 magazine article tracing the development of cotton manufacturing in New England from the 1770s to about 1890. It covers early spinning experiments in Philadelphia, Bridgewater and Beverly, Samuel Slater's Arkwright-system mill at Pawtucket, the Waltham power-loom factory, and the growth of mill towns such as Lowell, Lawrence, Fall River, New Bedford, Manchester and Lewiston. It also describes the processes from carding to spinning and weaving, gives census statistics for 1860-1880, and discusses the moral and social effects of factory labor. Every page carries engravings or photographs of people, mills, and machinery.

A July 1895 magazine article by Edward Porritt on the rapid growth of cotton manufacturing in Georgia and the Carolinas and its effect on New England mills. It sets out the arguments given to a Massachusetts legislative committee by trade unionists and by the Arkwright Club, then describes mills and mill villages at Spartanburg, the Pacolet River, Columbia and Augusta, with wages, spindle and loom counts, labor laws, housing and water power. It ends by comparing the Massachusetts-South relationship with that of Lancashire and India. Illustrated with photographs of cotton growing, picking, gin houses and mill buildings.

A short news item reporting that a gentleman near Washington, North Carolina, appeared in a complete suit of silk (coat, vest, pantaloons and stockings) produced entirely on his own farm by his family, from silk culture through spinning, weaving and making up. The fabric is described as gray-mixed, resembling Angola but softer. The writer predicts silk culture could become a significant industry in North Carolina, rivaling cotton.

A short fiction piece from New England Magazine, 1895, by Charles Howard Shinn. It tells of Jan Jansen, a Danish-educated Californian who loses his family fortune in a county-seat speculation and a bank default, and loses his sweetheart in Copenhagen. He then lives out his life as a sheep-herder and self-taught naturalist in the Sierras and Kern River country. The story has no textile or weaving content beyond the sheep-herding setting.

A 1889 magazine article by Harriet H. Robinson, a former Lowell mill girl, on the history of the Lowell Offering, the magazine written by female factory operatives in Lowell, Massachusetts (1840-1849). It describes the rural New England homespun background, the arrival of cotton mills and paid work for women, the improvement circles that led to the magazine, its editors, mottos, reception and contributors. It reproduces the 1845 title page and covers the later lives of the writers; it has no weaving content.

A short notice announcing that the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society has appointed a committee to investigate the cultivation of dyer's madder and of barilla in the United States. The committee asks readers for information on acreage, imports, preparation for market, price fluctuations, soil and climate suitability, and quality differences. Communications are to be sent to David Landreth, Jr., Corresponding Secretary, in Philadelphia.

An illustrated 1890 magazine article by Rev. Massena Goodrich on the history of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, written for the centennial of Samuel Slater's introduction of water-powered cotton spinning. It traces settlement by Joseph Jenks and the early iron industry, then Slater's arrival from England, his work with Moses Brown and Almy & Brown, and the Wilkinson family's role. It goes on to describe later manufactures (calico printing, plush, machinery, Conant Thread Company), water works, churches, and the town's political history. Illustrated with engravings and photographs of mills, bridges, falls, houses, and churches.

A 1890 magazine article by Edward Craig Bates on the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney. It reviews the English spinning and weaving inventions that created demand for raw cotton, Whitney's youth and his work in Georgia in 1792-93, how the gin works, and the patent litigation that followed. It ends with the gin's effect on cotton production statistics and on the growth of slavery, plus a closing note with a letter from Whitney's son. Illustrated with a portrait of Whitney, a model of the gin, and a 'Picking Cotton' scene.